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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Micro Machines 2: Turbo Tournament
DOS1995 Supersonic Software
Buck Rogers: Matrix Cubed
DOS1992protected SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.
Buck Rogers: Matrix Cubed is a CRPG developed by SSI Strategic Simulations Inc. and released in 1992 for DOS only. Buck Rogers: Matrix Cubed is the sequel to Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday and it's based on a campaign setting created by TSR in the late 80s. The game uses the Gold Box engine, common to much of the RPGs developed by SSI.
Kick off 2
DOS1990 Anco Software
Ragnarok
DOS1993freeware Gray Design Associates
Robotron 2084
DOS1983 Williams Entertainment
Pinball Dreams 2
DOS1994protected 21st Century Entertainment
CHAMP Ms. Pac-man
DOS1994remake ChamProgramming corp.
The Great War: 1914 - 1918
DOS1993protected Blue Byte Software
Steel Panthers 3: Brigade Command - 1939-1999
DOS1997protected SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.
Sid Meier's CivNet
Windows XP/98/95Windows 3.x1995 MicroProse Software
CivNet is a multiplayer adaptation of the original Sid Meier's Civilization game, released in 1995. It was developed and published by MicroProse for MS-DOS and Windows. This version of Civilization brought networked multiplayer gameplay to the series for the first time, alongside updated graphics and improved interface elements. CivNet retaine...
Heirs to the Throne
DOS1992 German Design Group
Conflict in Vietnam
DOS1986 MicroProse Software
2400 A.D.
DOS1988 Origin Systems
Ah, 2400 A.D. A game where you can rebel against a robot police state… by slowly walking around in beige. Released in 1988, it’s what happens when you mix Orwellian dystopia with MS Paint aesthetics. You’ll sneak, hack, and run errands for the revolution, all while wearing what looks like a futuristic jumpsuit made of cardboard. ...
Fast Food Dizzy
DOS1989 Codemasters
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 formula, offering more expansive gameplay, refined mechanics, and a richer world to explore. The player embarks on a...
Boston Bomb Club
DOS1991 Silmarils
Boston Bomb Club (1991, DOS) is a Rube Goldberg fever dream disguised as a puzzle game. Your mission: guide bombs (yes, bombs) along increasingly elaborate tracks using contraptions like rotating tiles, steam pipes, and sheer chaos. It’s like you’re managing the worst tea party in Victorian England—except everything explodes. The ...
Lords of the Realm
DOSWindows XP/98/951994protected 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.
Wayne Gretzky Hockey
DOS1989 Bethesda Softworks
Lost Adventures of Kroz
DOS1990freeware Apogee Software
Dungeon Crawl
Windows XP/98/95DOSLinux1997freeware
Dungeon Crawl (also known as Linley's Dungeon Crawl from the name of the original programmer: Linley Henzell) is a classic roguelike: an RPG with permadeath, procedural generation and high replayability. Dungeon Crawl was released on 1997 but it's not maintained anymore. The spiritual successr of Crawl is DCCS (Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup).
The Ancient Art of War at Sea
DOS1987 Evryware
Legacy of the Ancients
DOS1989 Quest Software
Prophecy of the Shadow
DOS1992protected SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.
A Line in the Sand
DOS1992protected SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.
A Line in the Sand (1992) is what happens when a board game about modern Middle Eastern warfare gets turned into a DOS strategy title with all the subtlety of a cold war memo. You command military forces in a region that is perpetually on fire, and your job is to somehow make that worse - or better, depending on your alignment and ability to read p...
Bad Blood
DOS1990 Origin Systems
Set in a post-apocalyptic world where leather vests are apparently immune to radiation, Bad Blood lets you wander the wasteland deciding whether to be a brute, a brainiac, or a mutant with questionable fashion sense. Dialogue-heavy and surprisingly progressive for 1990, it’s Fallout before Fallout was cool — minus the polish and plus a ...
Into the Eagle's Nest
DOS1987 Pandora
Command & Conquer: Sole Survivor
Windows XP/98/951997 Westwood Studios
Bravo Romeo Delta
DOS1993
Reunion
DOS1994 Dinamic Multimedia
Gary Grigsby's War in Russia
DOS1993protected SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.