Great work, this was fun to play and it fits nicely with the NES tradition of vertical space shooters.  I was feeling pretty good at that halfway point -- alas, an illusion!  I played to the end end and had fun.  In level 1B, the long strings of blue enemies (and maybe also the single red ones?) kept coming down and encircling the screen while I was fighting the boss, which i assumed was just a step-up in challenge that forced you in closer to the boss and required quicker player movements/reactions, but when the 2B and 3B bosses didn't have that, I realized it may have been an accidental overlap of game phases.  But it actually worked really well!  Nice job on this game.

The princess is saved.

My highscore was 60150 points, I died once in Level 38 and I wonder if it was due to a bug as regular enemies went on coming during the boss fight which might or might not be intentional.

Although the visuals don't propose some traditional distinctive NES look the game follows the limitations which is more important and I think that gameplay wise it's totally a game I could have played on a NES. The difficulty was perfect for me for the jam, the midway twist and following level numbering are nice touches and I had fun playing.

Cool!

Cool little shmup-- feels like a simple Xevious-on-Intellivision. Easy to pick up, hard to put down! Would've loved a few more enemy types!

Summary:  Not a bad game in it's own right. It plays fine. I am just not sure how well it fits in an NES Jam.

Notes:    

• If you are going to have a large health bar, it might be idea to do something with it.  A gradual regeneration or enemies doing different amounts of damage would benefit the bar.
• Bonus Point: You have a pause button! :)

I scared jump at first, altough gameplay doesnt hit my nes buttons I do liked it, good job!