When the development team was mulling what to create next after Metroid Fusion, they decided to make another Metroid game for Game Boy Advance, which turned into a remake of the original game with an additional chapter after the defeat of Mother Brain. They sought to make Samus quicker and more agile than she was in Fusion, and make the environments familiar enough so that anyone who played the original Metroid would recall them. Regarding the map, more freedom was to be granted to the player than with Fusion. While there was a hint system that would mark the next objective, there was greater freedom for players to explore.