Breja: I still prefer saves. I like being able to quit a game once I'm tired without losing progress. And if I'm being totally honest, I cheated my way through the final level because of that. It's damn hard, and having to replay the whole thing over and over again eventually wore me down to the point where I just wanted to see the end credits and be done with it. But before that last stage the difficulty level was quite well balanced and I did have a lot of fun.
Don't even remind me of the last level.... I still remember how I finished it literally with 1HP and no lives left. At one point, I was dead for sure and even removed my hands from the keyboard, accepting death. But the Dark Trooper that was bound to kill me in the final boss fight (I was stuck in a little alcove in a wall with no way out) jumped somewhere above me and landed on a platform there. After a few seconds, realizing I was not dead, I continued playing and was somehow able to kill him and complete the level.
He was literally the last enemy remaining in the level and he got the jump on me. Had the Dark Trooper not
actually jumped in that critical moment, I was 100% dead.
With manual saves, I definitely would not have this gaming memory for life.