That's a good question. It's the. first game I remember havint it too. That menu was already in when I started on R&C1 and I don't remember hearing where it came from. Stopping the game when you used it was an A+ decision. I think the menu was coded by Brian Hastings, but not 100% sure.

I remember pondering this question! Truly ahead of its time, practically every action game uses something like it nowadays (GTA, Horizon, etc).