"YOU GREAT!" I ended this one with 5 lives, that was a very lucky one.
The base of the game is a great traditional shmup, super punchy especially and with plenty of interesting dodging and killing fast enough to perform, and the different game the extra mechanic turns it into is just as engaging if not more. I love the mechanic, in part because I like partially luck-based mechanics, and I tried to use it to its best (well not exactly as I only use the 'C' or 'V' weapons, depending on the enemies, but anyway) including trying not to defeat the last enemy of a wave when unstable and the hope of getting an extra life from this one had faded.
I think the difficulty is finely tuned for a jam too, dodging was just hard enough considering you're going to get plenty of extra lives and I spent pretty much the time I wanted to spend on the game to manage to beat it.
Very cool game.