Only games aren't meant to be enjoyed only when playing them for the second time flawlessly. They're meant to be enjoyed with intuitive controls and method of play. I'm not gonna try and search for a way to play this game "which the developers intended" just so it doesn't run like crap when I play it. It's supposed to be intuitive and the player needs to be able to do it in his first try, no matter how incredibly tough it might be. It just needs to be possible.
It's very well possible, just not
as fast or easy as later. People in BK make the mistake of constantly approaching enemies with jump attacks, which is great when you need the timing or the change of angle, but not for EVERY SINGLE SCHMUCK TO CRAWL OUT OF THE GROUND. If the player can't get the lunge attack through their head, that's their own problem.
Furthermore, those playing at a relaxed pace will find themselves rebounding off of homing attacks and doing their actual swing on the next bounce. It's a nice way to learn the ropes, but if you're actually quick, you can swing mid-homing attack, which cuts down on your time drastically and keeps up your momentum.
By your own words, tough but possible.
One usually does not attempt a stylized run in their first playthrough, though. The established mechanics of Sonic games only allow killing enemies while keeping up speed providing said enemies are sparse. Pick any instance in SA2 where two enemies appear side-by-side, especially if both are shielded, and you're not killing both without stopping. If you don't want to stop, you kill one and keep going. The same applies applies to 2D games with multiple airborne foes, you need to slow down to bounce on every one, or just pass them by and enjoy the fact that you danced around them. Black Knight is the same deal.
99,9% of the time, the new setups never work as well as the original ones.
Metroid Prime, Mario Kart Wii, Godzilla Unleashed, Mario Power Tennis, Zelda...
Hey, I'm not above forsaking the new for the established. Besides the obvious Brawl, the lack of a traditional control option is one of my most major complaints against Star Fox Command. But if the Wii taught me anything it's that, most of the time, which input device is better suited is up to personal preference.
But you're confusing my complaint. I'm not saying that the pointer is ill-suited for NiGHTS. If that was my problem I'd happily switch controllers. What I'm saying is that it damn well could have, and should have, worked, but Sega did a horrendously bad job of programming it. It's not a matter of how well the setup fits the genre, the pointer in the game is functionally flawed, and severely so. A failing such as poor fit (ie: remote-only in Brawl) merely encourages one to try something else. A functional flaw, however, severely damages one's confidence in the game. And when I'm looking at huge messes of jaggies and some damn boat gimmick being forced to interrupt my flight, that doesn't help any, not leaving me terribly tempted to find a work-around (maybe I will one day when I'm bored enough, but I don't see that day coming any time soon). Even if I do see how much fun the core mechanics can be, and I do, there are simply too many failings that need to be dodged or drudged through for me to consider it worthwhile.