Thanks for playing and raising original points.
I liked the stair mechanic, admittedly, I’ve never played CV2, and got thrashed playing Zelda for research. I don’t know how you’d expect the stairs to handle. Pressing up jumps you off them, getting hit knocks you off them.
Dithering flickered for me too. I can probably can that gimmick post jam, which will be a long time, with many more fixes made in the meantime as I have to wait for MetroidVania Jam to end (unless I get DQ for not MV enough).
Being raised on 1-button joysticks, up to jump seemed the obvious solution. Secondary attack is a WIP.