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

Dune 2000

strategyWindows XP/98/95

PC-Man

actionDOS

Ultima 7 Part 1: The Black Gate

rpgDOS

Top down games

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Akalabeth: World of Doom

DOS1981freeware3.7/5 California Pacific Computer

Akalabeth is a RPG game allegedly developed in just one summer by the Ultima franchise creator Richard Garriott. It's a dungeon crawler with wire-frame black and white graphics. Akalabeth is played in both first person 3d and top down view points.
Chess

DOS19813.9/5 International PC Owners
Donkey BAS

DOS19813.6/5 Microsoft
Galaxy

DOS19814/5 Microcomputer Games Inc.
Astro Dodge

DOS19823.6/5 Digital Marketing Corporation
Boxer Rebellion

DOS19823.1/5
Cosmic Crusader

DOS19823.8/5 Funatics Software
Crossfire

DOS19823.6/5 Sierra On-Line
Night Mission Pinball

DOS19823.6/5 subLOGIC
Pac Gal

DOS19823.1/5
Pac-girl

DOS19823.6/5 Magicom Multimedia
PC-Man

DOS1982remake4.2/5 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 have to move through a one screen maze to collect dots (pills? wafers?) and avoid being touched by one of the usual Pac-...
The Battle of the Bulge: Tigers in the Snow

DOS1982protected3.8/5 Tactical Design Group
Amazing Maze

DOS19833/5
Battle for Normandy

DOS1983protected3.6/5 Tactical Design Group
Beneath Apple Manor

DOS1983freeware4.1/5
Epidemic!

DOS1983protected4.1/5 SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.
Fleet Sweep

DOS19833.2/5 Mirror Images Software
Frogger

DOS19834.2/5 Konami
Knights of the Desert

DOS1983protected3.7/5 Tactical Design Group
Mine Shaft

DOS19834.1/5 Sierra On-Line
Ms. Pac-Man

DOS19833.8/5 Midway Manufacturing Company
Oubliette

DOS19833.3/5
Pack-Man

DOS1983remake3.4/5 Magicom Multimedia
Pango

DOS1983remake4/5
Rescue at Rigel

DOS19833.3/5 Epyx
Robotron 2084

DOS19833.9/5 Williams Entertainment
Rollo and the Brush Brothers

DOS19833.5/5 Windmill Software
Sleuth: A Murder Mystery

DOS1983freeware4.2/5 Norland Software
Ultima 2: Revenge of the Enchantress

DOS19834/5 Origin Systems

The second chapter of the Ultima saga is much similar to the first one (same top down visual, same dungeon 3d visual, same gameplay), although there are many small improvements. The series begins to take the shape of the detailed, deep, rpg saga that gamers will always remember.