Learn the controls. Being a classic side-scroller, the controls are simplistic and easy to learn. The controller is held sideways, so that your right thumb should be near the 1 and 2 buttons and your left thumb is near the arrow pad and A button.
Directional Arrows: Select the direction to move in (left/right). When in the air, the down arrow does a ground-pound. When climbing on a wire fence (found in castles), all four arrows are used to move around.