I like this genre too but rarely play it. I will check out Destructivator and Star Guard this evening though.
These kinds of games remind me of the old PC/DOS/Apogee platformers like the original Duke Nukem, Bio Menace (I think this is free on GOG right now?) and Commander Keen. But those games had a more zoomed in view so they could have more detailed sprites and as a result the games are less about large scale action and more about exploring a maze.
Last night I was trying to think of an ideal way to combine both types into one game. At first I though why not just have a few levels of zoomed in/out views so you can switch on the fly between seeing the whole level and just smaller local areas. But then I realized they’re two really different kinds of game based on how close the view is because in the zoomed in view you can no longer track what’s happening at the larger scale.
So I think a hybrid game would work best where it’s primarily of one type but occasionally switches to the other. Like it’s mainly a zoomed in exploration game with a few spots where the scale zooms out or a large scale action game that zooms in whenever you enter a building to look for power ups or whatever.
Also trying to think of other examples of this type of game where you play as a tiny sprite in a big environment and so far can only think of ones where you’re a tiny sprite in a small environment like Hero Core or Xeodrifter but those are more Metroid likes. 1001 Spikes is puzzle-ish but not action-y and not very tiny either. It’s an interesting niche.