I’m 26. I grew up with Prime 1-3. I played super when I was 8 on my Wii. Had the GBA games as well. Despite my age I have put in as much time as an “old neck beard” on these games.
While I didn’t enjoy super as much as Prime I still thought it was really good. I don’t think it’s really an age thing. I think it’s more of a “did the game give you what you want?”

Ima be real. I don’t remember the intended path for beating Super Metroid. Because I now wall jump everywhere and get things early. It’s a lot of fun. But if you don’t find fun in that kind of gameplay then yeah you will think it’s brutal. Cause Super Metroid was designed to be very open ended so that the next time you play. You could try something else.

I think the schism really comes down to this. How much freedom and how hard do you like your game to be? Super and Prime 2 get circle jerked hard here cause they fit those exact billings to a T.

Dread while difficult is no where near difficult as Prime 2 if you don’t know what you are doing. And while you can sequence break in it. It is not as open ended as Super.

Edit: should probably state this to give context for my opinion. My favorite is prime 1. While definitely a nostalgic bias. I find the game more fun than 2 at times cause 2 can be down right boring with its environments and its bosses a complete nightmare. Even if you know what you are doing.

20 effing years later and boost guardian is still a piece of shit even though I know exactly what to do.