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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Alien Syndrome
DOS1989 Sega
Alien Syndrome (1989) is a top-down shooter where you save hostages, shoot aliens, and scream internally because you’re always out of time. It’s frantic arcade action at its finest—like Contra had a baby with Gau...
Star Wars 2
DOS1989
The Hunt for Red October
DOSMac OS1987 Oxford Digital Enterprises
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 perpet...
Decision in the Desert
DOS1985 MicroProse Software
OverKill
DOS1992freeware Tech-Noir
Shard of Spring
DOS1987protected SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.
Mission: Mainframe
DOS1987
Vampyr: Talisman of Invocation
DOS1989
Carrier Strike: South Pacific 1942-44
DOS1992protected SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.
If you ever wanted to command the Pacific fleet without getting wet, Carrier Strike is your game. Set during WWII, it’s a turn-based wargame where numbers, radar, and weather reports matter more than reflexes. You’ll p...
Star Trek Combat Arena
DOS1989
Clue Master Detective
DOS1989 Dalali Software
Clue Master Detective is an abandoned strategy game developed by Dalali Software and released by Leisure Genius in 1989 for DOS, Amiga, Apple II, Atari ST, C64. Clue Master Detective is based on the well known board game Clue (als...
Blue Angel 69
DOS1989NSFW
Caution: subtlety not included. Blue Angel 69, released in 1989 for DOS, is basically what happens when a programmer tries to mix erotic art with a tile-based puzzle game and ends up somewhere between genius and “please don&...
Highway Hunter
DOS1994 Safari Software
Caves of Thor
DOS1989 Apogee Software
Gone Fishing
DOS1989 Interstel Corporation
Last Duel: Inter Planet War 2012
DOS1989 Capcom
Number Munchers
DOS1990 MECC
Space 1889
DOS1990 Paragon Software
Space 1889 is an abandoned top down RPG developed by Paragon Software and released in 1990 for DOS, Atari ST and Amiga. Space 1889 setting is classic science fiction, but is set in the Victorian. It's worth noting that Space ...
Ishido: The Way of the Stones
DOSMac OS1990 Publishing International
Cloud Kingdoms
DOS1990 Logotron
Incursion
Windows 10/11LinuxMac OS2007freeware
Iron Cross
DOS1994 New World Computing
Empire II: The Art of War
DOSWindows XP/98/951995 White Wolf Productions
Tracon: Air Traffic Control Simulator
DOS1989 Wesson International
ZAngband
Windows 10/11Mac OSDOSLinux1999freeware
Zangband is a variant of the popular roguelike game Angband. Zangband, short for Zelazny Angband, was developed by Chris Weisiger and first released in 1994. The game features a fantasy world with diverse races, classes, and ...
Capture the Flag
DOS1993
No guns. No glory. Just two invisible players navigating a weird Tron-like maze to steal each other’s flag. Capture the Flag is what you get when someone says “let’s make Pac-Man multiplayer and add a dash of par...
Front Lines
DOS1994 Impressions Games
Elona
Windows 10/112007freeware
Elona (short for Eternal League of Nefia) is a free roguelike RPG developed by Japanese indie developer named Noa in 2007. Its gameplay combines elements of open-world exploration, dungeon crawling, and life simulation. It has com...
Xenon
DOS1988 Bitmap Brothers
Xenon, released in 1988, was a vertically scrolling shoot 'em up video game developed by The Bitmap Brothers. Xenon was initially released for the Commodore 64, and later, it was ported to other platforms, including DOS, the ZX Sp...