Your game gets my first perfect score of this jam, 5s across the board! You clearly get what made Metroid so fun while not being slavishly devoted to it. Getting the slide powerup (which is awesome) immediately gave me that "wait I know where to use this I gotta get back there" moment.
The music is killer, the art has great NES vibes, all the little touches of polish like your gun smoking when it overheats, it's so good. You've earned a follower on itch that's for sure, gotta see what you get up to next.
Minor bugs but somehow the "Escape" sequence/countdown triggered early for me, I think, and it ran out right as I beat the boss in the pit, and then just stayed on-screen with the timer glitching out haha. But it's a jam, I get it. Overall I loved it so please keep it up!