The chain guide is just a piece of metal with rubberized pray on it. With excessive play the chain will whack the rubber off and hit metal.
This slack is caused by the tensioner failing to hold the chain tightly so it slaps the guide. I had this problem, took the chain guide off, noise went away. Put it back on, noise came back. Replaced the tensioner with an updated new Nissan OEM part and the noise went away and the upper timing chain guide is still there and the noise went away. The upper guide is still there now.
I think you should replace the tensioner again and re-evaluate any noise changes.