Wow. Just wow. The feel of this is fantastic! Also... worked amazingly with a controller. So extra stars just for that. :P
I really loved the directional attack thing... taking advantage of using a dpad. Super cool. The attack required such precision...so it created an interesting choice and made it feel diff than standard side-scrollers.
I really wanted to use the downward slash more as that one felt great, but it was so hard to pull off without also losing a heart. I wish that during that attack, if you got a successful hit, it made you invulnerable for that moment. So it would encourage using it and pulling it off. Whereas now even when I get a successful hit, I'm still punished. So I just stopped using it.
I loved that I felt like I was playing an actual GB though. And the palette choice of BW with the accent green worked so well!! Awesome stuff.