some of the reflections i’ve had on the metroid series have been that the mapping feature works when it feels like an element of the roleplay - you’re collecting data and referring back to it intermittently because that’s something the protagonist would actually do. in this case, the further lengths the game goes to to blur the line between it being a meta-game convenience for the player and a concrete mechanic within the fiction of the game, the better. there were hints of that in the primes with entities that would jam or corrupt your HUD, and i suppose fusion started using the navigation helpers to mess with you after a point, leading to a way blocked by collapsed scenery or into a trap (not that figuring out the correct path came down to much more than process of elimination)
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