The classic version is good, until you realise that the game is slightly different that the original with respects to how your character moves. By about level 18, finishing each round will become near impossible without guaranteed loosing a few men in game play... but I was glad that the game saves at each level completion.
At (or around) level 24, there is a level which I found so impossible to complete because of the honorable handling mechanics, that I had to just put the game down and got back to the GBA version (#881-EU, #1670-US).