Back when Pocky & Rocky Reshrined first came out, I remember seeing a lot of players claim that the game was way too hard. Which was funny, since I found it to be easier than the original Pocky & Rocky multiple times over (well, the first SNES game β let's not get in the weeds of what one might mean by "The Original Pocky & Rocky"). This was back when the game was only on Switch and PS4, so now that it's on Steam I finally sat down and 1CC'd the game with every character like I did on the Switch. Well, the numbers speak for themselves... Only 6.8% of all players have ever completed the game without getting a game over. This is fascinating to me. Is the game actually hard and I've just spent so much time with this series that I can't see it...? I guess this must be how FromSoft fans feel...
Interestingly, the earned achievement percentages perfectly match my assessment of which characters make the game easiest vs. hardest, with Ikazuchi trivializing the game while Pocky & Rocky ironically have the most limiting abilities. Maybe this is why people say the game is too hard, since so much of the story mode is spent with the two least-accommodating characters...?