I loved the original trilogy on the SNES, and I'm playing Returns on the 3DS, and I must say, these levels are insane. I don't recall losing as many times in the original games as I am in Returns; hell, in one stage I lost over 40 lives trying to finish it.
The game gives you coins by the bucketfull, and you can use them to buy bunches of extra lives. Which is good, because you're going to need the hell out of them.