With platformers, if you want satisfying physics, you have to turn up the gravitational constant way up, increase the force of everything even more, then add artificial hangtime to jumps. Which is nothing to say of being able to change direction in midair with no external force acting on it.
Yup, platforming physics with a 5'10" character and accurate to real life gravity feels awful.
Although perhaps that's because platformer characters behave more like small jumping insects a few millimeters tall, and that's where we should go for "realism" that still feels good.
Being able to adjust momentum midair compensates for the relative lack of control over launch velocity in most control schemes. In real life, you've got a lot of control over where you land, but you don't need midair momentum control for it.
