Compared to the background and the ninja animations, the words are quite pixelated and are hard to read when moving, I would personally have spent more time getting that part of the program working before making it look good. In conclusion, too much time has been spent on appearance rather than the crucial game elements. Also, just for reference, there are two "I" s in ASCII.
I was at lvl 30 before I realised there was a "bonus upgrades" screen, having exploding shots that curve towards enemies and a full 360 degree shield that will absorb any fire rocks. I went from just about surviving to pwning everything in one mad upgrade.