In an interview with gen16, G.rev CEO Hiroyuki Maruyama spoke about the company’s direction and their new game Strania on Xbox Live Arcade. Part of the chat is sure to catch the eye of those with memories of the Dreamcast’s last days. It seems the developer has considered a remake of their first game, Border Down.
When asked whether their titles Border Down or Under Defeat could receive the XBLA remake treatment that Treasure’s arcade-style classics have, Maruyama said the possibility isn’t out of the question: “We had considered it in the past, but the timing was not right so we decided to shelf the ideas. Now that we have finished Strania, it would not be strange if we gave those titles some reconsideration.”
One of the last games to release for the Dreamcast, Border Down was plain stylistically, but it was also a very fun shooter. If you enjoy their recent title Strania, you’d probably like Border Down. With a new coat of paint, the game could be a ton of fun for fans of the niche genre, one that is finding a home in the digital distribution market.
A tiny developer like G.rev making games for a niche audience has to look toward the future: “One of the biggest problems we are facing at the moment is trying to answer the question, ‘What are we going to do for the next 10 years?’ The current game market, user needs and the general environment has changed so much since we first started. Up until now, we have created games from the stance that they are games we wanted to make. In the future, we may have to adjust our perspective.”
Is there room for a Border Down remake in that future? I hope so.
