It really is fascinating how this more or less set the expectation for NCs to all have the same structure and same gameplay and same deco and everything which held the vast majority of them back from being interesting, even though this is the reason they exist. You can even notice one of the other main reasons why most subsequent NCs suck already being in this level: the overfocus on the wave at the cost of all other parts. Add on the bad gameplay and this thing really set the standard low, eh?