Played this for the first time recently. Surprisingly, this one was my least favorite out of the original trilogy. I find it lacks the charm and ingenuity of 2 and 3 (and World).
That being said, it's a trailblazer, and absolutely one of the most important games ever made (maybe THE most important). You can hardly blame it for not living up to the things that came after it, as it's the innovations made by this game that allowed those to even happen.
Don't take that as me saying it isn't fun to play, because it is. I'd recommend playing it. It's pretty crazy to see where all these modern platformer tropes came from.
That being said, it's a trailblazer, and absolutely one of the most important games ever made (maybe THE most important). You can hardly blame it for not living up to the things that came after it, as it's the innovations made by this game that allowed those to even happen.
Don't take that as me saying it isn't fun to play, because it is. I'd recommend playing it. It's pretty crazy to see where all these modern platformer tropes came from.