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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Burntime
DOS1993 Max Design
Post-apocalyptic survival meets real estate management in Burntime, where the world is ruined, but you still need to hire employees and secure water rights. It’s like Mad Max if Max decided to open a franchise of fortified r...
Soviet
DOS1990 Opera Soft
Dark Reign 2
Windows XP/98/952000protected Pandemic Studios
The Taking of Beverly Hills
DOS1991 Off The Wall Productions
Kaiser
DOS1992
Donkey BAS
DOS1981 Microsoft
Zoop
DOS1995 Hookstone
Imagine if Tetris, Columns, and a pack of highlighters had a baby. That’s Zoop. You’re in the center of the screen, and colorful shapes are marching toward you from all sides like angry abstract art. Your job? Blast th...
Empire II: The Art of War
DOSWindows XP/98/951995 White Wolf Productions
Arnhem: The Market Garden Operation
DOS1988 Cases Computer Simulations
Arnhem is the kind of wargame where you spend more time reading hex maps than shooting anything. It’s all about recreating Operation Market Garden — you know, that WWII battle where everything went spectacularly sidewa...
Waterworld
DOS1997 Intelligent Games
RAPCON: Military Air Traffic Control Simulator
DOS1989 Wesson International
Clash of Steel
DOS1993protected SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.
Aspar GP Master
DOS1989 Dinamic Multimedia
Aspar GP Master is a 1989 motorcycle racing game that invites you to tear up the track with the same grace and control as a caffeinated squirrel on rollerblades. Loosely inspired by Jorge “Aspar” Martínez, the g...
Tiny Skweeks
DOS1992 Kalisto Entertainment
Block O Mania
DOS1989 Crystal Shard
Block O Mania is what happens when a Rubik’s Cube and a sliding puzzle fall in love during a rave. Released in 1989 for DOS, this game will twist your brain into shapes it wasn’t designed for. The goal? Push blocks. Lo...
Ant Attack!
DOS1994freeware Dataware
Released in 1994 (long after it originally debuted on other platforms), Ant Attack! is what you get when you mix isometric graphics, giant ants, and questionable urban planning. You play a brave soul navigating a crumbling city to...
Galaxy
DOS1981 Microcomputer Games Inc.
Return to Kroz
DOS1990freeware Apogee Software
Kroz returns, and with it, your CRT monitor’s worst nightmare: ASCII graphics! Return to Kroz takes you back to a time when @ meant “you,” and everything else was trying to kill you. Using only your wits, a whip,...
Caesars Palace
DOS1989 Virgin Interactive
More smoke-filled backrooms than a noir film and enough slot machines to trigger déjà vu—Caesars Palace is your low-res Vegas getaway. You're given a pile of chips and left to your vices: blackjack, poker, roul...
B-24 Combat Simulator
DOS1987protected SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.
Step aside, arcade action—B-24 Combat Simulator (1987) is here to test your patience, eyesight, and possibly your sanity. It’s all about realism, baby. You’ll take off, navigate, bomb targets, and hopefully land,...
Decisive Battles of the American Civil War: Vol. 3
DOS1992 SSG Strategic Studies Group
OverKill
DOS1992freeware Tech-Noir
Warriors of Legend
DOS1993 Synergistic Software
La Grande Armee
DOS1991 SDJ Enterprises
Dominium
DOS1992 Microids
Jackal
DOS1989 Konami
Exile II: Crystal Souls
Windows XP/98/95Mac OSWindows 3.x1996freeware Spiderweb Software
Iron Cross
DOS1994 New World Computing
Poko Memorial: 18 Hole Miniature Golf
DOS1987 Gold Hill Software
Panzer Battles
DOS1990 SSG Strategic Studies Group