I'm probably one of the few, or many most likely, that didn't finish the first game because of how frustrating the puzzles got, or seemingly so at the time, apparently. After playing through most of Ms. Splosion Man (MSP, and yes, no apostrophe), currently still on 3-11 (not stuck, just a lack of motivation and now Bastion's in the way), I decided it'd probably be a good idea to go back to the first game to see exactly how much easier I hear it is compared to the sequel, as one might expect, and because I've a huge regret for never seeing the ending to the game from my own terms.

First of all, I browsed the levels I skipped and questioned my 2010 (the last time I played the game) judgement when I completed each level within one minute of their suggested par time. MSP is definitely rife with much more variety in puzzle elements, and thus, much more complicated and handily prepared me more than ever for 'Splosion Man. Soon, I'd breeze through every level from level 3-3 to 3-18, or to whatever the final boss level is, in one sitting and the only annoyance came in the form of a triple jump where I had to utilize one wall to get from a low left to a high right after deflecting five motorized ninja stars (?) against a robot while pacing myself against a rising watery death. And that's it. One lousy jump. Everything else, actually everything, in the last set of levels for 'Splosion Man felt like traversing through World 1 in MSP, which can still be no slouch.

With Brad's comments on the recent bombcast being "vindicated" by a user's e-mail, I never really lost the location of my "Man" like I do every once in a while in MSP, a fact with which I agree moreso after noticing how well 'Splosion Man's orange, glowy contour against the silver, almost shiny research facility is compared to the Ms. Splosion Man's similar silhouette along with embiggened assets that surprisingly go to waste once the camera zooms out in the varied environments she visits. Sometimes, just exploding with MSP would make me wonder exactly where she is and blame the game even more. Nonetheless, I still think both are fantastic games, but being a minimalist, I really wish the developers had gone with a more simpler way to get around levels in MSP, or maybe just make it like 'Splosion Man's, it is a time trial game after all.

Anyway, if you have 'Splosion Man and never finished it yet have Ms. Splosion Man, the entirety of 'Splosion Man is a cake walk compared to Ms. Splosion Man. The cake walk thing just came up, I didn't notice the pun until I typed this sentence.

I didn't really find the first one hard, so this is good news to me :) Though the losing your character sounds like it kind of sucks :(

I felt like I was putting up with Splosion Man at points, maybe I'm not quite the minimalist you are but it just got repetitive.  Like you said, MSM has much more variety.  That variety is a reason that it stayed consistently fun for me.  Well, near the end, there were a couple of  "I get it, you made a hard game" moments where the difficult stuff combined with the time between checkpoints got ridiculous.
 
The World 2 boss is really the only time I had a problem with seeing where I was but that that fight was so easy, it didn't really matter. Plus it looked damn good, your move Unreal.   

@ez123 said:

I felt like I was putting up with Splosion Man at points, maybe I'm not quite the minimalist you are but it just got repetitive. Like you said, MSM has much more variety. That variety is a reason that it stayed consistently fun for me. Well, near the end, there were a couple of "I get it, you made a hard game" moments where the difficult stuff combined with the time between checkpoints got ridiculous. The World 2 boss is really the only time I had a problem with seeing where I was but that that fight was so easy, it didn't really matter. Plus it looked damn good, your move Unreal.

Oh, about the minimalist thing, I meant how I thought selecting levels in 'Splosion Man was something I'd prefer more than a world map. I should edit that later.

Most of the time, I'd lose clear sight of Ms. Splosion Man during the car-hopping sections, where the screen can be filled with cars along with some in the background and foreground (I think), which were probably added to showcase the ultra power of the Beard engine. I'd also hate how scientists and meanies would slam into the screen when I killed them. That kind of thing makes sense in a brawler or something, but not in a game where I need to keep an eye on Ms. Splosion Man at all times. It really isn't that much of a problem though as they can be avoided by having more careful pacing and anticipation, they're sort of like obstacles themselves in a way.

the octopus boss mentioned in the bombcast is the only time i really lost track of my character

Lose track of her all the time.  She's like a squid squirting out puffs of ink to mask her position.  A lot of the game feels like it's trying to trick you and the fun factor really falls away fast.  I really think they should have gone all Valve and user tested it more.  'Splosion Man is a much better experience.