Yes, Metroid is a lot more easier to explain chronologically.
I think they explained Legend of Zelda timeline in the book by Miyamoto: Hyrule Historia well enough http://en.wikipedia....Hyrule_Historia
But not all of it so there are some mysteries how it goes.
I am currently searching for Metroid Zero Mission for GBA in order to play it (as it is a remake of the first metroid). Or I have to win Meta Riddley and Metroid Prime in the original Metroid Prime for GameCube as you got the original Metroid game to play as a reward for passing the game. Nice feature that was, but I was not able to get that far
There are rumours that Nintendo is ready to do a similar book for Metroid as they did with Zelda. I really hope they do.