I was impressed with the splash open, nice job with how the logo breaks apart, very entertaining.
The title was also impressive. I do have to note the NES feel is hurt badly by the VFX presented. They aren’t bad themselves. Particularly nice in the title. Just since its NES jam I have to note they take away from that particular feeling entirely.
I felt like some of the lines could be trimmed down in the dialogue to make those sections shorter to keep focused on the arcade action.
Gameplay wise it was hard to feel like I was getting any better at the game. There was a particular section that defeated me, and unfortunately in my playthrough’s universe, humanity is over as I could not get past it:
It was the section when you get slow cursed and then fight a wave of enemies moving side to side and firing fast. Its hard to dodge, and the bullets have a tendency to come in large waves. I always got to that section with 30 health and it obliterated me. I even stopped to farm health while I had only 1 enemy, which was time consuming and at +10 health per drop felt like grinding more than farming.
Some suggestions you could try for balance:
Maybe if the enemies were moving or shooting in a more predictable way I could have learned a pattern, but the bullets seemed to each be firing from each ship at different times.
Also More health in the health packs would of been a life saver (literally), even just 20 instead of 10.
It has charm though, good job! I like the arcade feeling of it even if it didn’t hit the NES feeling for me, it felt like an old arcade cabinet. Also the music was a good fit