An excellent start off for its first GBA game.
The gameplay was good albeit hard. To level the playing field, it has an RPG element for a platformer. It allows you to level up your character. Not only that, you can collect items such as potions and armour in your time of need. Also there are card to collect throughout the course of the game that enables you to unleash some the most powerful spells at your disposal. Provided that you have enough MP to do it.
The story is good and the character designs of its time was brilliant. There were some pretty good boss fights that took a while to figure out the pattern though. There were loads of monsters to fight through and many of them were very well designed. Also there were various monsters so at later stages, so by the time you collected a lot of items and backtracked, you'll be facing new ones you've never seen before.
The music score was well made for a GBA game and very atmospheric for most of the environments you are in.
While backtracking can be too much, to lighten the travels, there are teleporters at various stages so you don't have to go too far. Save points are also a bonus during the course of the game since they also help replenish your health and magics.
Overall it's definitely worth playing despite some of its flaws.