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).
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The Blue & the Gray
DOS1993 Impressions Games
Super Pinball by Russco
DOS1987 Russco
Chessmaster 3000
DOS1991 The Software Toolworks
Power Drive
DOS1994 Rage Games
The Chaos Engine
DOS1994protected Bitmap Brothers
Allan Border's Cricket
DOS1993 Audiogenic
In Allan Border’s Cricket (1993), you get to live the thrill of... waiting. A lot. But when the action kicks in, it’s surprisingly engaging. Named after the Australian cricket legend, the game offers realistic mechanic...
NFL Pro League Football
DOS1989 Micro Sports
Time Bandit
DOS1989 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 contro...
Ultima 7 Part 1: The Black Gate
DOS1992 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...
Volfied
DOS1991 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...
Antix
DOS1985remake
Antix (1985) is Snake, but with a death wish. Created by the same mad genius behind Tetris, this game takes the familiar snake-trail mechanic and cranks it to eleven. You’ve got to avoid walls, your own tail, and existential...
Jackal
DOS1989 Konami
Infiltrator
DOS1987 Chris Gray Enterprises
War of the Lance
DOS1990protected SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.
Micro Machines
DOS1994 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 Maste...
Super Stardust
DOS1996 Housemarque
Chip's Challenge
DOSWindows 3.x1991 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, ...
Ogre
DOS1986 Origin Systems
Pipe Dream
DOSWindows 3.x1989 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 si...
Ms Pac PC
DOS1995remake Magicom Multimedia
The Grandest Fleet
DOS1994 Quantum quality productions
Action in the North Atlantic
DOS1989 General Quarters Software
If you’ve ever dreamed of commanding a WWII convoy while cold, stressed, and staring at a pixelated radar screen, Action in the North Atlantic (1989, DOS) has you covered. It’s part strategy, part simulation, and all t...
Eight Ball Deluxe
DOSMac OS1993 Littlewing
Global Conquest
DOS1992 Ozark Softscape
Indenture
DOS1995remake
Lords of Midnight: The Citadel
DOS1995 Maelstrom Games
Skate or Die
DOS1988 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 o...
Alien Breed: Tower Assault
DOS1994protected Team 17
Alien Breed: Tower Assault (1994) takes everything you loved about the original - creepy corridors, limited ammo, sudden death - and adds something revolutionary for the time: non-linear level design. That's right, you can now die...
Pinball Fantasies
DOS1994 Digital Illusions
Civilization
DOSWindows 3.xMac OS1991 MicroProse Software
Civilization is the critically acclaimed strategy game designed by Sid Meier and Bruce Campbell Shelley that became a staple in 4X turn-based strategy. Civilization was developed by MicroProse Software and released in 1991 for DOS...