Played Strider earlier this year, [8]. Played Axiom Verge last year I think, might've ended up as an [8] but at one point that felt like it was going to be very special indeed. It's definitely one of the better efforts for a non-nostalgia skewed list of the greatest MV's to play for the first time in this day and age (apologies to Monster Boy but that needs familiarity to reach full awesome).
Forgot I had Metroid Prime remake too. I'll see if I can get back into that actually (ignoring what I said about 2D). I'd just done a big plant boss so if I can get my bearings again I should carry on with that.
3rd boss is another spamfest - this time with the sword in blood pact mode, with healing. Was able to stand there and take 75% of its health off and I was at full health (minions were probably adding to the healing as well). Easiest boss so far - with my loadout.
Oh yes, I’m worse than most and have struggled with little and large and whetstone man. Little and large have been the worst so far - not a fan of that final stage.
I’m only mentioning these last 2 as they were spam fests requiring no skill.
The boss you mentioned might take me days to get past.
The final phase of little and large was shaping up to be annoying until I realised I had two fire resistance rosary beads. The balance is a bit weird for bosses in this in general. As a rule of thumb they get easier once you've got more bile flasks, which sounds like a Captain Obvious statement but they should get a bit trickier as the game goes along really, which (with one or two exceptions) they don't.
Update, did end up being a bit of a sword spam fest in the end - in the 2nd phase it didn't seem to move much.
Even used a prayer for the first time - a ghost companion. Not sure what it contributed though. Maybe enough to slow down the 1st phase healing.
Scallywag tip: try ignoring all enemies other than the floating ghosts and forced arena sections. Most sections (in the whole game) can just be skipped by jumping over people and shouting 'ta-ta!' as you exit the screen. No good for grinding upgrade points but unless you plan to upgrade all weapons they're plentiful anyway.