For the record, I borrowed Metal Gear from my neighbor—he always had great games—and beat it. There were many challenging moments, but nothing as FRUSTRATING as other games...Section Z is a maze that still perplexes me (I mapped it out when I was in 7th grade...I doubt I could remember how to navigate the maze today)....Castlevania II Simon's Quest (I still remember hitting a wall, literally, that was too high to pass. I didn't realize I was supposed to use an item...I thought it was a dead end, so I scoured the rest of the map for a way to proceed).
LOVED IT: I loved Simon's Quest. But, without any clues, that part was frustrating.
TANGENT: I borrowed Metroid (another challenging game requiring some note-taking/home made maps) and Excitebike from the same neighbor...so, many of my favorite NES games were from his library. THANK GOD HE HAD GOOD TASTE.
BOTTOM LINE: Anyway, Metal Gear on NES is a great game, regardless of who was involved and how much time the developers had. It was immediately apparent, to anyone who played a lot of games, that Metal Gear was unique and satisfying.