setpixel provides us with a brief report about isometric view theory and it's application in Macromedia Director. Those view are so trendy today.

The isometric view has been popularized by its "3D" representation of levels in games such as Ant Attack on the ZX Spectrum (the first isometric platformer), Zaxxon, and Atari's Marble Madness game. Since 1982, many game developers have continued to use the isometric view.

Examples taken from Ant, Marble Madness and Zaxxon: