I don't hate it, no I'd almost say I loved it, but it had so many aspects that could have been better. It should have been significantly shorter, the story is a little ridiculous and the pacing for levels is atrocious. And yet, the music and characters are great and the sprites are BEAUTIFUL! The gameplay at first is amazingly fun, and while it remained fun until the end for me, it does get very tedious, fast.

Overall a good experience, but I played this in short bursts over the course of two months and that's not usually how I play games to completion. Still excited to try the sequel, and this game has made me discover quite a few franchises/games I want to pick up because I fell in love with the characters!

(Kinda glad I'm done with it after the final chapters)