Playing through it now, I was actually surprised at how much of the game was familiar to me. I guess I had way more resolve as a kid than I do now because this time I was playing with save-states, and still it was hard as nails. One hit and start the entire level over! The amount of retries and memorization it must've required to actually get as far as I did in my childhood, which was at least to the Statue of Liberty level, is just crazy.

This time I got all the way to the final boss, and I couldn't beat that fucker even with save-states. He keeps spamming ninjas and, while you're fighting them, he throws fire on your head and you gotta hide beneath one of the statues, but that is PRECISELY the moment the boss becomes vulnerable. So you gotta somehow dodge a rain of fire and 2-4 ninjas while simultaneously hitting him in that tiny little spot. Took me like 20 minutes to hit him ONCE. I have no idea what insane people have beaten this.

See, this is why I'm not as nostalgic for this era of games. I am so glad we've transitioned past this into games that a normal human being can actually beat.