I appreciate your thoughtful response! If you're free to give me a deeper analysis, id be grateful ☺️
When you mention wall jumps being slippery, I suspect you are trying to use the arrows to wall jump, but there is no need. You can simply start sliding on a wall and jump repeatedly until you get to the desired height
When I mentioned the velocity reset on landing, this is exactly what I meant when you said you felt "bogged down". It's meant to encourage you to take your time and focus on precise jumps instead of running and jumping constantly like Mario. I feel if I tone this down, I'm essentially trying to make it more Mario like, but I'll experiment with it.
Here's a version with a toned down velocity reset. Makes running and jumping feel less heavy, but I'm conflicted about if its objectively better: https://dwhiffing.itch.io/waltermelon-postjam