I enjoyed playing this game, though as SkyCharger said, it would have helped (to a minor degree, but still would) to have had a countdown as well, since I too thought you could die endlessly, until it was Game Over at my 89th or 90th death :p
This was a very nice game to play, especially for a Metroid-like made with minimal graphics and with the help of the PICO-8 engine, no less :)