I have fond memories of it too. Granted, those memories involved being utterly confused as to how to proceed, but also being utterly astonished by the graphics. I distinctly remember it being basically photorealistic to my 9 year old self— going back to play it with an emulator was a bit of a shock (and letdown) compared to my memories of it.
I did beat it as an adult. As a kid I may lot have been able to get anywhere, but it was magical all the same.
The only possible word that comes to mind is “anticlockwise” used in (some parts of?) the UK instead of “counterclockwise”… but that doesn’t exactly match “diagonally”. Is it the word though?