Prepare to taste justice...SHOVEL JUSTICE!!
I beat the first level again (as I did at Best Buy when I first played it). I didn't realize how much more it borrowed from Zelda II besides the down-thrust sword attack & bounce as those enemy knights that you had to jump over and attack from behind in a certain, planned way or with the down-thrust are here too! They require a bit more patient strategy over the usual brute force, let's-get-on-with-it way... Nice challenge, but when you're lazy it could easily become frustrating as it was for good ole Zelda II.
It's more than just a nod to classic retro gaming goodness like Megaman, Zelda II, etc. it actually had help from the original Megaman composer, Manami Matsumae, who wrote 2 tracks for it, so FYI!!! That also heavily influenced my decision to buy it even with my backlog and limited playtime.
Can you dig it ?? The last knight that made fun of his shovel, well, he's not laughing anymore, let's just put it that way...