Hi! Thanks for the review! I'm glad you like it! I find the short pause not needed, because every time you get hit, the ship starts blinking and during that time, you can't be hit. What I could do on the other hand is increase the duration time. I suggest to destroy the lines closer to you first. If the phase you are in, has enemies that move on the Y-Axis, destroy them first, unless they don't touch enemies that shoot, in that case it's easier to destroy them.

Here's a list of the enemies:

1 - The Pawn -> 1 hp, shoots 2 bullets type 0;

2 - The Guard - 2 hp, shoots 2 bullets type 1;

3 - The Patrol - Moves on X-Axis, 2 hp, shoots 2 bullets type 1;

4 - The Kamikaze - Moves on Y-Axis, 3 hp, every time it resets its position speeds up, doesn't shoot;

5 - The SparX's Son - 3 hp, shoots 2 bullets type 3.

6 - SparX is the Boss. After you defeat this guy, you win the game!

Notes; They are listed by order of appearance.

Here's a list of the bullets:

Type 0 - Normal speed;

Type 1 - 1.07% fasters than type 0;

Type 3 - 1.36% faster than type 0 and 1.27% faster than type 1.

Thanks for playing it! I'm glad you liked it!

I understand what you mean. But the idea is to create a GB themed game. In my mind, the as to be really close to the thing. A quick tweak on the code would fix it, but for now I'm gonna let it say this way. Thanks for the review and for playing!  

Well, thanks! 
PS: What I meant with my other comment, was not to force you to come here, I guess you misunderstood what I said, but that's ok! 

You actually, already unlocked the special movement, on that pic. I forgot to put a sound effect or a notification telling the player that the special is unlocked. Anyway, as you enter phase 08, the special unlocks and you can see the bar (above the score/high/lives) filling up. 

Thank you, very much!

I'm really happy that you feel that way, it makes me think that I brought that old school vibe to this jam, which was exactly what I had in mind. Thanks for playing!

Thanks! I'm glad you felt the resemblance with the old school games, that was the idea. I don't know if you read other comments but here goes a funny fact ahahah! Although the game is really small (between 100 - 250kb) the game could be even smaller, 32kb or less. Even more interesting is that I decided to make all in one class. It's such a mess aahaha. Thanks for playing!

Thanks!!! It's indeed true that the sprites only use two colors. Initially, the sprites had more colors, but because they're only 8x8, it wasn't looking very well. As I didn't have much more time left and I really needed to focus on coding, I decided to make them simpler, which did not end well, it became easier to mistake one enemy for another. What I realized tho, is that it doesn't matter ahahah, just dodge the bullets and you'll be fine. I'm joking a bit, but you are right! Thank's for the review!

Thanks a lot for the review! The idea of the game is to be a bit like Galaga, so I can't really implement the "hold-to-charge" mechanic. As for the special movement, the game has 18 levels in total, if I activate the special movement, before phase 8, the game will be way easier from the beginning. The idea here is to let the player understand the game and get the hold of it without the special movement. Once he is experienced enough with the normal input, comes the special movement, which must also be "mastered".   Games like these end up being repetitive. Galaga for example has a lot of levels, and it's very repetitive, because once you lose you'll have to play the same levels all over again. I'm not comparing my game to Galaga, because mine is really bad compared to it, but I believe these retro games are meant to be repetitive and to be mastered so you can beat it. Arcade games use to be like that before, but it seems that original genre is kinda lost, which's only normal, considering the evolution in the industry. What I might do, is decrease the amount of enemies on some phases, or decrease the number of phases. Also, I forgot to implement a way to get more lives and I'm not sure I'll be able to do it, before the voting ends. I really appreciate your review, thanks!

The controls are stated on the game's page. The key is 'Z'

Yeah, the .exe is made for windows only. I will publish the .jar version. Then tell me if you are able to play it or if still gives you the blank screen.