oh yeah, love Celeste and I can kinda see the influence. I only did the B sides, those C sides were way out if my skill range! I just think the item throwing and stuff reminds me of mario, especially how you have to grab it again.
Ya it's fair for you to have put the box resetting feature given how you designed the level, since levels that can get the box lost would softlock. I just think maybe there were other puzzles you can design that would fit in with the rest of the game.
And yeah while the platforming can get slightly precise, the amount of coyote time made it not so frustrating!