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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Final Frontier

DOS19892.8/5 Bubble Bus Software

Gauntlet 2

DOS19894.1/5 Atari

Gengis Khan

DOS19893.7/5 KOEI

Gold of the Americas: The Conquest of the New World

DOS19893.8/5 SSG Strategic Studies Group

Gone Fishing

DOS19893.7/5 Interstel Corporation

Grand Monster Slam

DOS19894/5 Golden Goblins

Heavy Barrel

DOS19893.4/5 Data East

Hillsfar

DOS1989protected3.8/5 Westwood Studios

House of Cards

DOS19893.3/5

If It Moves, Shoot It!

DOS19893.3/5 Emerald Software

Jackal

DOS19894.1/5 Konami

Joan of Arc

DOS19894/5 Chip

John Madden Football

DOS19894/5 Electronic Arts

John Madden Football was the first of a series of american football sports games sponsored by the coach of the same name. The first John Madden Football is an abandoned game developed and released by Electronic Arts in 1988 for Apple II and Commodore 64 and later released for DOS (in 1989). The Madden series became extremely popular and the sequels...

Knights of Legend

DOS19894.1/5 Origin Systems

Last Duel: Inter Planet War 2012

DOS19893.5/5 Capcom

Legacy of the Ancients

DOS19893.7/5 Quest Software

Legends of Murder: Volume 1 - Stonedale Castle

DOS1989protected3.5/5 Softdisk Publishing

Meteors

DOS19893.6/5 Apogee Software

Mines of Titan

DOS19893.6/5 Westwood Studios

Mines of Titan (also known as Mars Saga for other platforms) is an abandoned single-player RPG with a sci-fi setting (you're going to Mars!). Mines of Titan was developed by Westwood Studios and released by Infocom in 1989 for DOS, Apple II and Commodore 64.

Monday Night Football

DOS19894.1/5 Park Place Productions

Navy Seal

DOS19894/5 Cosmi Corporation

NFL Pro League Football

DOS19894.3/5 Micro Sports

Nobunaga's Ambition 2

DOS19893.9/5 KOEI

Nuclear War

DOS19894/5 New World Computing

Nuclear War is an abandoned turn-based strategy game designed by Eric Hyman and Jon Van Caneghem. Nuclear War was developed and released by New World Computing in 1989 for Amiga and, later, for DOS, and it's loosely based on a card game of the same name. Nuclear War took a satirical approach to the grim possibility of a global nuclear war and succe...

Omega

DOS19894/5 Origin Systems

Omega is an abandoned science fiction themed strategy game developed and released by Origin Systems in 1989 for DOS, Amiga, Apple II, Atari ST, C64. Omega is a rare example of a programming game about robots.

Pictionary: The Game of Quick Draw

DOS19893/5 Oxford Mobius

Pipe Dream

DOSWindows 3.x19894.3/5 The Assembly Line

Pipe Mania (also known as Pipe Dream is a tile-matching (sort of) puzzle game about flowing liquids developed by The Assembly Line in 1989. You must build a path made of pipe pieces to let a green liquid (sewer goo?) flow. It's simple, original and addicting, that's why Pipe Mania was cloned a number of times.