Holy hell that game is hard!  I finally managed to get through the last level without dying even once, after probably 90-100 minutes of attempts.

Recognize.

I beat it back on the original Neo Geo when I was less than 10 years old.

Respect.

'Course I had some help...

@MontanaHatchet:

I must have been better at games when I was young. I remember finishing Zelda II with hardly any trouble, but I went back to it a few years ago and the last palace kicked my ass relentlessly.

Do you recall Magician Lord being particularly difficult? A few of those levels are flat-out sadistic.

I remember crying a lot, that's for sure...

Sigh, not enough Neo Geo owners in the world.

Congratulations! Magician Lord is a great game with a great challenge. Too few players nowadays appreciate that.

I am pretty sure a lot of us wished to own a Neo Geo. It was way out of my budget back then.

My parents had a lot of money and I would drop my grades whenever I wanted them to get me something and then raise them again.

Pretty good for a country boy ehh?

I wanted the Neo-Geo so bad when I was little. My only taste of it was playing King of the Monsters and Samurai Shodown in the arcades. I finally ended up buying one 4 years ago and it sits above my bed to this day, protected from dust. Definatley one of my favorite systems and it has my favorite fighting game of all time, Samurai Shodown 2. I never beat Magician Lord but I am going to try now that it is on VC. Lets hope for some Last Blade action on VC. Long live Neo Geo!