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This was actually really really fun to play, holy cow!

Fixed! Now users will have to press (X) + (^) to start (and continue if all lives are lost).

The change was initially implemented to prevent players that were mashing the shoot button from accidentally continuing the game when all lives were lost. Thank you for understanding!

What do you mean?

EDIT: Oh I may have been slightly a dingus here.

Thinking about it now, I imagine people playing this title on a handheld may have trouble pressing the (<-) and (->) buttons at the same time...

I'll release a quick fix for this tonight. I imagine changing it from:
(<-) + (->) to something like (X) + (^) might work.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention!

Heads up - I ended up reverting back to the limited ammo system.

To repeat what I wrote in my patch notes:

While the feedback I received was generally positive, I found that this invalidated the core game mechanic of juggling the Iron Egg as a main source of damage entirely. Players reported that though juggling the Iron Egg with limited ammo was tricky, juggling the Iron Egg with unlimited ammo "felt like a chore" - it became too easy and trivialized the entire game.

Looks like I learned another lesson! Just because a lot of people complain does not mean the alternative they're providing is necessarily a good idea haha

I hope you'll give my game another go and let me know what you think! I've kept things like allowing the Iron Egg to bounce off the ship, and also polished up a few more things (i.e. changing button inputs to start, re-start, and continue game).

Finally got around to playing the other entries to the AX game jam - yeah this one, this one is a banger

EDIT: ok just wanted to give a more thoughtful comment. Really liked the game mechanics, and the music and aesthetic felt just right too!

Finally had some time to play this game! Really enjoyed how unique it felt. Loved the presentation and gameplay felt fun!

Thanks for the feedback!

It looks like the credits scene got messed up as we were rushing the game to meet the game jam submission deadline. Unfortunately we're prohibited from updating/fixing the issue until the judging period is over, but I'll definitely keep the issue on my to do list once it's over!

I love your comment about experimenting further with the game's mechanics! In hindsight, maybe I should have done more of that as well. Unfortunately I ran out of token count, but maybe if I optimize my other code, I could bring back the shot limit while keeping the new feature of the Iron Egg bouncing off the ship.

We'll see if I have time for that though *shrug*

Yeah, I ended up removing it. Though I felt the design was very clever (and I really loved the reload mechanic) the majority of feedback I received commented that just trying to keep the Iron Egg from leaving the screen itself was an engaging challenge. On top of the fact that I had run out of token count and that I wanted to implement a few other things (i.e. the Iron Egg bouncing off the ship on contact),  the shot limit had to get cut.

That said:  I am considering uploading a version of the game prior to the shot limit removal ("Vanilla" Scramble, Scramble!!) and leaving a comment in the developer's notes that the shot limit is the "intended experience."

EDIT: Also just want to add one tidbit!

Take what I say right here with a massive grain of salt because I'm a very inexperienced, hobbyist gamedev:

One big lesson I've learned from this project is that even if I think an idea is very good (i.e. limiting bullets in order to artificially enforce player engagement with the Iron Egg's positioning) it doesn't necessarily mean the player will enjoy it. The most common feedback I'd get after explaining why the shot limit was implemented was:

"But it's not fun :C why you gotta narc my fun?"

If I received that comment only once I'd still feel confident in my gut feeling that the game mechanic was fine. But after receiving that comment from many people, I realized it just had to go.

Lesson learned! Just because a mechanic is theoretically defensible does not mean most of your players will like it.

I'm glad you enjoyed my game! Love the 1-sentence review!

Thank you! I'm glad you liked it!

Thanks! Considering my limited experience with sprite art, I'm pretty proud of  how they turned out!

That's great! Thanks!

I love how the game felt just right to play! The controls felt really good. I also loved the game's overall aesthetic and the variety of hazards to avoid felt really good

I haven't had a chance to play your game yet, but I'm very excited to check it out tomorrow (unfortunately I found your game just as I was about to go to sleep)

The screenshots here make the game look like a really fun adventure title! I'll be sure to come back and comment again after I play it!

Question - none of these games are included with buying the Playdate, right? I put in an order for one and I need to wait until 2023 to get mine :C

These titles look genuinely fun, but I'm purposely avoiding looking into them just in case they're included with the Playdate (I want the titles to be a surprise!)

This game feels so great to play! The sounds and controls feel just right!

The Gear Empire has invaded your star system. Pilot the Blue Raptor to defeat 15 waves of enemies by shooting them down with bullets or by crushing them with your Iron Egg!

Scramble, Scramble!! is a shoot-em-up with a breakout/"Arkanoid" twist!

Scramble, Scramble!! is a short game that combines the core mechanics of shoot-em-ups (shooting bullets up) and brick-breaker games. Inspired by quarter-munching arcade titles from the past, the game invites players to test their skill in defeating waves of enemies with both bullets and the Iron Egg. Be careful, though - while the Iron Egg is powerful, players must juggle the egg by shooting it back up the stage with bullets! When you run out of bullets, remember to release the fire button to reload!

Scramble, Scramble!! is a free title made with the Pico-8 fantasy console. It is released under the CC4-BY-NC-SA license and the Pico-8 "cart" (png file) and associated executables for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Raspberry Pi can be downloaded from the itch.io page here:

https://yoko8.itch.io/scramble-scramble

The Gear Empire is coming. Get ready to Scramble, Scramble!!

Thank you!  I hope you enjoyed playing my game!