I am not joking when I say this is the best action game this platform has ever seen. It is the only action game this platform has ever seen. Because you can only emit characters, one per frame, at the bottom of the screen, in order. Obviously I would have placed the player further up the screen, except you literally can't.
The compromise was to move the obstacles. They appear (and end) before you hit them... underground. You are hitting the cellar as you dig underneath this Chilean squiggle of a kingdom.
Admittedly it'd be better-off moving the collision one row closer and relying on longer shadows for reaction time.