Actually the game is pure genius for its time the mechanics are a little dated but this was the first game of its kind mind you, and many stil have very fond memories of it today. Its gameplay is timing based you have to time the jumps going up and down to hit enemies below you, and blocks above, while avoid the pits, causing a constant action from the player they are always engaged running and jumping. There where loads of Secrets in the forms of hidden blocks and warp pipes.
Of coures the storys is BS many video game storys are really bad so why bore the player with boring stuff, my ex thought that all story parts in games where unnecessary, while i dont necessarily agree, it comes from a desire to be in control and "playing" the game.
Its a constantly challenging game with increasingly difficult levels. The difficulty was appropriate for its time as it was an arcade game first, one that keept players wanting more and more coming back again and again dying over and over. I beat it when I was 3 years old seriously its the first game I ever played, so I know its hard but not that hard,
"gamers now days are shit" go play Super Castlevania 4 and wet yourself. or just play Super Mario World as others have said its a much better version of this formula with far better mechanics.
Now if you wanted to say the original Sonic the hedgehog was shit we would totally have something to talk about cause being so fast you constantly run into enemies you cant see was a really bad idea for a game, they could have at least game him a punch button so he could punch things out of the way as he ran. Granted again the mechanics improved as time went on. The original was bright colorful had ok music but the gameplay was flawed in that sense I suppose it would have worked in super widescreen.
