Coming from who designed the game, me
There was some arguing between the team when we made the game. Some people on the team wanted to force the player to teleport, like making some patterns that are impossible to avoid without using the teleport. I didn't agree with that. I wanted the teleport and the second fire to be complementary and replace what is usually a bomb in a shmup, but giving different mechanics so the player could approach the game in different ways.. and as I was the game designer, my word was final
You can finish the game, even on brutal, without ever using any other button but fire and focus. Actually, if the bosses timed out (its something I wanted to add but ended up not doing), you could actually finish the game without ever shooting. I tested each level enough to make sure they aren't impossible to be beaten by just dodging enemy fire. Of course on Brutal some patterns are indeed.... brutal. But it's still possible if you have the skills and know the patterns well.
You don't need to use the 2nd fire and you don't need to use the teleport. They are there to aid you if you want and can manage to use them properly.
And there's a reason why I didn't make the teleport required to make you able to finish the game. Different ships have different cooldowns times for the teleports. I really didn't want the player to be forced to teleport at some point but then the teleport it's not available because you used it a second before and now you're waiting its cool down. As a player I would be really pissed off if this happened. The teleport gives you a few (or a lot depending upon the ship) moments of invincibility which you can use in a anticipated way or, if you quick enough, as a desperation move (or to kill a row of enemies in a fashion way with Z2
)
So, it is possible to dodge *every* pattern. There's no pattern that requires you to teleport (or bomb).
This is regarding the arcade mode. On the cadet school there are many levels that requires you to teleport, but then it's a different game there.. the levels are very short and some are designed around this and you won't be frustrated for having used the teleport at a wrong spot and dying because of it in a 30 second game.
So, yes, you can completely ignore the teleport mechanic if you want to, as you can also ignore one of the "slower speed" buttons and only use the other one (which is what I do when I play the game). The teleport can help you though... Nina's teleport can help you a lot and Leo's teleport can be really abused if you just stay inside the black hole and don't care about scoring