Possible I have played legendary shoot-em ups on both platforms. R-Type in particular is a high-watermark that Michael even mentioned was a source of inspiration. No auto-fire. In fact, that game has 2 fire modes. Tap to fire, and press to hold for a big blast (a cool mechanic). Heck even games like Turrican didn't have auto-fire. BUT - if you had a joystick - you could "cheat" and use it no sweat. That's what a lot of kids did back in the day that could afford one.
This game follows those paths. It's not a problem as I see it. Somehow Tony beat this game countless times.
And a lot of the games you're probably thinking of were cracked to have trainers put in front of them to give you all kinds of weapons upgrades, and even infinite lives, Continues, etc.
Welp, a Trainer has been released already for this game in both PAL and NTSC mode. So now we can really hone our skills level by level by trying to do a complete run. It's just like the old days.