I'm not sure if anyone is aware of this but it's possible to skip the claw boss fight in the SNES version. The skip can be seen in this review of the game. The skip can be seen at around 4:25.

That's interesting and perhaps even a bless. I saw someone in the comments mentioning how to do it but I can't find his original comment. Any ideas?

I'm guessing that it happens because there is too much stuff happening on screen so if you hit the claw at the right moment with 3 aliens popping up then maybe that might be the key to success.