exodus No worries on not including Rock of Ages if you don’t feel like it! I was just randomly brainstorming, no real intent of making them part of the “official” list.
There are, of course, the Puppet Combo games, which have a very distinctive Simple Series vibe to them imo, but maybe they are too obscure? I’d highlight Babysitter Bloodbath in particular:
https://puppetcombo.itch.io/babysitter-bloodbath
There is a serious lack of STGs in the list so I want to bring up Ether Vapor Remaster, a cool game that mixes up the horizontal and vertical perspectives, with some bits even on chase camera.
Also, this one is VERY popular because it went super viral when it released, but isn’t Getting Over It the perfect example of what we are looking for here? Just try to ignore the popularity it received for a moment. Is it too self aware? On the other hand, is a game about a dude inside a cauldron climbing with a hammer too self aware?