Top-down perspective sorted by release date
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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Knight Exchange
DOS1988 Softdisk Publishing
Legend of the Sword
DOS1988 Silicon Software
Mad Mix
DOS1988 Topo Soft
MicroProse Soccer
DOS1988protected Sensible Software
MicroProse Soccer is an abandoned action-oriented soccer game, developed by Sensible Software and released by MicroProse Software in 1988. The appeal of MicroProse Soccer was its simplicity and the smooth controls. In the United S...
Mini Putt
DOS1988 Artech Studios
Moraff's Revenge
DOS1988 Moraffware
Nebulus
DOS1988 Hewson Consultants
Nebulus, also known as Tower Toppler in some regions, is a classic video game released in the 1980s. It was developed by John M. Phillips and published by Hewson Consultants. The game was initially released for various home comput...
Nobunaga's Ambition
DOS1988 KOEI
Omega
DOSLinux1988freeware
Questron 2
DOS1988protected Westwood Studios
Questron II is a role-playing game (RPG) developed by Westwood Associates and published by Strategic Simulations Inc. (SSI) in 1988. It serves as the sequel to the original Questron (1984) and builds upon its predecessor’s f...
Rack 'em
DOS1988 Artech Studios
Rambo 3
DOS1988 Ocean Software
Rambo III is an action video game based on the 1988 action film of the same name, featuring the iconic character John Rambo, portrayed by Sylvester Stallone. The game was developed and published by various companies for different ...
Scavengers of the Mutant World
DOS1988 Interstel Corporation
Search and Destroy
DOS1988 Broderbund
Skate or Die
DOS1988 Electronic Arts
Skate or Die is an abandoned sports game, developed and released by Electronic Arts in 1988 for DOS and a number of other platforms. Skate or Die is a multi-sport kind of game, including every kind of unconventional "sport" done o...
Speedball
DOS1988 Bitmap Brothers
Star Command
DOS1988protected SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.
Star Goose!
DOS1988 Logotron
Star Goose is a classic video game developed by Logotron and released in 1988 for various home computer systems of that era, including the Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, and Amstrad CPC. It is a top-down, vertically scrolling shoo...
Super Battleship
DOS1988
Ultima 5: Warriors of Destiny
DOS1988 Origin Systems
Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny is a role-playing video game developed and published by Origin Systems in 1988. It is the fifth installment in the highly influential Ultima series, created by Richard Garriott. Initially release...
Uridium
DOS1988 Graftgold
Uridium is a classic shoot 'em up video game that was originally developed by Andrew Braybrook and published by Hewson Consultants in 1986 for various home computer platforms (including MS-DOS). In Uridium, players control a ...
Visions of the Aftermath: The Boomtown
DOS1988 Mindscape
Visions of the Aftermath: The Boomtown is an abandoned simulation game with role-playing elements developed by Mindscape and released in 1988 exclusively for DOS. Visions of the Aftermath is one of the few early examples of games ...
Vulcan: The Tunisian Campaign
DOS1988 Cases Computer Simulations
Xenon
DOS1988 Bitmap Brothers
Xenon, released in 1988, was a vertically scrolling shoot 'em up video game developed by The Bitmap Brothers. Xenon was initially released for the Commodore 64, and later, it was ported to other platforms, including DOS, the ZX Sp...
Zoom!
DOS1988
Zoom! is a puzzle game that desperately wants to be cool. You're a sunglasses-wearing smiley face cruising down psychedelic gridlines while dodging blobs and filling in tiles like Tron on a budget. It’s fast, weird, and occa...
007: License to Kill
DOS1989 Quixel
Before James Bond was saving the world with cinematic flair, he was crashing pixelated helicopters in 007: License to Kill. This top-down action game takes the movie and crams it into six bite-sized missions of explosions, awkward...
A Nightmare on Elm street
DOS1989 Westwood Studios
Forget Freddy’s razor glove for a second - A Nightmare on Elm Street (1989) for DOS is terrifying in its own way. Mostly because of the controls. You play as a teen trying to stay awake and alive while navigating dreamscapes...
A-Maze
DOS1989 New Era Software
If you’ve ever thought, “What if Pac-Man got lost in a modernist art gallery?”, then A-Maze is your oddly specific dream come true. Released in 1989 for DOS, this game is a labyrinthine puzzle fest where the grap...
Acquire
DOS1989 IBM
Acquire (1989, DOS) brings boardroom drama to your DOS screen, turning you into a hotel tycoon in a game where the real enemy is... math. It's a faithful adaptation of the classic board game, complete with mergers, hostile takeove...
Action Fighter
DOS1989 Sega
Action Fighter (1989, DOS) is Sega’s way of saying, “Why choose between car chases and aerial dogfights when you can have both?” You start in a motorcycle, grab some power-ups, and suddenly you’re flying a ...