Hey!
I think I didn't initially shoot the thing, so I didn't realise it would fling me across until I did it for accident and went looking for what made me jump.
I initially thought you had to go right cause mario goes right in the cutscene, and so I figured since you go right to get the gun, your mission will be to follow him. I think the idea of going left in video games is definitely interesting (literally reverse), I just wish it was maybe a bit more obvious that this was the intended way right away