Thanks! I completely understand what you mean by recording and editing taking a lot of time. While not exactly the same, I do record gameplay videos myself for speedruns and still only have to do some simple cutting afterwards, not also record myself speaking and make sure the audio is hearable.
About the game itself: the 'balls' are actually pearls and getting them is how you get the second/good ending. I was planning on adding a dash (because those are a staple of Metroidvanias), but had to settle for just having the speed boost due to not having enough time to add it while also extending the map so there would be an area where you could get it.
You can actually avoid the frog's hand by using the speed boost as it stops following your horizontal position when it lunges up to grab, but you're probably not the only to just let it grab you instead.
This next part might be a bit surprising, but the version you played is actually a bit easier than the original project. The section at the start where you jump from the left onto two blocks and the the larger platform with an air pocket was a section where you needed to make multiple tight jumps back and forth between left and right to go up a staircase of blocks while making sure to not hit your head on one of them in versions 1.0.0 and 1.0.1. I adjusted it yesterday in version 1.0.2 due to it being too frustrating, so you actually got lucky with that. I probably should have adjusted the rest of the platforming as well.
This is a bit of a lengthy reply, but I thought it'd be nice to clarify a few things.
P.S. My pronouns are he/him.
P.P.S. Hope you succeed at playing all the games!