Border Down
| Border Down | |
|---|---|
Japanese Dreamcast cover art
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| Developer(s) | G.rev |
| Publisher(s) | G.rev |
| Designer(s) | Hiroyuki Maruyama |
| Platform(s) | Arcade game, Dreamcast |
| Release |
Arcade
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| Genre(s) | Shoot 'em up |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Cabinet | Upright |
| Arcade system | Sega NAOMI |
| Display | Raster (Horizontal) |
Border Down (ボーダーダウン Bōdā Daun) is a horizontally scrolling shoot 'em up video game developed by G.rev and released in Japanese arcades in 2003. It is a spiritual sequel to Metal Black, a favorite game of creator Hiroyuki Maruyama. As with most other Sega NAOMI titles, the game was later released on the Dreamcast in September 2003 in two incarnations: a normal edition, and a limited edition that came bundled with a music CD and alternative cover art. Border Down was G.rev's second independent game (though they did subcontracted work on other titles, most notably Ikaruga and Gradius V), released after Sega's official discontinuation of the Dreamcast console.
Border Down features difficulty settings that are switched during gameplay. There are three difficulties to a level, called "borders", green being the easiest whereas red is the hardest. The green "border" is the longest variation on a level, but the enemies fire far less frequently. The red "border" is the shortest variation on a level, but the enemies fire at a frantic rate, making it increasingly more difficult to stay alive.
Instead of receiving a set number of lives, a player has the option to start on any "border" at the beginning of the game. Whenever the player dies, a "border down" occurs and the game continues onward on the next hardest difficulty. This puts increasing pressure on the player to stay on the green (easiest) border. Conversely, a player can opt to start at the red "border" for the maximum challenge. The game ends if the player dies while on the red border. The scoring is calculated in the following manner: points of destruction during the level + (5000 * station-wagon hit during the level) + (10000 * hit counter during the boss ) + 3.000.000 maximum (time bonus)
At the bottom of a screen is a laser power meter that progressively fills as enemies are destroyed. Initially the lasers are at level one and can increase up to level five.
During the use of the break laser, the vessel becomes invincible and all enemy projectiles can be destroyed. Each enemy projectile destroyed by the break laser increases the hit counter by one. At the end of a level, this hit counter is multiplied by 5000 and added on to the score as a bonus. This scoring system is unique to Border Down and encourages the player to take risks. In most games, the player is usually motivated to eliminate bosses as quickly as possible, whereas the goal here is to utilize the time given to attain a higher hit count. If the player exceeds a certain score defined by levels, it can go up to a different border before the beginning of the following level.
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