Wow thank you so much for playing! I think you had exactly the type of experience I was hoping people would have, I'm really glad you didn't run into any strange bugs :) I've learned a ton from all the games in this jam, looking forward to implementing a lot more in the future!
I noticed your comment about how sometimes there were no sounds on some of the collectibles. This has been a mystery to me (I experienced it myself) and I wasn't able to figure out what caused this. I set them all up the same way in each level, and it wouldn't always be the same ones that didn't play, so it was difficult for me to recreate reliably. I agree with improvements to player feedback in general, great ideas!
I'm not sure which NES game you said this reminded you of with the vine climbing, when I was young I watched a lot of Legends of the Hidden Temple on Nickelodeon, I bet that was a subconscious influence haha
Thanks again!