It was a good concept. But I think the "Girlfriend/Princess has been captured" cliche is a dead horse everyone should stop beating.
There is no replay value: To travel all that distance just to die and have to start over again is annoying.
The controls aren't quick enough. I press up, a fraction of a second goes by before I jump. I press forward, a fraction of a second goes by before I attack. If you're calling that part of the challenge, that's wrong. Don't make a player adjust to your game, adjust the game to it's audience. When a player has thousands of games to choose from, any snags in your game will cause a player to skip it and move on to the next one or return to a classic.