Cool idea, but as you say, very buggy for now, and the physics/controls feel quite mushy. Would like to see this in a more fleshed out version, the concept reminds me a bit of the old donkey kong countries where you could become and animal (Rhino, Frog, etc.).
Definitely worth working on it, but maybe don't rely too much on ChatGPT for the code 'cause this ended up quite buggy :P