Took me a little under 5 hrs to 1 CC it. I ended with 104,380 points.
I played this on a Power Base Converter and it had no issues. I understand there are some SMS games that don't work right, or at all, on a PBC, so I figured I'd throw this info out for anyone curious about its compatibility.
Considering I'd barely played it about 30 years ago, as well as briefly when I bought my copy, being able to 1 CC it (and I almost didn't even lose a life) in that short amount of time makes this a very easy game. Once I figured out a tactic that keeps the enemies from attacking that works on EVERY enemy, even the end boss, it lost all difficulty. About the only time I got hit was when I must have been pushing left or right just enough to turn around, at which point they would attack.
With the way it's structured with infinite continues and no progress lost during the first 3 stages, it basically becomes a 1 stage game. You can simply blindly button mash your way through the first 3 stages, taking as many deaths as you want. I've never played the arcade version, but this would be fine there, since you'd have to keep feeding it quarters if you were doing the same thing. It just doesn't work well for a home release.
The manual is incorrect in saying you start the 4th stage with 3 lives. You actually start it with however many you had at the end of the 3rd stage. So, if you're down to your last life, and you're not going for a 1CC run, you're better off suiciding at the 3rd stage boss to get all 3 lives back.
I had fun for the short amount of time it took to beat it. It's just a shame that I found a way to nullify any difficulty it had. I really think not having infinite continues would have been a benefit, since it's only 4 stages, and they're all relatively short. There are a few point thresholds where you gain extra lives, so lowering those a bit probably would have been a good idea if they went the limited continue route.
