Thank you for your game! I haven’t played games of this genre for quite a long time and enjoyed the memories it borough back. Also, I liked that the first bullet comes straight on you, and you have to take it to become stronger :). Balancing your health and strength is a great idea. The bullets were hard to track visually, but I assume this is part of the challenge. Although, some variety in their size/effect will help to make the game more interesting. Shields made my day. I didn’t use the bomb, though. It could be my style of playing.
Currently, staying at full health doesn’t feel particularly useful. On the other hand, receiving two/three dmg is very helpful. So an idea came to me that you can balance this somehow. I.e., give players a bonus for having full health that could be useful in particular situations or against some bosses. For example, spacecraft with more health could be more maneuverable.