vectorman is an interesting note in sega's short lived, sort of one-sided 90s feud with nintendo. perhaps on the same level of alex kidd being the designated reactionary mascot to what nintendo was doing, being the center piece of mostly mediocre to bad games in response to genre defining software on the NES, but there's not a lot of people talking about vectorman as a rival to donkey kong country, as it's commonly posited.
despite this, vectorman 1 (and 2 to a bit lesser extent) has received a better accessibility treatment than a lot of other run-and-guns on the console since sega has the rights, with several re-releases across the dreamcast, gamecube, 2000s PCs, xbox 360 / PS3, smartphones, steam, and the genesis mini 1. it's got some interesting ideas as a run-and-gun, primarily with a mix of bosses that use entirely different modes of play that are only used once and then never seen again, alongside a double jump that deals waaaaaay more damage than your gun, if you're brave enough to put the enemy right underneath your feet without actually touching them and getting damaged. it's also quite a looker, and one of the few games that use the GEMS sound driver that not only avoids the stereotypical genesis TWANG but sounds pretty damn good!