Glad I played Prime 4 and SR before Dread, but...

So, for my return to Metroid upon getting a hand-me-down Switch and 3DS from my ex, I played the games I've missed in this order:

Prime 4 (first playthrough 100% items, 97% scans), Samus Returns (first playthrough, 100% items), Prime 4 (second playthrough, hard 200%) + Samus Returns (2nd playthrough, hard 100%)... I finished Samus Returns before Prime 4 on account of writing a side story following Sylux to enhance my playthrough (https://www.reddit.com/r/Metroid/s/EqRKW6GmWL if you're curious)...

And now I'm on Dread.

My point with this post is that this has been the ideal way for me to come back, but I also now see why Prime 4 was disappointing because Dread is just that good — truly one of the best in the whole series. I'm loving pretty much everything about it including its story. And wow, unless I'm missing something (please don't say what on account of spoilers), Prime 4 makes even less sense considering Dread. And here I thought I made the game's place in the timeline work in my side story. Even though the game doesn't emphasize it enough, Sylux harboring Metroids until after their supposed extinction is huge. And frankly, it's cool. But now I have to write a little scene explaining why Raven Beak didn't go after Sylux and his Metroids to complete his plan. I guess there are ways it could make sense without any additional info, but I'll write a scene anyway because it was something that would've been interesting to see, much like everything else pertaining to Sylux.

Anyway, I will write that and post it somewhere. Perhaps Raven Beak lures a Pirate squad to ZDR and attempts to run tests on the Fusion Metroids but can't extract the DNA because it's too intertwined with the host's? Not to mention, he lacks the tools. IDK, I'm thinking out loud at this point. Dread is awesome!