Gotcha, cool. Thanks for the feedback! Yes, I actually never liked vertical/horizontal shoot 'em ups myself, haha, so this was my experiment in making one that I would like—more interesting movement controls, more vital choices of when to fire and not fire, etc.
I still like the game and agree that it has potential to be more, I just have a whole ton of other projects that also have potential. :) We'll see!
If you like games with odd controls, you might like Hammerfight (or a newer, Steam game called Sigma Impact, though I don't think it's as good).