There was this one gameboy game I played a long time ago so I don't remember the name. But I do remember it was a shooter and the way they made strafing work was if you only pressed the directions, you would turn like in this game. When you held down R, it would freeze the direction you're facing and you'd go into strafing mode essentially.
I don't know whether that's the best idea or if it would work for this game, but it's just an idea to think about right
A standalone strafe button. I've thought of that, too - the Game Boy port of Contra 3 has B to shoot and holding A to strafe on the top-down levels - but I haven't tested that yet either 🤔 Plus even in that setup, the player would still be required to face the direction they want to shoot before holding the fire button.
It's certainly a control setup I'll want to try to recreate at some point though; I've got plans for many demakes, and that control scheme is bound to be an ideal fit for something.
