The best 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).

Most popular top down games

Grand Theft Auto

action-adventureDOS, Windows XP/98/95

Command & Conquer: Red Alert

strategyDOS

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Pac-Man

DOS19834.7/5 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 influential video games of all time. The main goal of Pac-Man is to navigate a maze, eating all the pac-dots (smal...

Super Pinball by Russco

DOS19874.5/5 Russco

TomeNET

Windows XP/98/95LinuxMac OS2001freeware4.4/5

TomeNET (Troubles of Middle Earth, Net) is an online, multiplayer rogue-like game set in the world of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-Earth. It’s a persistent-world game inspired by Angband, a single-player dungeon-crawler based on Tolkien lore. You can play as familiar fantasy races like Elves, Dwarves, Humans, or Hobbits, as well as more obscu...

Mad Mix

DOS19884.3/5 Topo Soft

The Blue & the Gray

DOS19934.3/5 Impressions Games

Time Bandit

DOS19894.3/5 MichTron

Time Bandit is a classic top-down arcade-style video game that was released in 1982 for various home computer systems, such as the Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, and others. It was developed by MichTron. In Time Bandit, players control a character who must navigate through a series of maze-like levels, battling various enemies and collecting treasure a...

ZAngband

Windows 10/11Mac OSDOSLinux1999freeware4.3/5

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 monsters. Players explore dungeons, caves, and other environments in a quest to reach the bottom level of the dungeon, d...

Ultima 7 Part 1: The Black Gate

DOS19924.3/5 Origin Systems

Ultima VII: The Black Gate is a top-down RPG where you, the Avatar, have to find out what's happening in Britannia by solving quests, meeting interesting NPCs and fight hordes of headleass monsters. The land of Britannia is shaken by mysterious earthquakes, a new religion (the Fellowship) is spreading and is replacing the old virtues, and who is th...

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...

Allan Border's Cricket

DOS19934.3/5 Audiogenic

Antix

DOS1985remake4.3/5

Dragon Lord

DOS19904.3/5 Spotlight Software

Infiltrator

DOS19874.3/5 Chris Gray Enterprises

Power Drive

DOS19944.3/5 Rage Games

Sorcerer Lord

DOS19874.3/5 Personal Software Services

Sword of Aragon

DOS1989protected4.3/5 SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.

War of the Lance

DOS1990protected4.3/5 SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.

Super Stardust

DOS19964.3/5 Housemarque

Micro Machines

DOS19944.3/5 Codemasters

Micro Machines is an abandoned racing game developed and released by Codemasters in 1994 based on the Micro Machines toy line. Micro Machines was published for DOS, but also for Amiga, Game Boy, Game Gear, Genesis, NES, SEGA Master System and SNES. Codemasters released a sequel called Micro Machines 2: Turbo Tournament.

Pipe Dream

DOSWindows 3.x19894.3/5 The Assembly Line

Pipe Mania (also known as Pipe Dream is a tile-matching (sort of) puzzle game about flowing liquids developed by The Assembly Line in 1989. You must build a path made of pipe pieces to let a green liquid (sewer goo?) flow. It's simple, original and addicting, that's why Pipe Mania was cloned a number of times.

Skate or Die

DOS19884.3/5 Electronic Arts

Skate or Die is an abandoned sports game, developed and released by Electronic Arts in 1988 for DOS and a number of other platforms. Skate or Die is a multi-sport kind of game, including every kind of unconventional "sport" done on skateboard. A sequel, Ski or Die, was released an year later.

Ms Pac PC

DOS1995remake4.3/5 Magicom Multimedia

The Grandest Fleet

DOS19944.3/5 Quantum quality productions

X-Men 2: The Fall of the Mutants

DOS19914.3/5 Paragon Software

Chip's Challenge

DOSWindows 3.x19914.3/5 Epyx

Chip's Challenge is an abandoned top-down puzzle game designed by Chuck Sommerville, developed and released by Epyx in 1991. Chip's Challenge was released on DOS, Windows 3.x and many other home computers such as Atari ST, Amiga, C64, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC.