Oddly enough I didn’t play it till I was in high school. My first time hearing of it wasn’t through friends or other gamers but a review from Nintendo Power. Just from that alone I had the extreme desire to play it. Go forward 7yrs later and I picked it up with the emulation scene. People can pooh-pooh roms and emulation all they want but it wasn’t for that, I would have never played it and subsequently bought the NES cartridge when I was in college. I’m now the proud owner of more than one version of DWIV.

Games like this that push the boundaries of its console and truly care about the experience are rare.

Potentially the most beloved of the NES titles is DWIII which features a class system.

I’d be tempted to recommend DQVIII, which is a monster of a game in its own right. There are changes, certainly, but the core gameplay of the Dragon Quest series remains relatively steadfast (but who knows what the hell X will bring). DQVIII has incredible characterization, but just four characters under direct command so it’s a bit different than what you would be used to atm. But you may just want to read an overview of a few of the titles and decide based on what sounds thematically enjoyable.

I think it’d be easier to get past the first loop using the shield and spread shot combo (plus baseball). You’ll only need a couple or a few speeds. Try to let your spread shot kill enemies as they come in at a little above center midscreen and also in that position you can take care of ground turrets immediately. If you choose to go the options route, there will be more bullets but in this case you want to constantly left-right sweep that upper midscreen position. And you’ll have to herd bullets when things get crazy but try to focus on getting the ground turrets asap.

Also, keep in mind that the bosses will die from one shot to their exposed core.

Thanks for the good luck!