This is the definition of retro! The addition of the joysticks too, 6/5!
The game was very, very enjoyable to me, but I felt like the boss was a bit too hard. (I did beat it in the end!) It spawned enemies quicker than I could kill them which is okay cause I could kite them around to get to the boss still HOWEVER the big beefy guys that can't be killed (I think?) couldn't really be kited around so it became a bit of an RNG-fest. I still enjoyed the grind though, fun experience!
Both the chosen soundtrack AND SFX were chef's kiss and I really appreciated it- added greatly to the retro experience. The controls were insanely responsive and not having any smoothing on the character was perfect for this type of game. The art fit the retro aesthetics really well.
I feel like you have quite some potential to make a bigger retro-like game here, maybe some additional enemy types- perhaps a single extra ability to destroy the "beefy boys", I'd be excited to play more of this!
Thank you for your submission!