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GTA 1 and GTA 2: The Forgotten 2D GTA Games

GTA 1 (1997), GTA London, and GTA 2: the story of the top-down 2D Grand Theft Auto games, the forgotten origins that laid the foundation for the whole series.

By Alfred from GTA Zone · Published July 23, 2026 · 6 min read

Cinematic top-down illustration of a 1990s American city at sunset, a grid of streets, tiny cars, and a stolen sedan fleeing two police cars, in an orange-tinted palette styled like a GTA box art — Illustration: GTA Zone

Before Grand Theft Auto III and its move to 3D in 2001, GTA was played from above, like an animated model. Three two-dimensional games laid the foundation of the series between 1997 and 1999, and almost everyone has forgotten them today. Here’s what they invented, and why they still matter.

Before 3D, GTA Was Played From Above

On November 28, 1997, a small Scottish studio called DMA Design, already known for Lemmings, released a strange game published by BMG Interactive: Grand Theft Auto. The camera sat straight overhead, high above the city, so you steered a tiny character across what looked like an animated subway map. There was no signposted story: you stole cars, took missions over the phone, and racked up points by causing chaos. The criminal sandbox was born, and it was already top-down.

The detail that makes you smile today: this first GTA takes place across three cities already named Liberty City, San Andreas, and Vice City. Twenty-five years before Leonida, the series had already set its vocabulary. The game also owes its legend to a carefully orchestrated scandal, a campaign masterminded by PR man Max Clifford that earned it an 18 rating and a scandalous reputation, a story we tell in full in our deep dive on how GTA was born at DMA Design.

Game	Release	Setting	Key contribution
Grand Theft Auto	1997	Liberty City, San Andreas, Vice City	The founding game, top-down
GTA: London 1969	1999	London, 1969	The series' first expansion
GTA: London 1961	1999	London, 1961	Free add-on (prequel, PC)
Grand Theft Auto 2	1999	Anywhere City	Respect system, rival gangs

GTA 2’s Live-Action Short Film

It’s the strangest artifact in Rockstar’s history. To launch Grand Theft Auto 2 in 1999, DMA Design produced an eight-minute short film, shot entirely in live action, without a single line of dialogue. It follows a criminal named Claude Speed, played by British actor Scott Maslen, on a bloody spree working for several syndicates. Stills from the film even decorated the game’s menus at launch. It’s the only 100% live-action content the studio ever shot.

The nod fans love: two years later, the silent protagonist of GTA III would also be named Claude. Rockstar has never confirmed they’re the same man, and the connection remains a fan theory, but the echo was enough to write Claude Speed into legend. The original film, preserved by the Internet Archive, is still watchable today.

GTA 2's promotional short (1999), featuring Claude Speed: eight minutes of silent, live-action crime. Source: DMA Design / Rockstar Games (1999), via Internet Archive

Anywhere City, the Strangest GTA in the Series

Released on October 22, 1999, GTA 2 didn’t just reuse the recipe: it pushed it in a direction the series would never explore again. Gone were the identifiable American cities, in came Anywhere City, a gray, retro-futuristic metropolis the game mischievously sets ‘three weeks into the future.’ You can feel the influence of films like Blade Runner as much as that of the urban crime thriller.

Above all, GTA 2 introduced a respect system that foreshadowed San Andreas’ turf wars. The city is fought over by colorful gangs, from the Zaibatsu conglomerate to the Yakuza, by way of the trailer-park Rednecks and the Loonies escaped from the asylum. Do a favor for one and you make the others hate you: every mission reshuffles the map of alliances. At launch, the game got a mixed reception and sold below expectations, overshadowed by the ambition of an industry tipping over into 3D. For many, though, it’s the wildest and most accomplished 2D GTA.

A retro-futuristic night street lit by pink and blue neon, dark skyscrapers and vintage cars, evoking the mood of Anywhere City in GTA 2 — Neon, concrete, and cars from another era: the retro-futuristic mood of Anywhere City, the nameless metropolis of GTA 2. Illustration: GTA Zone

London 1969, the Only GTA Set Outside the United States

Between the two main games, DMA slipped in a unique experiment. GTA: London 1969 left the fictional American cities to point its camera at a real capital: late-1960s London. Left-hand driving, British slang (the arrest ‘Busted’ becomes a local turn of phrase), period cabs and Mini Coopers, a Swinging Sixties vibe. To this day, it’s the only GTA ever set outside the United States in a real place, and it has the rare distinction of being an expansion, not a standalone game.

