I remember playing this long ago. It was O.K. but it was one of those games that made you feel weak vs. the onslaught of enemies unless you had power ups. Losing them when you crashed was a real pain.

Aye, it's a fairly decent shooter.  I wouldn't say it's anywhere close to being as good as a lot of the shooters the NES have to offer, but it's worth a playthrough - fairly challenging.