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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DOS1989 Taito
Risk: the World Conquest Game
DOS1989 Mastertronic
Rock 'n Roll
DOS1989 Rainbow Arts
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
DOS1989 KOEI
Sarge
DOS1989
Scrabble
DOS1989
SimCity
DOSWindows 3.xWindows XP/98/951989protected Maxis
SimCity (or SimCity Classic) is a popular city building simulation in which you, the mayor of a city, have to build a metropolis from the ground up. You can build police and fire departments, assign industrial, residential or commercial areas, manage power distribution, build ports and airports. Grow your city from village to metropolis and try to ...
Sky Shark
DOS1989 Toaplan
Space Rogue
DOS1989 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.
Star Trek Combat Arena
DOS1989
Star Wars 2
DOS1989
Starflight 2: Trade routes of the Cloud Nebula
DOS1989 Binary Systems
Sword of Aragon
DOS1989protected SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.
Sword of the Samurai
DOS1989protected MicroProse Software
Tangled Tales
DOS1989 Origin Systems
The Big Three
DOS1989 SDJ Enterprises
The computer edition of Scrabble
DOS1989 Leisure Genius
The Magic Candle
DOS1989 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...
Thunderblade
DOS1989 Sega
Time Bandit
DOS1989 MichTron
Time Bandit is a classic top-down arcade-style video game that was released in 1982 for various home computer systems, such as the Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, and others. It was developed by MichTron. In Time Bandit, players control a character who must navigate through a series of maze-like levels, battling various enemies and collecting treasure a...
Times of Lore
DOS1989 Origin Systems
Times of Lore is an abandoned action RPG designed by Chris Roberts, developed and released by Origin Systems in 1989 for DOS and many more 8 bit and 16 bit platforms. Compared to Ultima (the much more popular franchise also by Origin) Times of Lore is a washed down RPG, more similar to a NES game. In fact, Roberts was inspired by The Legend of Zelda.
Titan
DOS1989 Titus Interactive
Toobin
DOS1989 Domark Software
Toobin is an abandoned action game developed by Domark Software and released in 1989. Toobin runs on DOS but was also published for Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Game Boy Color, MSX, NES, ZX Spectrum. It's a conversion from a popular arcade game (at the time).
Tracon: Air Traffic Control Simulator
DOS1989 Wesson International
Trivial Pursuit
DOS1989
Trivial Pursuit is a popular trivia board game that was adapted into a computer game for various platforms, including DOS. In the game, players answer trivia questions from various categories in order to collect pie pieces that correspond to those categories. The goal is to collect all the pie pieces and complete a full pie before your opponents.
Vampyr: Talisman of Invocation
DOS1989
War in Middle Earth
DOS1989 Synergistic Software
War in Middle-earth is a real-time strategy game developed by Synergistic Software and published by Melbourne House. It was released in 1988 for various platforms including the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, and Amstrad CPC.The game is based on J.R.R. Tolkien's epic fantasy world of Middle-earth, specifically focusing on the events depicted in "The Lor...
Wayne Gretzky Hockey
DOS1989 Bethesda Softworks
Windwalker (Moebius 2)
DOS1989 Origin Systems
Ys: The Vanished Omens
DOS1989 Nihon Falcom
Ys: The Vanished Omens (also known as The Ancient Land of Ys) is an abandoned top-down open-world action RPG designed by Masaya Hashimoto, developed by Nihon Falcom and released by Kyodai Software Marketing for DOS in 1989. Ys: The Vanished Omens was published (earlier) for quite a few other home computers and console.