>>715936642
Controversial take but I recommend you at least try the games in release order. Metroid 1 and 2 show their age in regards to controls and lack of signposting but they're fun and provide a different feeling than the later games. If you don't care for them, stop playing and move onto the next; both games have remakes in the style of later Metroid games. Super Metroid, the third game, is the game that solidified the Metroid formula, so you'll either like that one or the series as a whole just doesn't jive with you.

There are five main metroid games, with the first two being remade through Zero Mission and Samus Returns respectively, and those tell the complete core story. There's also the Metroid Prime games, first person shooters set between Metroid 1 and 2; they're not "canon" in the sense that the main games don't acknowledge them, but they work fine in their own context and are quite good so you can think of them as an alternate timeline.

Also at some point, after checking out the 2D games I mentioned, look up the fanmade game AM2R, which remakes Metroid 2 just like Samus Returns and has a very different feeling to Samus Returns (essentially being "Zero Mission 2"). It's on par with the official games in quality.