I'm playing it right now, original NES version, for the first time, and if it carries on like this then it is going straight to the bottom of my list.

Yes it was the first, but I don't see that as a reason as that I have to like it. This game is too unfair, unreasonable, unforgiving, annoying, and the battles take forever. I've just acquired the mystic key - does this game ever speed up, or is it a constant struggle all the way through?