You did a decent job making this look like a NES game. Being able to edit your controls is always the right move. You did a great job with the looping theme. Some of the characters seem to be stronger than others. You could always have included more power ups.

Notbad

So this was notbad of a game here and had some fun with this one the art and graphics are cool the game controls are nifty and are smooth so I had fun with this one

~~THINGS TO IMPROVE ON~~
A creative game that does not need much changes at this time

~X~

I don't know your intentions.
Here are some thoughts:
Character imbalances:
Electric guy's special is OP?
It feels like Fire guy is intentionally weaker than everyone except leaf guy.
Contra guy is obviously there for added challenge for experts.

Purple wizards are problematic when they are up high because their attack seems to instantly hit you when you are on a high platform.

The game overall is pretty balanced and well thought out although it doesn't appear to be refreshing or innovative.

An interesting little retro style platformer game that makes you relieve the old console days. The game fits the Ludum Dare theme of "One Room" quite well with having the same room loop over and over again while increasing in difficulty. The multiple map types and customizable controls makes it a really well implemented game, considering the limited time it has been made in. The music is also well selected for the game. A few things could've been improved like an achievements system and a leaderboard so other Newgrounds players can brag with their skills in old school gaming. All in all a decent game, that I featured as my second game in my Ludum Dare 37 Let's play: https://youtu.be/94P_eRsIcRA . I hope you can continue making even better games.

To put in my two penn’orth in the discussions about difficulty…

Well, I’m afraid You’d consider me a newschool n00b, since Cancelled Refuge is really much of a challenge for me… But still, tbh, I’m developing a liking for difficult games and will be the first to admit that many (not all) today’s games are too easy, both Indie games and mainstream ones. Can’t handle real Nintendo Hard yet – though, I’m making my slow progress on titles like the original Far Cry on Realistic, or some Bullet Hell games (on easier difficulties, though…)

In time I’ve developed my own way of thinking about what difficulty should look like. I suppose you won’t agree with me, but tbh I don’t like the fact that you cannot save in between loops in Cancelled Refuge. Look – I know I can pass Loop 2 for example, and even a few subsequent loops, and having to repeat this time and time again to reach those loops that pose a real challenge for me is most tedious and boring. The better I am with the game, the longer it takes me to reach the difficult loops, and therefore, the more annoying the game becomes.

In contrast, if the game could save in between loops, I could treat it like a series of increasingly difficult tasks in a book of riddles. Or mathematical exercises. Having passed one riddle, I can focus on the subsequent one, without having to solve all previous ones again.

You'd probably say that this would make the game too easy. I don’t know if these loops go ad infinitum, but – I think this wouldn’t. If they are enough possible to pass loops, then everyone sooner or later would hit their wall, and become stuck at loop they cannot pass. In addition, such a setting could allow to gamify even the early loops – you could set up per-loop and per-character highscores based on time taken to beat that specific loop.

You say in the standalone Windows version of the game you deny in-between loop heart regeneration. Assuming everything else is identical to the Flash version, then this IMHO won’t make the game slightly more difficult – it will make the game much more difficult and horribly more annooying. And will prevent many folks from reaching these loops they might actually find difficult and interesting, if the punishment for carelessness early-on is permanent.

Look, I’d honestly argue for giving all characters only one heart (therefore, demanding perfection) – but while allowing in-between loop saving.

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Oh, an by the way, I confirm the bug with HUEY 2X4B’s primary gun. It tends to suddenly switch to a much weaker gun, that of CONTRA’s, and this persists even in subsequent loops, and even if you die and start the stage again from loop 1.