The most popular top down games

Top down games were very popular in the 80s and the 90s, when graphic cards were not capable of supporting 3D, and even when 3D started to become popular, 2D games continued to be easier to develop, at least in the infancy of 3D gaming. 2D game offered the player a viewpoint that helped keeping things easily under control (think about top down party-based RPGs or hex-based strategy games).

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The Aethra Chronicles

DOS19943.9/5

The Aethra Chronicles is not a well know fantasy RPG, but it deserves some praise. It was developed by only one person (Micheal Lawrence) and, as the title implies, was intended to be the first volume of a saga. Unfortunately, volume two and three were never made. For a shareware game, Aethra was pretty solid and is still loved by the ones who play...

Empire Deluxe

DOSWindows 3.x19934/5 White Wolf Productions

Bandit Kings of Ancient China

DOS19893.9/5 KOEI

Defender of the Crown

DOS1991protected3.8/5 Cinemaware

Defender of the crown is a strategy game set in the middle ages, in England. You control a Saxon and must fight Normans to control the country. The player can conquest territories, lay siege to castles, join tournaments, rescue damsels.

A Nightmare on Elm street

DOS19893.9/5 Westwood Studios

Battle of Antietam

DOS1985protected3.6/5 SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.

Pizza Tycoon

Windows XP/98/95DOSLinuxMac OS1994protected4/5 Software 2000

The Chaos Engine

DOS1994protected4.2/5 Bitmap Brothers

Moraff's World

DOS19913.5/5 Moraffware

Telengard

DOS1985freeware3.4/5 Avalon Hill

Time Bandit

DOS19894.4/5 MichTron

Time Bandit is a classic top-down arcade-style video game that was released in 1982 for various home computer systems, such as the Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, and others. It was developed by MichTron. In Time Bandit, players control a character who must navigate through a series of maze-like levels, battling various enemies and collecting treasure a...

Merchant Prince

DOS19934.1/5 Holistic Design

Uncharted Waters

DOS19904.1/5 KOEI

2400 A.D.

DOS19884/5 Origin Systems

NHL Hockey

DOS19934.1/5 Electronic Arts

Axis and Allies: Iron Blitz

Windows XP/98/9519994.2/5 Wargaming West

Steel Panthers 3: Brigade Command - 1939-1999

DOS1997protected4/5 SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.

Locomotion

DOS19924.2/5 Prestige Softwareentwicklung

Hannibal

DOS19933.5/5 Starbyte Software

Epic Pinball

DOSMac OS1993protected3.7/5 Digital Extremes

Pac PC

DOS1995freewareremake4.1/5

Space Federation

DOS19944.3/5 Interplay Productions

X-Men 2: The Fall of the Mutants

DOS19914.2/5 Paragon Software

Decisive Battles of the American Civil War: Vol. 2

DOS19893.9/5 SSG Strategic Studies Group

Entomorph: Plague Of The Darkfall

Windows XP/98/95Windows 3.xMac OS1995protected3.9/5 SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.

Flying Tigers 2

DOS19943.3/5

Outbound

Windows XP/98/952001freeware3.9/5

Commander Keen 5: The Armageddon Machine

DOS1991protected4/5 id software

Commander Keen 5: The Armageddon Machine is a science fiction action oriented platform game designed by Tom Hall, developed by id Software and released by Apogee Software in 1991 for DOS only. Commander Keen 5: The Armageddon Machine is part of the Commander Keen game series, specifically it's the second episode of Commander Keen in Goodbye, Galaxy.