Wonder Boy Returns Remix - Playthrough Part 1

Wonder Boy Returns Remix is a different version of Wonder Boy Returns, but as I soon found out it's not really. It uses the same character models and graphics, but the gameplay both is altered and the levels are completely different. For one thing you can select both Tanya and Tomtom from the start, which is pretty cool. Unfortunately the changes to the mechanics are to its detriment. When you start moving you gain momentum, just like in the original game, but here it feels slippery. I had a lot of deaths just running off a platform or into an enemy because of the uncontrollable momentum. Combine that with a level design, which is much meaner like random falling platforms or fast descending stream of platforms, which requires you to quickly gain momentum to get on the next one in a desperate try to make a high jump. What the game doesn't explain is that in a Mario fashion, your attack button doubles as dash. Also bizarrely when you use your weapon in a jump you jump higher. I discovered the latter first, so I didn't realise the former until later on since you have no motivation to hold the attack button. Or so I thought. It turns out that if you do hold it, you can launch a giant projectile (boomerang or stone axe) which can destroy stones or previously indestructible enemies. Learning those things is pretty much a necessity to beat some parts of the levels (since there are random difficulty spikes). One other weird thing is that every boss at the end of 4 stages is the same. They throw a curved projectile and move forward and backwards. It sounds trivial, but with the slipery controls you often kill yourself just by running into him. This is a disappointment since Wonder Boy Returns had different bosses at the end of each stage with unique move sets. Why they didn't just import the old enemies I'll never understand.