nice one, give me hollow knight vibes! I'm not sure if that was design choice but the animation slowdowns feel like framerate issue, bu it's a interesting demo anyway.
Thanks for your feedback!
Regarding the slowness, this is an issue more related to the GB Studio tool, it tends to pull a lot of the Game boy hardware, I will make some adjustments to try to get it faster soon.
The only design choice is the lag related to the attack, the slowdown is purposeful to give you time to aim when countering a shot from "eyes" enemies, and also because it sounds cool.
I've never played hollow knight, but it's probably good.