I just upvoted something done with flash on hn for the first time ever. The zelda 1 esque levels were sheer genius. I would actually dig playing an entire game with that perspective/style.
Out of curiosity have you played the Binding of Isaac? It's a zelda-esque game using short gameplay/permadeath + lots of random elements. Although may be windows only I don't recall.
Yeah I knew it was on steam, but not everything on steam is available for mac. Haven't played my copy in a while to look and see what OSes it is on (plus I own nothing made by apple)