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).
Most popular top down games
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Akalabeth: World of Doom
DOS1981freeware California Pacific Computer
Ah yes, the game that crawled so Ultima could run. Akalabeth is a wireframe dungeon crawl where you descend into monster-infested labyrinths with the elegance of a lost spreadsheet. The graphics are so old school they could legall...
Chess
DOS1981 International PC Owners
Donkey BAS
DOS1981 Microsoft
Galaxy
DOS1981 Microcomputer Games Inc.
Ultima 1: The First Age of Darkness
DOS1981 Origin Systems
Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness is a seminal role-playing video game developed by Richard Garriott and released by California Pacific Computer Company in 1981. It is the first game in the long-running and influential Ultima se...
Astro Dodge
DOS1982 Digital Marketing Corporation
Astro Dodge (1982) is basically Frogger — in space. You control a tiny spacecraft tasked with dodging endless waves of meteors, space debris, and possibly your own questionable life choices. There’s no shooting, no exp...
Boxer Rebellion
DOS1982
Before realistic fighting games, there was Boxer Rebellion—a 1982 title so primitive, it makes Pong look flashy. It’s boxing with fewer rules and more pixels per punch. The controls are stiffer than a week-old baguette...
Cosmic Crusader
DOS1982 Funatics Software
Crossfire
DOS1982 Sierra On-Line
Night Mission Pinball
DOS1982 subLOGIC
Pac Gal
DOS1982
Pac-girl
DOS1982 Magicom Multimedia
PC-Man
DOS1982remake Orion Software
PC-Man is an abandoned top-down Pac-Man clone in every regard: from the shape of the protagonist, to the cute ghosts. PC-Man was designed by Greg Kuperberg, developed by Orion Software and released in 1982 for DOS. As PC-Man, you ...
Snack Attack 2
DOS1982 Funtastic
Super Pac-Man
DOS1982 Namco
The Battle of the Bulge: Tigers in the Snow
DOS1982protected Tactical Design Group
Amazing Maze
DOS1983
Don’t be fooled by the name—Amazing Maze is more of a slightly-better-than-average maze. But hey, in 1983, navigating a screen full of walls and hoping you guessed right was enough to set hearts racing. It’s just...
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...
Battleship
DOS1983 Mirror Images Software
Released in 1983, this is your grandpa’s Battleship—minus the plastic pegs, but with all the tension of blind naval warfare. There are no fancy graphics, no Hollywood explosions, just good old-fashioned "Is it a hit?" ...
Beneath Apple Manor
DOS1983freeware
Beneath Apple Manor is a pioneering game in the roguelike genre, originally developed and released in 1978 by Don Worth for the Apple II and later re-released for DOS as a "Special Edition". It's one of the earliest known role-pla...
Epidemic!
DOS1983protected SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.
Fleet Sweep
DOS1983 Mirror Images Software
Frogger
DOS1983 Konami
IBM 9-Hole Miniature Golf
DOS1983 SoftSide Magazine
Knights of the Desert
DOS1983protected Tactical Design Group
Mine Shaft
DOS1983 Sierra On-Line
Oubliette
DOS1983
Pac-Man
DOS1983 Namco
Pac-Man is a classic arcade game created by Namco and first released in Japan on May 22, 1980. It was later released in North America by Midway Games. The game was designed by Toru Iwatani and has become one of the most famous and...
Pack-Man
DOS1983remake Magicom Multimedia
Pango
DOS1983remake