Play Border Down Online Free for Sega NAOMI.
That clip up top is the real Border Down — the actual 2003 Sega NAOMI game from G.Rev. Grab the free RetroPlayers.Club Player and it runs full-speed on your PC, no cartridge required.
Border Down
Play this Game The Right Way Now -> Download Our Mini App & Start PlayingThe RetroPlayers.Club Player is a Premium perk. Go Premium or sign in to play Border Down at full speed on your own PC.
Border Down can be relived on your own PC through the free RetroPlayers.Club Player app — full speed, with a controller and saves just like your hardware. You confirm you own the game from your library, and no need to connect your console.
🎮 USB or Bluetooth controller? Plug it in, Once Detected Click Here to Open Your Controller Options
| Action | Keyboard | Controller |
|---|---|---|
| D-Pad Up | ↑ | D-Pad up |
| D-Pad Down | ↓ | D-Pad down |
| D-Pad Left | ← | D-Pad left |
| D-Pad Right | → | D-Pad right |
| B (bottom) | X | Bottom face |
| A (right) | Z | Right face |
| Y (left) | S | Left face |
| X (top) | A | Top face |
| L | Q | Left shoulder |
| R | E | Right shoulder |
| Start | Enter | Start |
| Select | V | Select |
🎮 Sega NAOMI controls
These are the keys the RetroPlayers.Club Player app uses for Sega NAOMI, shown for reference. Your controller still lights up below so you can confirm it is detected — Premium members can remap here (keyboard or USB controller) and the app applies the map at the next launch.
No controller detected yet — plug one in and press any button.
Press buttons — your controller lights up here so you can see it is detected. Go Premium to save a custom map.
| Action | Keyboard | Controller |
|---|---|---|
| Lever Up | W | D-Pad up |
| Lever Down | S | D-Pad down |
| Lever Left | A | D-Pad left |
| Lever Right | D | D-Pad right |
| Shot | J | Top face |
| Bomb | K | Left face |
| Start | Enter | Start |
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Border Down is a horizontal scrolling shooter video game developed and published by G.rev. The game employs a "border system" where each stage has three variations of different difficulty.
How to Play Border Down
The RetroPlayers.Club Player ships with Border Down already mapped — the layout below is the default, and Controller Mapping in the app rebinds any of it.
The Story Behind Border Down
G.Rev released Border Down for the Sega NAOMI in 2003.
The team had to cut a significant amount of material due to lack of funds. By 2007, Japanese retailer Messe Sanoh was still seeing demand for the game, and so requested Sega and G.rev for another production run. Sega had effectively ceased support for the system in the west by this time, but some support remained in Japan.
Maruyama was prepared to fold G.rev if Border Down was not successful, but the number of customer orders at launch exceeded G.rev and Sega's expectations, so they continued producing new copies until they felt demand was met. As for the GameCube, they believed Border Down was not suited for the system's audience.
What You'll Play
Border Down is a shoot 'em up game for 1 player, played full-speed in the free RetroPlayers.Club Player with its Controller Mapping panel.
The player starts on the easiest border ("green"), and if they lose a life, drop to "yellow", and then finally the difficult "red" border. It can also be boosted by destroying enemies. The final stage and ending are determined by the amount of time spent in each border during a playthrough.
This meter can also power a secondary laser attack, which has an additional function of canceling out any boss attack, reflecting it back at them. Each border is slightly different from the others, usually featuring other enemies and modified stage layouts and backgrounds.
Why It Still Hits
Border Down reached Sega NAOMI players in 2003 as a shoot 'em up game, and the reviews and rankings below are what it is still loaded up for.
Retro Gamer thought the graphics were good for the game's limited budget, and Jeuxvideo.com agreed, but Kalata believed they were bland outside of some interesting backgrounds. Initial reactions to the arcade release were mixed. Kalata and Jeuxvideo.com agreed that the game had excellent replayability due to the border and scoring systems.
Regarding the music, Retro Gamer wrote that it was "strong enough to stand on its own", while Kalata and Jeuxvideo.com felt it was strange synth and techno jazz. Jeuxvideo.com believed it to be the best horizontal shooter for the Dreamcast. Maruyama recalled: "It's a really individualistic type of game, so when we first released it [in the arcades] it received both positive and negative reactions".
Background sources: Wikipedia.
Border Down — Frequently Asked Questions
Who developed Border Down?
Development was handled by G.Rev, with G.Rev publishing the release.
How do I play Border Down?
Download the free RetroPlayers.Club Player from this page, then open Border Down — it runs the real Sega NAOMI release full-speed on your PC. The video above is that same game so you can see it first.
What console was Border Down released on?
G.Rev shipped Border Down for the Sega NAOMI back in 2003, and the RetroPlayers.Club Player runs that release.
Can I save my progress in Border Down?
Premium members get save states in the RetroPlayers.Club Player — snapshot Border Down at any moment and pick it back up later.
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