While definitely inferior to its sequel, I believe it is worth playing the campaign at least once before moving on to the second game. The quick start guide in the manual is a super easy and fun way to get into the series and there is certainly some charm in its simplicity and silly sprite art and then seeing how the series has evolved is nice. Plus it still has the extremely addictive gameplay loop the series is know for.

Also this was my game number 666 and I finished it on 1st april. Not sure what to think about that. (also my review number 100 in this site, but that's p much intentional)