Almost exactly the kind of remake you'd want for any 8-bit game. The visuals aren't just lovingly recreated, they're reimagined with so much new detail and gorgeous animation. The art style is a bit different than the original intent, but it looks so good I don't mind, and if you do mind then there's a button to instantly switch to the old graphics. The soundtrack, which was just alright in the original game, got equally gorgeous remixed orchestrations that elevate them quite a lot, and there are even multiple situational remixes of songs that were originally re-used identically in the original game. If you miss the original soundtrack's energy and percussion, the original audio is also a button press away. In terms of presentation, this is a remake that manages to have more personality than the original game, and that is highly commendable.

The gameplay, on the other hand, is left mostly untouched except for slightly better controls. If you were already a huge fan of the original, this must be perfect, but there were just a couple aspects that didn't age well that I wish could've been addressed. One is that a very useful item is hidden behind holding up on the D-pad in a random dead end, which I absolutely would not have discovered without a guide. Another is that the enemy balancing is very inconsistent. On the same screen there will be enemies that barely chip you and enemies that take you out in two hits. The Japanese temple area features red ninjas that throw shurikens at you which you block with your shield, then later you find identical red ninjas that throw identical shurikens which, for whatever reason, are unblockable. Aside from stuff like that, this game is really pretty easy, especially the final boss which was a joke.

Also, the way the Tasmanian sword works is a little annoying. You have to keep switching to it if you want to change between forms. Earlier in the game, you get an item that allows you to break blocks with your sword, and you can do that with any sword instead of having to equip one specific sword, so why not have transformations work that way? This is a nitpick, but this and the aforementioned enemy balancing could've very easily been solved, as this is a remake after all. I guess they really wanted to stick as close as possible to the original, and that's certainly better than if they'd have went too far and dumbed the game down. But those changes definitely would've made the game better for me.

This is still the best way to play the best Sega Master System game, which was quite an ambitious game for its time. The design of the interconnected world is generally great, and having different forms you're cursed into throughout the game is really cool. I didn't really like walking my ass all the way back to the area I was in whenever I died, but at the same time the game's world would probably feel tiny if it had checkpoints. Overall, recommended if you like this type of game.