Preface: this is absolutely a salty review. The soundtrack is killer, the art direction and sprites are awesome - but holy fuck do I hate this game's level and boss design lol.

I do not miss the era when difficulty stemmed solely from either memorizing a mess back to front or powering through. (the timer sure won't let you slow down and play methodically) This, on top of dealing with enemies and boss patterns happening off screen with no indication and the incredible lighting system working against its benefit, (making it tough to discern most of the power-ups and some enemies in darkened areas) most of the back half of this game becomes a chore.