Allthough this game is already over 10 years old, I may still leave a reply,because I just finished it :)
But first of all a message to all those saying that this game is too hard: Git gud.
I've already played much harder games here on newgrounds, dozens of those. There's a good 30+ games harder than that, which are just as old or older. So either these guys were whining on all of those too, or they didn't even bother trying them.
Although the game can be done within ~7min (I played it like 5 times to get all achievements, I actually learned to finish the levels without checkpoints, then it can be done that fast) it still tells a nice little story that can even teach you something.
Because even though it is the player that defeats the wizard and saves Atlantis, it was his buddy's bravery that made him try it in the first place, and he was the only fish that actually died in the end. So instead of crowning himself as the hero, he (us) told them to honour his deceased friend, that actually got just as far as us and started the journey in the first place.
And that is a huge act of chivalry, missing out on fame to honour the dead.
As for gameplay, the mechanics were easy to understand, it just took a bit of patience (which most players seemed to be lacking) to get used to the controls. I also like the idea of having limited checkpoints that can be placed as wished, that way everyone could set a checkpoint just before his/her own personal hard moments, to avoid redoing a bunch of other things before trying again.
I also noticed the exploits that could be used to make the game easier, which are
-laying an egg just beneath an egg item, to respawn next to it and collecting it each time, granting limitless restarts from that checkpoint, and
-pausing the game during the boss fight to make all projectiles except his fire lazer leave the screen without harming the player.
As others mentioned, I must agree that it seems a bit unfair to restart the whole third level each time you die during the boss fight, ignoring any eggs that have been layed during either the level itself or the boss fight. The level may be a bit shorter than the other two, but restarting it every time although the level itself has already been finished, adds more time than needed to an already hard final.
Here's also a few tips for the achievements (for the last medal)
- most achievements involve dying at certain places, touching certain things, laying eggs at certain places and clicking on things in the main menu.
The 3 hardest ones ( to find) were "heads up", "lights out" (both involve laying eggs on.. something) and "pancaked" (requieres dying at a certain trap in a very specific position).
All the other ones I was able to find by myself during the first 1-2 runs just by guessing what to do based on their names.
All in all I would say it's a solid game, the no-savepoint-boss substracts a star for unnecessary repetition, but despite that it's a good, fun and original game that sadly has been played by waaaay to many wussies in the past :D