It's not a perfect game, but I played the fan translation of the japanese version and was really impressed, the gameplay is actually improved from the second game, feeling faster and more fluid plus stages feel more unique to play with their own little gimmicks so the game doesn't feel as repetitive like the previous entries imo. Also bosses are more memorable and are no longer reused in later stages.

Soundtrack is also really amazing and ahead of its time, a aggressive tecnho style that isn't very common in these kind of games, but people love to hate it because its not muh retro funky tunes TM. Still, more people are starting to appreciate it nowadays.