I'm really angry I just missed the rating time, because I would've given this a 5 in everything! The game has such overwhelming style and polish to its gameplay and visuals, the simplistic art style lends super well to the combat, and animations always telegraph attacks. 

The music has a classic 8bit feel to it, and I really, really like retro music like that. On top of that, it fit extremely well with the action, especially with the final boss. 

The combat and movement is quick and very fun. Every attack you deal has an amazing feel to it, especially that finishing blow, reminding me of the finishing blow from Shovel Knight. Every boss telegraphs their moves well, and have a wide set of moves. I especially like how you are immediately thrown into action, as you are taught the mechanics. On top of that, every boss also has a strong personality, with the last one feeling truly powerful. It certainly has enough polish and class to make me want a full game out of this.

It's a little touch, but I like how the game tells you how bad you were at the end, with the "you got up x times". Overall, one of, if not the best from the jam.

All I can say is that this game is fantastic and certainly the best game I have played in the jam so far. The personality of the bosses and the player character were great. The gameplay was fun and responsive, and it had more juice than a Vlambeer game. My only complaint whatsoever was that the control scheme felt a bit awkward. The hand position I need to use to press both the x/c keys and the space bar is a bit uncomfortable. Excellent game overall, I hope it wins.

It feels so good to play this game. It is easily one of the best games in the jam. The characters are dripping with personality, and the combat is satisfying but challenging.

I love how the first battle is the tutorial, and although we are thrown into it, we're also given all of the game's controls so we never get lost.

What a wonderful little morsel of boss rush goodness!

This was so great! There's a lot of juice to this game. I love the music and the sfx, they make the fights feel even cooler. The stylized screen whenever the player or an enemy dies is also super cool! Animations were also really good. You were able to pack a lot of personality especially with the second boss. I love that guy!

 A little bit hard, though. And I keep forgetting that I can roll, and I didn't quite know which attacks I could roll through. My only real gripe is the weird controls. Mixing x/c with the spacebar was just really hard. Wish you used the z key instead or the up arrow.

I think this might be my (new) favorite entry so far!

Really great game! The fighting mechanics, effects, and sounds make the game feel really good to play. Well done!

Very cool game ! It feels like your inspiration was undertale, and you did it ! Very nice boss phases, animations and 8 bit sound design / musics also.
Maybe i would have prefered to use up arrow to jump, it's more intuitive.

Keep it up ! :)

I see you've also made a triple boss fight. (Mine is more on the easier side though.)

Your game's narrative and dialogue has a alot of charm, I loved how the speech was emphasized through sound effects and timing, very clever. I also loved the fluidity of the last boss' animations. I thought it was also clever that the last boss was aware the player would be knocked down, quite meta.

I do think some of the the attack patterns especially in the latter half of the second boss and the third boss in general were quite difficult though, mainly either alot of different things to juggle at once or the super quick reflexes it takes to respond. The partial health recovery definitely helped with making the game easier to beat but this was a really great entry overall.

Amazing job!

Really good design on the bosses, there was enough difficulty while not being impossible to learn the pattern of the attacks. The ability to "Get back up" when you lose is a great idea, especially for a game jam, where people won't have too much time to give to your game.

Your music is great too!

I have to agree with what I assume everyone else is saying: This game is awesome. You nailed the feel of the combat. The music and sound effects are great. This is an actual game and I would love to see more. Very cool that you made it with love2d. congrats!

The look of this game is amazing. Not only is it visually appealing, but you manage to give so much information to the player without overloading them, like using colours to show what the next attack is going to be, the little red flash to show where the "attack" zone is, but the way it fades out also tells you how much time you have to dodge, everything really ties together to make this awesome compact experience! 

Extremely juicy combat that is tight and responsive as it needs to be for a boss rush action platformer. The characters pop with personality in their animations. The boss attack cycles are really well done, and the slash, roll, and jump all work really nicely together to make for engaging encounters. It's got a unique vibe and while I don't think I totally get it, it seems to get what it means to be a challenging but fair kind of game. Very very nice.

sick. as. hell.

Love the animation, the sounds, the screen effects, the attack indicators, all the fun attacks all the bosses do, the dialog, everything.  What a great jam game!  And you've struck a great balance by reducing the health of the boss after a death, meaning jammers of all skill levels can keep trying, but you can also make the bosses difficult and have all kinds of sick moves.  The only thing I'd ask for selfishly is a phase 3 for the final boss :)    Definitely one of my favorites! perfect scores all round

This is very impressive, given the time constraints! I’ve ready your devlog, and as a fellow Love2d first timer as well, I totally agree with your feeling: it absolutely gets out of the way, allowing you to build whatever you want on top of it.

Is this game open source anywhere? I’d love to see how you managed to handle your animations, especially the “trail” on the last boss’ moves, it was very very well done!

Also, great job on the screen shake and the little details like the red squares moving inside the HP bar.

Definitely one of the best games I’ve tried in this jam!

This is absolutely delightful. I loved playing this and all I want is more bosses or a continuation of some sort. I have no real complaints, the boss fights are hard but the knockdown mechanic makes it accessible to all players.

This is absolutely amazing!  One of the best games I've played so far!!!  The gameplay is so tight and the amount of "Juice" is great.  you can really feel every impact.  The sprites are perfect and every character and movement is clearly readable.  And the music's grooving too!  Literally perfect in all categories!  This really shows just how much is capable in such a small game space.

Great job! The battles felt engaging and the dialogue with the rumble effects made me laugh.

Great animation, fluid motions and very dynamic flow of action during the game. Music fits quite well. Excellent job!

Wow this was insanely good. Really liked it. The speech was done really well and added a lot. The music and sounds suited perfectly. I also think the difficulty ramped up nicely which can be tricky. The bosses had a nice variety of attacks and really good indicators for each which made it fun to learn the patterns rather then frustrating. I also really like the art and character designs! Really great game over all! I’m feeling inspired to make a boss rush game now.

(oh also, just to let you know I accidentally deleted your comment on my jam page. I read it all first and it was really nice! Pointing out the thing about getting stuck in the wall as well as I was able to fix that quick enough. Thanks for playing my game and leaving the comment!)

This game was so good you did such a good job! I really appreciated how forgiving the "knocked down" feature was, so the game never felt overly difficult. I found the control scheme a little confusing to use though, and got my wires crossed a couple times.  Overall though, a very enjoyable game :)