 IGN warned that gamers with lesser skills might not "get as much out of this game as others due to [its] incredible difficulty", and "Edge" commented that "Tecmo’s refusal to extend any kind of handhold to less dedicated players is simply a failure of design, not a badge of hardcore honour" and "it’s impossible to believe they couldn’t have found a way to increase the accessibility of the game without undermining the gloriously intractable nature of the challenges it contains.