Ignoring the lack of updates if the game is buggy, games back then were also more focused on quality and make gamers replay the game with unlockable features based on skills, not money. I can’t count the number of times I played Metal Gear Solid games over and over to unlock new features playing the hardest difficulty and with handicap features, and also to find Easter eggs. Speaking of Easter eggs, you’d lose a number of hours exploring every nook and cranny finding them!
It’s funny how “European difficulty” is both an accidental and deliberate trend… and then native Euro shoot-em-ups are the most boring thing ever. Platformers: vicious, precise, complex, restrictive, designed around pocket-change cassettes that had to last a week. Schmups: baby’s first push buttons make noisy pictures on the big square.