>>719758672
this one certainly stuck in my craw at the time, but i do see your point now after having played NEStroid.
I can appreciate this approach now, and it's pretty common in puzzle games, but it's not really my favorite approach.
If there's going to be a roadblock somewhere, i'd rather it be frontloaded so that you know what to expect. Treasure never made a metroidvania, but they were the masters of this approach, entirely to the detriment of their wallets.