Seriously, I'm starting to wonder whether the 18 levels thing is because they literally ran out of space. Or maybe time, given how long it probably took to draw all those graphics and animation frames.
I mean, look at the sprites for the enemies:
http://www.spriters-resource.com/game_boy_advance/wl4/
18 to 20 frames seems to be the MINIMUM for these guys. That pirate from Crescent Moon Village has what? 80 frames? It's nuts, especially when EVERY level seems to have multiple animations purely for background elements.
I wonder whether they ever hit space limits, or got told 'can you please hurry up a bit, we've got to release the game at some point'. Hence not a ton of levels.
I mean, look at the sprites for the enemies:
http://www.spriters-resource.com/game_boy_advance/wl4/
18 to 20 frames seems to be the MINIMUM for these guys. That pirate from Crescent Moon Village has what? 80 frames? It's nuts, especially when EVERY level seems to have multiple animations purely for background elements.
I wonder whether they ever hit space limits, or got told 'can you please hurry up a bit, we've got to release the game at some point'. Hence not a ton of levels.