A juicy detail for anyone who knows what came next: this first expansion for the series was produced by Dan Houser, the future writing mastermind behind the modern GTA games. Rockstar even spun a prequel out of it, GTA: London 1961, given away free on PC as long as you owned London 1969. DLC before the word DLC existed, made by the people who would go on to reinvent video games.

A late-1960s London street seen from above, with black cabs, a red double-decker bus, and small vintage cars, a sepia-toned Swinging Sixties mood — Black cabs, a red double-decker bus, and left-hand driving: the 1969 London that GTA: London brought to the screen, the only real city in the entire series. Illustration: GTA Zone

What These Forgotten Games Left the Series

You can smile at those pixels seen from above, but every modern GTA owes them something. The sandbox, the phone missions, the radio, the tasteless humor: the formula was already written in 1997. GTA 2’s respect system foreshadows the gang turf of San Andreas, and the names Liberty City, San Andreas, and Vice City would go on to become the series’ iconic cities. It would take GTA III’s big leap into 3D to turn these foundations into a revolution, as we lay out in our overview of all the GTA games in order.

These games are no longer sold, but they survive in the archives, and above all in the series’ DNA. When GTA 6 opens the gates of Leonida on November 19, 2026, it’ll be the same move as in 1997: steal a car and see what happens. Here’s our ranking of the 2D GTA games, from the most foundational to the most obscure.

1
Grand Theft Auto (1997): The Founding Act

It's all here in embryo. Total freedom, stealing cars, missions handed out over the phone, the in-car radio, the dark humor. Seen from above, across three cities already named Liberty City, San Andreas, and Vice City, the first GTA invented a genre in 1997 that no one quite understood yet. It shocked people, it was rated 18 by the BBFC, and that scandalous reputation turned it into a cult classic. Without it, none of the revolutions that followed exist. This is the series' big bang.
2
Grand Theft Auto 2 (1999): The Peak of the 2D Era

The first GTA broke new ground; GTA 2 refined it. Anywhere City, a retro-futuristic metropolis set 'three weeks into the future,' introduced a respect system: work for one gang and you turn all the others against you. You run into the Zaibatsu, the Yakuza, the Rednecks, the Loonies. It got a mixed reception and sold below expectations at the time, but it's the most polished, the most unhinged, and the only one to treat itself to a real live-action short film. The swan song of the 2D era.
3
GTA: London 1969: The Series' First Expansion

In 1999, DMA did something no GTA would ever do again: leave the United States for a real city. Off to 1969 London, left-hand driving, British slang, Swinging Sixties style. This first expansion for the series, produced by a certain Dan Houser, turned the first game's engine into a very British criminal postcard. A one-of-a-kind curiosity, all but invisible today, yet historically irreplaceable.
4
GTA: London 1961: The Phantom Free Bonus

The most forgotten of them all. Released the same year, on PC only and as a free download, London 1961 is a prequel to London 1969 that reaches back eight more years, into a black-and-white London. You had to own the previous expansion to play it, which narrowed its audience to a handful of fans. An endearing footnote in GTA history, proof that Rockstar was already tinkering with DLC before the word existed.

FAQ

What was the first GTA game?

Grand Theft Auto, released on November 28, 1997 on PC, developed by the Scottish studio DMA Design (the future Rockstar North) and published by BMG Interactive. Unlike the modern entries, it was played from a top-down view, with the camera placed high above the city.

How many 2D GTA games are there?

Four releases: Grand Theft Auto (1997), its two expansions GTA: London 1969 and GTA: London 1961 (1999), then Grand Theft Auto 2 (1999). All of them are played from above, before GTA III shifted the series into 3D in 2001.

Is GTA London really set in London?

Yes. GTA: London 1969 is the only game in the series set in a real city outside the United States, late-1960s London, with left-hand driving and British slang. Its free add-on London 1961 is a prequel, on PC only.

Can you still play the 2D GTA games today?

They are no longer officially sold by Rockstar, but they remain preserved on archiving platforms like the Internet Archive. Their influence, though, still lives on in every modern GTA.