The best 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 Magic Candle
DOS19894.1/5 Mindcraft Software
The Magic Candle: Volume 1 is the first chapter of a series of fantasy old school RPGs. The Magic Candle was developed and released by Mindcraft Software in 1989 for DOS but was also published for Apple II and Commodore 64. The whole Magic Candle series is very similar to some of the early Ultima games in every aspect: turn-based combat, top-down v...
The Hunt for Red October
DOSMac OS19874.1/5 Oxford Digital Enterprises
Dark Sun: Shattered Lands
DOS1993protected4/5 SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.
Ragnarok
DOS1993freeware4/5 Gray Design Associates
Z
DOS1996protected4/5 Bitmap Brothers
Z is a real-time strategy game developed by The Bitmap Brothers and originally released in 1996 for MS-DOS. It's known for its fast-paced gameplay, humorous style, and distinctive art design.In Z, players control a robot army across various battlefields, aiming to conquer territories and defeat enemy forces. The game features a tongue-in-cheek narr...
Steel Panthers 3: Brigade Command - 1939-1999
DOS1997protected4/5 SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.
Space Rogue
DOS19894/5 Origin Systems
Space Rogue is a science fiction RPG developed by Richard Garriott's Origin and desined by Paul Neurath. Space Rogue combines a 3D space simulation with a top down view RPG gameplay. As a space pilot you can hunt bounties, buy and sell goods, land on starbases or outposts and talk to NPCs, do quests, etc.
Gary Grigsby's Pacific War
DOS1992protected4/5 SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.
Planet's Edge
DOS1991protected4/5 New World Computing
Pyramids of Egypt
DOS19894/5 Ideas From the Deep
Kick off 2
DOS19904/5 Anco Software
Hexxagon 2
DOS19934/5 Argo Games
Sword of the Samurai
DOS1989protected4/5 MicroProse Software
Command HQ
DOS19904/5 Ozark Softscape
Command & Conquer: Red Alert
DOS1996freeware4/5 Westwood Studios
Command & Conquer: Red Alert is a real-time strategy (RTS) video game developed by Westwood Studios and published by Virgin Interactive in 1996. It is part of the Command & Conquer series and is set in an alternate history where World War II never occurred, leading to a different global conflict.The success of Red Alert led to several seque...
Patton vs. Rommel
DOS19874/5 Electronic Arts
J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Vol. I
DOS19904/5 Interplay Productions
J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Vol. I is an abandoned fantasy top-down DOS RPG game set in the The Lord of the Rings universe. The Lord of the Rings I was developed and released by Interplay Productions in 1990. The Lord of the Rings, Vol. I is based on the popular The Lord Of The Rings book by J.R.R. Tolkien and it's focused on the f...
Mah Jongg Solitaire
DOS19874/5 Arcanum Computing
Jones in the Fast Lane
DOS19914/5 Sierra On-Line
Jones in the Fast Lane is the kind of game that you don't see often these days. It's a mix between a digital board game and a modern day life simulation. The goal of the game is to live the life of Jones, making choices about school, work, your home, etc. Graphics is a mix of cartonish and digitized characters, very reminishent of some of the best ...
Advanced Civilization
DOS19954/5 Avalon Hill
Bobby Fisher teaches chess
DOS19944/5 Mission Studios
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...
Merchant Prince
DOS19934/5 Holistic Design
Ground Control
Windows XP/98/952000protected4/5 Massive Entertainment
Ground Control is a strategy game developed by Massive Entertainment and released by Sierra On-Line in 2000. More precisely Ground Control is a real time tactical game with a sci-fi setting.
Spacewar
DOS19854/5
Spacewar is one of the earliest digital computer games and is often considered the first interactive video game. It was created in 1962 by Steve Russell, Martin Graetz, and Wayne Wiitanen at the MIT. The game was developed on the PDP-1 minicomputer; this is a DOS port, released in 1985.Spacewar! features two spaceships, controlled by players, that ...
2400 A.D.
DOS19884/5 Origin Systems
Hill Street Blues
DOS19914/5 Krisalis
Hill Street Blues is an old DOS "driving" game developed by Krisalis in 1991. The gameplay it's similar to a Grand Theft Auto clone (we're talking about GTA 1 or 2) in which you are the police and you have to apprehend criminals. Hill Street Blues is a rare example of game based on a TV series.
Buck Rogers: Matrix Cubed
DOS1992protected4/5 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.
Star Control 3
DOS1996protected4/5 Legend Entertainment
240 Racing
DOS19984/5