Hey there. Back in the mid-90s I used to go over one of my friends houses to play video games. Unfortunately I was a barely sentient moron, so I don't recall exactly what systems he had or what games we played.
There was one in particular, a very colourful platformer that looked Japanese in art style. I recall the game being very mini-boss heavy: most of the encounters were 'unique' rather than waves of the same enemies coming at you again and again. One level early on was a city, where you'd jump across rooftops, and there was a dragon boss. Then there was a cave, and later a castle.
I know this is not a lot to go on. Honestly at this point I don't so much want to play the game because it was so great, but because it's been so long that I've been totally unable to figure out what the game was. I'm dying to satisfy my curiosity.
Thanks for any help!