Thank you, I was playing a lot of Meat Boy and Celeste when I wrote this and that was the feel I was trying to capture. You're correct, I think modern game design is one of the reasons there's a resurgence in quality C64 games. I wish I'd know in the 80s what I know now, I could have been much more successful.
8.52 seconds for level 2 on "normal" is the time to beat.