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).

Most popular top down games

Civilization

strategyDOS, Windows 3.x

Civilization 2

strategyWindows XP/98/95

Grand Theft Auto

action-adventureDOS, Windows XP/98/95

Top down games

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World tour golf

DOS19853.7/5 Electronic Arts
Lords of the Realm

DOSWindows XP/98/951994protected4/5 Impressions Games

Lords of the Realm is top-down kingdom simulation game set in medieval Europe (England and Germany), designed by Christopher J. Foster and David Lester, developed by Impressions Games and released 1994 for DOS, Windows and Amiga.
Conflict in Vietnam

DOS19864.1/5 MicroProse Software
Sensible Soccer

DOS19924.2/5 Sensible Software
Mad Mix

DOS19884.2/5 Topo Soft
The Global Dilemma: Guns or Butter

DOS19903.8/5 Mindscape
Gemfire

DOS19923.9/5 KOEI
Solar Winds 2: Galaxy

DOS19933.9/5 Stone Interactive Media
Total Annihilation

Windows XP/98/951997protected4.2/5 Cavedog Entertainment
Rambo 3

DOS19883.5/5 Ocean Software
Mah Jongg Solitaire

DOS19874.3/5 Arcanum Computing
Akalabeth: World of Doom

DOS1981freeware3.7/5 California Pacific Computer

Akalabeth is a RPG game allegedly developed in just one summer by the Ultima franchise creator Richard Garriott. It's a dungeon crawler with wire-frame black and white graphics. Akalabeth is played in both first person 3d and top down view points.
Rampart

DOS19924/5 Atari

Rampart is an abandoned mix of strategy and shooter game designed by Dave Ralston and John Salwitz, developed by Atari and released by Electronic Arts in 1992 for DOS. Rampart was converted from the original arcade version to a number of platforms, including Amiga, Atari ST, C64, Game Boy, Genesis, Lynx, NES, SEGA Master System, SNES. Rampart is a ...
Dragonflight

DOS19913.6/5 Thalion
Azalta: Cult of the Raven

DOS19964.1/5
V for victory: Market-Garden

DOS1993protected4.1/5 Atomic Games
Arrakis

DOS20003.9/5
Adventure Construction Set

DOS19873.9/5 Electronic Arts

Adventure Construction Set is an abandoned application developed by Stuart Smith and published for DOS, Amiga, Apple II and Commodore 64 by Electronic Arts in 1987. As the name suggests, ACS is a game-building system (we're talking about adventure RPGs) that lets you edit maps, items, creatures, etc. Included with ACS is a complete game called...
Knights of Xentar

DOS1994NSFW4.1/5 MegaTech Software
Moebius

DOS19873.4/5 Origin Systems
Teenage mutant ninja turtles

DOS19893.6/5 Konami
Wizard's Crown

DOS1987protected4/5 SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.
Spacewar

DOS19854.1/5
People's General

Windows XP/98/951998protected4.3/5 SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.
Clue Master Detective

DOS19894.2/5 Dalali Software

Clue Master Detective is an abandoned strategy game developed by Dalali Software and released by Leisure Genius in 1989 for DOS, Amiga, Apple II, Atari ST, C64. Clue Master Detective is based on the well known board game Clue (also known as Cluedo). Clue can be played in single player, but the best gaming experience come from the multi-player mode.
X-Men 2: The Fall of the Mutants

DOS19914.3/5 Paragon Software
Army Men 2

Windows XP/98/951998protected4.1/5 The 3DO Company
Bass Tour

DOS19923.9/5
Populous: The Beginning

Windows XP/98/951998protected4.2/5 Bullfrog
Face Off!

DOS19894.1/5 MindSpan

Face Off! is an abandoned hockey sports game developed by MindSpan (known for their Hardball series) and released by Gamestar in 1989 for DOS and also for Commodore 64. Face Off supports multiplayer in competitive or cooperative modes.