"I always thought it was a little inconvenient to switch to the map during gameplay in the 2D Metroid's."
Am I the only person in the world who thinks it's totally logical to want to stop a game to get a good look at a map? The last thing I want when I'm trying to figure out where to go next is for some enemy to kick my ass while I'm not looking. How the hell do you look at a map and play a game at the same time?