What an intruiging premise! Competent mechanics, solid visuals, and a trippy little song to wrap it all together. 💚

I think the shooting sound could have been a little less prominent and full-bodied. With how often it plays, it can be a little annoying.

All-in-all, good work!

Cute li'l shooter game!

Maybe I quit before I got far enough, but it seems pretty easy to just go on forever, especially with the healing clouds. The title screen and game over effects were lovely, though it would have been nice to see some texture for the asteroids you're shooting.

Super polished!Love the idea of trying to make new gold by firing particles at mercury!

The shooting sound is too loud imo, I could barely hear the music, which is unfortunate since it sounds nice. Definitely needs more content but the simplicity does have a charm to it.

I like this shmup! But the game feels a little bland without some upgrades. Great job still!

I like classic SHMUP gameplay. But also, lots of SHMUPS add something to spice things up, like boosts and upgrades and other things. Even though you can never "beat" most SHMUPs, there is still a sense of progression. There is not much of that here. You're playing the same game in the first minute and the fifth.

This was an awesome experience and I loved the authentic border to it to really replicate the GB feel. I liked the sound effects and the music fit the theme well, I found myself bobbing my head to it. The health mechanic is rather subtle and well done, it also teaches the player how to dodge and strategize movement. The game felt authentic and simple with a well established loop and something you could definitely just play around on while waiting in line. Also my wife really appreciated the loss state animation and sound effects. 

Overall well done, looking forward to more. 

Neat little space shooter akin to Galaga! Even though I played it on my PC for this review I still really appreciate the mobile controls. Controls are smooth, music sounds great, easy to pick up and quite hard to master. 

(not very Gameboy-like, however. It's more akin to C64 in terms of how it sounds. Now I'm wondering if there's a game jam dedicated to SPC-looking games.)
I also appreciate the subversion of the theme of creating new gold because there's no more old gold left in the world. Solid entry!

Rad music!! The audio in general is FANTASTIC. The game itself is a little lacklustre, but even pulling off controls that feel this good in a jam is an achievement. Not to mention mobile support - nice one!!

Finally got around to playing this one, and my first impression after a few minutes is that quite a lot was left on the cutting room floor. What's here is very solid - everything is satisfying from the movement to the booster to the combo scoring for when you take down multiple not!asteroids at once, but it left me wondering if that's it. Without any in-game narrative to contextualise it or progression systems to evolve the gameplay over time, this is just an endless score attack game, and it's too easy & without any noticeable challenge ramp-up to work as that sort of game. Even something as simple as making it a finite number of minute-long waves that have a few more blobs each wave would have been enough structure to really elevate this, as well as giving it a clear end goal.

For your first game (at least according to itch), and solo to boot, this is honestly excellent. The mobile border is *chefs kiss*, and the gameplay is genuinely fun, but it's missing all of that connective tissue and variation that turns a gameplay element into a gameplay loop.

I liked the idea behind the theme, with mercury being turned into new gold, but I wish it came through more in the actual gameplay.

The side mouse controls are a nice touch though, and give the game a bit more personality.

This is a great interpretation of the theme! Super clean gameplay. I enjoyed the way the thruster did not provide finite Y control, but slowly drifted back. This is the kind of 'not in full control' feel I really enjoy (similar to driving a car off-road). Considering the tight loop, the only thing I would have liked is a reason to release the blaster. As it is, the button may as well be weighted down.

Fun entry and I'd be interested to see where it goes next, if you add more to it!

Fun gameplay loop and an unique twist on the jam's theme. Comboing mercury is quite fun. The underlying system here is super solid and responsive, I just wish there had been more elements like other enemies, stage hazards, etc. to threaten me. And imo it'd be really cool if the alchemical gold could be transmuted into some magical, out there upgrades and the like.

This is also SUPER accurate to the gameboy's limitations, so that's nice.

Great job!

Awesome job!!

Absolutely non‑banal and interesting interpretation of the theme, which is quite rare in this jam! The game has huge potential!! It would be much more interesting to play if you added a plot to the game: for example, crazy scientists have discovered a new way to make gold by splitting mercury. We play as one such scientist (not in space, but in our laboratory), and it’s no longer an endless shooter — it’s a process that has progress and an end, some kind of result.

As for the game in the form you presented it, I would advise adding, after all, a division into levels with increasing difficulty, and a limited supply of projectiles per level. And at least in text form — a backstory (otherwise, without additional description on your page, it’s impossible to understand that it’s mercury and gold :))

And I can’t help but say something about the soundtrack — it’s simply divine!! I enjoyed your wonderful music; it’s incredibly suited to the atmosphere of a chase, a battle, danger, and flying through merciless, cold space…

Great performance!!

Funny, there's another game like this in this jam (I can't remember the name of it). I like the idea of collecting gold dust to recover your HP. At first, I thought it was a bug that you could hit connected blobs with one shot, but then I read it was meant for bonus points :D Great work, I had fun playing it!

The backstory behind the game is really interesting! It offers a unique take on the game jam theme. That said, without reading the description, it’s not immediately obvious that we’re turning mercury into gold; a brief opening cutscene or a tutorial would have been a nice touch.

I also read on the game page that you plan to keep developing the title, so good luck!

Fun shmup! I liked that you don't move Up/Down with the d-pad like other space shooters, it makes the Y axis feel more deliberate in how you have to move. This has a lot of potential, especially with the creative sciencey premise. :)

My main critique is that the fire sound was very loud, it overshadows the music. And the music is really good, I love the echo-y melody on top of that crunchy bass and the drums.

Really felt like a classic game! Everything from the music and sound effects to the gameplay itself was really nostalgic. Would love to see how you expand on this!

Alright so immediately I was wondering why the initial loading screen for the game was so big, and then I saw it.

Fantastic implementation of making it look like it's actually on a gameboy, A+ presentation.

More variety would have been nice, and I think your spritework for the ship was pretty good too! Can't comment much on the asteroids, but they get the point across pretty well. Well done!

making the overlapping blobs get destroyed as one was a nice touch.  like others said, add some progression / levels / etc and you've got yourself a stew going here.

Really enjoyed this. the soundtrack especially. There’s certainly scope to expand here, perhaps more levels, upgrades. that sort of thing. I can see from the comments it’s already been said but the shooting volume was a little loud, it got in the way of the soundtrack. nice little game.