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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SimAnt: The Electronic Ant Colony

DOS19914.1/5 Maxis

SkiFree

Windows 3.x19913.9/5

Solidarnosc

DOS19913.4/5 P. Z. Karen Co. Development Group

The Basket Manager

DOS19913.4/5 Simulmondo

The Lost Patrol

DOS19913.8/5 Astros Productions

The Lost Patrol is an abandoned multi-type action game set in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam war. The Lost Patrol was developed by Astros Productions (DOS version) and released by Ocean Software in 1991 for DOS, Amiga and Atari ST.

The Magic Candle 2: The Four and Forty

DOS19913.8/5 Mindcraft Software

The Perfect General

DOS19914.1/5 White Wolf Productions

The Perfect General is a turn-based strategy military game developed by White Wolf Productions and released in 1991 by Quantun Quality Production. The Perfect General gameplay is quite simple compared to other wargames, but it's based on a solid set of rules and let the players progress at their own pace through missions and scenarios. The Perfect ...

The Taking of Beverly Hills

DOS19914/5 Off The Wall Productions

Tristan Pinball

DOS19914/5 Littlewing

Ultima: Worlds of Adventure 2: Martian Dreams

DOS19914/5 Origin Systems

Ultima: Worlds of Adventure 2: Martian Dreams is an abandoned science fiction RPG designed by Jeff George, developed by Origin Systems and released in 1991 for DOS. Martian Dreams uses the Ultima VI engine to depict Mars in a top down perspective.

V for Victory: D-day Utah Beach

DOS1991protected3.9/5 Atomic Games

Vengeance of Excalibur

DOS19913.9/5 Synergistic Software

Volfied

DOS19914.3/5 Taito

Volfied is an arcade game developed and released by Taito Corporation in 1989. It's a puzzle game that gained popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The game is named after the fictional planet "Volfied", where the gameplay is set.In Volfied, players control a small spaceship called "Challenger" and must eliminate 80% or more of the playfiel...

Wild West World

DOS19914.1/5 Software 2000

X-Men 2: The Fall of the Mutants

DOS19914.2/5 Paragon Software

Xenopods

DOS19913.3/5 Softdisk Publishing

ZZT

DOS1991freeware4.2/5 Epic MegaGames

A Line in the Sand

DOS1992protected3.9/5 SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.

Amberstar

DOS19924/5 Thalion

Amberstar is a fantasy old school RPG very similar to Ultima 6 that uses a top-down view for interiors and small locations and a first person pseudo 3D view for everything else. Unfortunately, the sequel (called Ambermoon) was available for Amiga only and no version existed for DOS or Windows. Amberstar was developed and published by Thalion for DO...

Angband

Windows XP/98/95DOSLinux1992freeware4/5

Bass Tour

DOS19924/5

Bicycle Bridge

DOS19924.2/5

Blitz Draughts

DOS19923.7/5 PC Solutions

Bolo Ball

DOS19923.5/5 Soleau Software

Bolo Ball is a DOS game from the mid-1990s. It features a physics-based gameplay where the objective is to knock opponent balls out of an arena. When you start the game, you find yourself in a 2D arena set against a starry, space-like background. You control a colorful ball, which, despite being a 2D sprite, appears somewhat three-dimensional due t...

Bomberman

DOS19924.1/5 Hudson soft

Bridge 7.0

DOS19923.3/5 Artworx Software

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.