Holy Diver (Famicom) Full Playthrough with Mike Matei ─ Cinemassacre

Playthrough of Holy Diver for Famicom with Mike Matei. This is an extremely difficult game made by IREM, probably most famous for making R-Type.
The thing that really makes this game difficult is the wonky jumping mechanics. It’s hard to explain, but basically the character doesn’t want to move and jump at the same time.
I do have to say there are a few things that make this game somewhat forgiving. Most importantly is that like Ghosts N’ Goblins there are infinite continues. So if you defeat a stage, you can play that stage over as many times as you need to. Also most of the bosses in the game are fairly easy. It is the levels themselves that are brutally difficult. And dealing with the poor jumping controls.
If you are trying to beat this game yourself, my only recommendation is just a lot of practice. I played this game a lot before I recorded this video. That way I had a fairly good idea of where to use the items, and how to handle the different enemies. I was still learning here, for example I figured out that you have to shoot the gray bats from the underside during this playthrough.
Note: Several sections such as farming for magic/health have been edited out for time. Filmed January 8th, 2017