I loved this game when I was a kid, and after all these years it's still fun and hard as hell.
For those who still may have no idea what this game is, it's a 2d side scroller that involves shooting enemies with the unlimited throwing hammer or fireballs at your disposal. The main character, Master Higgins, won't grow on you in any way (though everyone's different). The story isn't even worth mentioning, let's just say that you're having an adventure, on an island. There's a fair variety of enemies, from fire spitting cobras, bouncing octopuses, frogs, rolling boulders (I still can't figure out who's launching those damn things), though the main enemy in this game is gravity - there are tons of bottomless pits and water hazards, moving platforms, or platforms that give way if you stray on them a moment too long.
And as I mentioned, this game is fast paced. There is a merciless timer that runs down, and you have to feed Higgins with all the fruit that randomly pops up all over the place to hold the timer off. This may sound tedious, but in practice it's more rewarding than laborious.
Aesthetically it's nothing to behold, at least for those who weren't raised on NES graphics. If you're like me though, than you may enjoy seeing this game look EXACTLY as it always has. Even in its time it wasn't extraordinary, but it wasn't ugly either, and I did actually enjoy the various locales ie caves, oceans, jungles, mountains, forests- for what they were worth.
Musically it is just fine, even great actually. I still to this day remember these tunes perfectly, and enjoy their upbeat charm. The music fits the game perfectly as far as I'm concerned. The sound effects are also simple but charming.
All in all, I am glad that I grabbed this game for my virtual console, and look forward to the release of its sequel.