Intense towards the final boss. Barely got it this attempt. I beat this game many years ago on emulation, on normal mode. You get 4 continues with maybe 2-3 lives each, but its rare you get 1-ups or health. There is alot of combat on hard mode. Dont remember there being this many enemies on normal years ago.
I decided this time to start the game again but on hard. I had no familiarity with much of the game as I took different paths on both full attempts. I first tried the panther character on hard mode and got somewhere into stage 6 on my first attempt.
For my second attempt I used the swordsman, Kain Grinder, and did MUCH better. I did not look up any moves and just went by feel. I was able to beat the game on this second full attempt.
Game is quite good. Id reccomend using someone else besides the panther for the first playthrough. Kain is a good choice with his reach.
Prior to my second full attempt I tried the largest character briefly. Hes slow but seems to do massive damage. He may also be worth trying for those looking to just beat the game, but Kain feels more balanced.
While the levels arent as interesting, or the music as good as the first game in the series, and probably the second, it is cool that there is basically 2 games worth of levels, depending on path and ALOT of characters to try.