I am in the same boat here. I told myself I wasn't going to make a final decision on buying the base game or not until I beat Cement man (or as far as they let you go in the level), but I barely make it past the elephants.

I played MM4 on my NES and got through three bosses before dying once. I am not sure if they made MM9 more difficult or if part of it is the 360 controller. Actually, MM9's Cement Man level does seem to take more precision timing than MM4 does.

As far as actual hints go there really is only one for games like these...memorize the levels and timings.

Oh, is there a save feature in any form?

You can save after each level if you want, there are 8 save slots (will be a life saver for those who are going for the achievements)

I've got a good sales tactic for you.

Let's make a game that's so incredibly hard, that only 3% of the people who try the demo can even finish it!

That 3% will buy the game for sure... then uh... word of mouth?

Seriously, XBLA already has at least two 2-D platformers WAY better than MM9, cloning clyde and Braid. Both of them easy to get into, and lots of fun when you get deeper into them.

MM9 is hard simply because the designers wanted it to be. Like Super Mario Brothers 2, (the real one, not the US one,) few will ever complete the game, and just as few will ever appreciate it.

MM9 is driving me up a wall personally and I regret the purchase a bit now.

It isn't that the game is poorly made or anything like that. What I have played seems very well done. It is the difficulty of the levels. Maybe I just don't have the patience to spend an hour+ and numerous redos memorizing the levels to finish them, but after afew attempts it no longer feels like a game and more like a job.

The beginning of thes Splash Woman level is a prime example. It isn't a complex section really, but a move made a second late and you die. Every screen swap to a new section and you die because there is no warning. The only way to get past it is to memorize the path around the spikes.

The older Mega Mans had sections like this, but less frequent and shorter. The sections in MM9 seem designed to make that fraction of self described "hardcore gamers" gloating material and nothing more.

Bionic Commando is also a difficult 2D game, but dramatically less frustrating than MM9 which makes you wonder who had oversight over the two games.

I thought it was just me! I never played any of the older MM games since #1 on the Gameboy, but I gave up on the demo after 15mins of trying to get pas the first few screens. I mae it to the first ladder and up, once!

Too expensive for the level of effort required.