i remember the first time i tried this i thought it was way too difficult and i just gave up. trying it again now though i persevered through the difficulty and im pretty glad i did. it feels pretty good to play, the levels are explorable, and the game is great stylistically. the game also has plenty of powerups and modes you can change into through item pickups as well as a few gimmick stages that help give the gameplay a little more variety, occasionally for the worse but usually for the better. there's a good level of challenge here but sometimes the challenge can be things that feel intentionally placed and sometimes the challenge is the screen is a little too tight and sometimes you just cant see things youre about to jump into or land on top of which can be really frustrating. i think the way the game is so zoomed in really brings it down a bit and its the root of a lot of the game's problems. if you can get over that issue though and power through i think youll have a pretty good time. also personally i used save states for this one, it just helps but i dont think its entirely impossible to do a run without them, its just gonna be hard