Deleted my previous post ( it was a PayPal rant, lol )
Played a bit, and wanted to give some feedback.
The orbs ( options ) are neat, they reminded me of Cho Aniki. My one question ( and suggestion ) is why you aren't able to control them manually? Maybe move their position with the R-stick ( or arrow keys, WASD for lefties ) ?
Either that, or preset formations you can switch to on the fly, ala Silver Surfer for NES ( the other game this reminds me of ) I think either of those would be a lot more fun than cementing a single formation at the start.
The difficulty felt fine, the dynamic difficulty is good as well. Felt rewarding, and never too easy ( sub bosses were usually a joke, while main bosses provided a good challenge )
The different weapon types are neat, although I feel they arent varied enough to make them worth it. Also, they power up to max too fast. I'm going by Tatsujin rules ( ala タツジン ) or Truxton.
In that game, you collect powerups of up to 9 levels, separating each tier of power for every 3 powerups you collect without dying. When you die, you lose one powerup. And there was three types of bullet attacks ( that you choose by waiting for the P powerups to change color, identical to this game )
But, with the loss of some power for each death; it made getting a final stage 9, tier 3 bullet more rewarding - it made you perfect your skills up until then.
Overall the game is pretty good, The art in some areas and some animations aren't as good as they could be, but that's not even a real issue. Everything else is very solid, it's pretty fun and surprisingly polished for a beta game.