I feel like the first game had a better "adventure" feel to it, the tropical island setting was a bit more cohesive than random time travel gags I feel, and it also made better usage of items in dungeons, however I don't really know why so many people see this as a downgrade?

There are some annoying parts in this game, I hate so many of the bosses for example. But man pretty much every area in the first game from the cemetery onward had some really annoying parts, but I was just having fun most of the time here. The improved, more traditional controls alone make this game way more fun to play and allows for much more dynamic gameplay. There's also just way less beginner traps and mean tricks in this game too, I felt the genuine need to pull out a map once instead of like... I don't know a dozen times for the first game? Even if some of the adventure stuff was less cool at least there's no mazes in there now, and hey all the quirky humor of the original is still here and as lovable as ever. Overall fun game it was cool I think. The Cactus Dance is iconic.