Yeah, i could tell it was something you were going for on purpose. Maybe it's the speed of the enemies that's the problem or even that the knockback from getting hit often knocked me into a pit and felt like too severe of a punishment for playing it a little too tight. Either way, the animation itself definitely captured the retro feel i assume you were going for, but in the context of everything else it kind of wasn't as fun as i think it could be, at least for me.
Not being able to attack while jumping also added to the controls feeling cumbersome i think.