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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J.R.R. Tolkien's Riders of Rohan

DOS1997 Papyrus Design Group

Decisive Battles of the American Civil War: Vol. 3

DOS1992 SSG Strategic Studies Group

Mine Shaft

DOS1983 Sierra On-Line

Yacht Racing Simulator

DOS1986

Yacht Racing Simulator proves that even in the '80s, developers were brave enough to turn the thrilling world of rich people boating slowly into a video game. With graphics that could charitably be called “minimalist” ...

Gengis Khan

DOS1989 KOEI

Battle for Normandy

DOS1983protected Tactical Design Group

Released in 1983, Battle for Normandy plays less like a game and more like a history book that came alive, donned a helmet, and asked for a coffee. This is wargaming at its purest: grid maps, unit stats, and more abbreviations tha...

Llamatron 2112

DOS1992 Llamasoft

Psion Chess

DOSMac OS1985 Psion Software

Traders

DOS1992 Linel

The Ancient Art of War in the Skies

DOS1992 Evryware

Global Conquest

DOS1992 Ozark Softscape

Xenopods

DOS1991 Softdisk Publishing

Cap Man

Windows XP/98/951999

It’s Pac-Man, except it’s… not. Cap Man is a low-budget clone with just enough charm to avoid immediate deletion. You’ve got the dots, the ghosts, the power-ups—but everything feels slightly off, lik...