Some praise first: they did more than enough with the gba additions, adding red coins, adding yoshi's eggs to collect after you beat the game, funny voices etc..
The first levels are fun and very nostalgic for me as that's what I mostly played in my childhood(snes version).
Now as someone who finally beat the game on gba, I could see the sadistic old school side of this game, its like the game hated me for trying to beat it.
Unforgiving lives system, enemy placement in the most uncomfortable places, tough boss battles, which honestly, I didnt mind THAT much.
The punishment was too much though, if you run out of lives, you start from the start of the level, and at later stages it becomes a gauntlet.
The game finds new ways to annoy the player, its no wonder it took me months to finish it, I was that determined to finish the only classic mario game I havent finished at the time.
I had a very bad time with it for a very long time, I gave it a fair shot by playing it to the end, and I can only say that the first levels are the only fun part of the game.. the rest of it, is better left untouched.