I had never played the first one past the first boss (I believe it was either loaned to me by a friend, I had some kind of demo or I got it way after I got a PS2)... I had no idea it was this hard.
Maybe when I get to 2 and 3, which I played much more as a kid I will come to the conclusion that it is not the game's fault and that it is just nostalgia and me being a worse player now than when I was 10 years old.
I just got to the lab, but I had a such a bad time with some of the levels (basically all of the ones everyone has been complaining about). If it wasn't for the ropes on High Road, I think I would have gone insane.