Damn, I only made it to baby kraken before I gave up. Incredibly difficult but so stylish and authentic. You totally nailed the gamefeel, aesthetic, and difficulty of old-school action games.
I don’t have any feedback because every aspect of this design feels very intentional, which I really respect. I suppose I thought the vampire fight was curious, a lot of waiting around for an opening. I’m sure there’s some high-skill quick-kill strat where you hit the boss while they do their projectile volley but I couldn’t figure it out so I mostly just waited for bat form. Still very fun, might come back to this to see how much farther I can get.
The music and art were also perfect for what you were going for. Awesome work!