This game was as tolerable as it was because I was using both 99 lives mode and friendly continues. I did play for about 20-25 minutes with these disabled, aka playing normally, but decided to switch over for my own sake. I feel like if I wasn't using that option/didn't have it I would've given up, and I know exactly where I would've done it, too.

It was quite a well balanced game, in my opinion, and although it made the same mistake as the other game I played and reviewed today, Deep Night Detective, of not teaching your player the controls or the mechanics, it was ultimately 'more acceptable' here not only because the gameplay is much more simple, but it's also much more fun. The controls feel much more stable, nothing felt too slow or too fast, the game was dripping with juice too.

Knocking a point off because I feel like the balancing of the design is kinda messy. The final boss of the ruins was the most challenging boss in my opinion, due to not only how little room you had to stand, but how much space the boss and his attacks took up on the screen at once. I ended up dying about ~25 times on him alone, and that was after playing through the entire game nearly flawlessly up until that point. It also feels like the amount of HP each boss has is completely arbitrary. And, this is a nitpick, but I personally find it kind of dumb that the 'spikes' stage hazard are an insta-kill, but the fire, which is introduced later, doesn't? They serve the exact same purpose, so why differentiate? If the fire left you on fire after you stepped in it, then maybe, but it doesn't. Whatever, it's fine.