Manual Transmission hard shift

1996 Passat with 5 speed manual shift.
My Passat is hard to shift into 1st. Or 2nd gear. Doesn't seem to matter if I'm rolling or sitting still. Any ideas?
I changed the shifter bushing and plastic piece on the end of the shifter on my 92 Toyota pickup and it cured the same issue.
Is the VW designed similar? I haven't tore it down yet.

First, shut the car off and press the clutch - does 1st and 2nd get easier to engage gear?

Still hard to go in 1st, if I wiggle shifter around and push hard it will go in first. Almost like something isn't lining up

Might be a different problem, but I broke my shifter a while ago, and cobbled it back together until I feel like transplanting the A4 mechanism sitting in my shed.

Anyhow, for me to get into 1st, I usually have to go Neutral, then quickly throw the stick left and push it up into 1st as soon as it reaches Full-Left. Almost a single motion.

2nd is OK, but trying to go 2nd-to-1st usually puts me into 3rd.

The next thing I would do would be to disconnect the shifter cables at the transmission, and see if the car will go into gear by manually manipulating the shift tower. If it does go into gear without issue, then you have an issue in the shift lever or cables.

There is also a fail prone plastic bracket at the transmission, check that before anything else.

Thanks, will give this a look tomorrow.

Mine had trouble going into 1st and reverse after driving. I cured it by unbolting the weight, tightening its stud, and reassembling. It's still a bit sloppy but goes into all gears properly now, without any parts replaced.