Border Down

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Border Down
Studio G.Revolution
Publisher G.Revolution
Senior Developer Hiroyuki Maruyama
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 Arcade: April 15, 2003 Dreamcast: September 25, 2003
JapanJapan

JapanJapan
platform Sega NAOMI (Arcade), Dreamcast
genre Horizontal shooter
Game mode Single player
control Joystick , three buttons

Border Down is a shoot-'em-up video game developed by Japanese developer G.revolution and featuring former employees of Taito . It was developed from 2002 for the NAOMI arcade board by Sega and finally appeared in Japanese arcades in 2003.

In this game, the player has to fly a spaceship through six sections and defend himself against enemy spaceships, mechas , projectiles and other opponents using two different laser weapons . At the end of each section, a great boss awaits the player.

The peculiarity compared to other "Shmups" is that if the player loses a spaceship, he cannot fly on with another one as usual and simply loses a "life", but the player gets a "border" down. These "borders" mark the difficulty, there is a green (easy), yellow (normal) and red (difficult) border. So if you are already in the yellow border and lose a life, the game stops for a short time and you begin a section in the red border, but the environment and the shooting behavior of the opponents have become a lot more difficult. If the player reaches the red border and is hit again, he loses a continue and, if there is still a continue, can start the level again in the green border.

Europe wants a home version

Since the hardware of the NAOMI board is similar to that of the Sega Dreamcast and many fans wanted a home version of Border Down for the Sega Dreamcast, the organization Dreamcast-Scene (at that time Dreamcast-Petition.com ) made contact with the Japanese developer . After some discussions, signatures were collected online and offline on the Dreamcast-Scene website and sent directly to the developer in Japan. In European media, G.Revolution was impressed that such a fan group still exists for the Dreamcast, which was believed to be dead, and after further discussions with Dreamcast-Scene agreed to port the shoot 'em up for Dreamcast.

The appearance of the Dreamcast version

On September 25, 2003, the Dreamcast version of Border Down was released in Japan in two versions: Once in a normal standard version and the so-called "Limited Edition" in a double pack with an official soundtrack CD, booklet and alternative cover. Japanese customers who ordered the "Sega Direct" shop also received a mousepad and a CD case for the soundtrack CD.

Compared to the arcade version, there was now a more difficult "remix mode" that offered alternative graphics, music and game content from the already known sections. Saving the score and training videos were also included.

Only a few thousand units were produced, but according to expectations they sold well. The "Limited Edition" is now a sought-after collector's item. Many Dreamcast and Shoot-'em-Up fans from Europe and North America imported the title through Asian dealers.

The majority of the Japanese, European and North American trade press gave Border Down an average rating, but many Dreamcast and Shoot 'Em up fans believe that the title deserves higher ratings.

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