Man, I love this game so much. I spent so many hours trying to burn down every bush and bomb every wall when I was kid, making my own maps and accidentally stumbling into all the wrong dungeons, most infamously the 8th dungeon which someone stuck under a random bush like a jerk.
>.<

I've always felt it was too bad the series veered away from this game's style for more fixed progression, though I suspect it was needed for narrative purposes.

Did you ever happen to try the SNES remake?