Gorby no Pipeline Daisakusen

Gorby no Pipeline Daisakusen
Famicom version box art
Developer(s)	Compile [1]
Publisher(s)	Tokuma Shoten [2]
Platform(s)	Famicom MSX2 FM Towns
Release	JP: 12 April 1991 (Family Computer) [3] JP: April 1991 (MSX2 and FM Towns) [4] [5]
Genre(s)	Puzzle [2]

Gorby no Pipeline Daisakusen ^{[lower-alpha 1]} is a puzzle video game developed by Compile for the MSX2, Famicom, and FM Towns. It was published by Tokuma Shoten in 1991. ^{[6] [7]}

In the game, the player assembles water pipe segments for a pipeline from Moscow to Tokyo in order to strengthen Japan–Soviet Union relations.

With permission of the Soviet embassy, ^{[8] [9]} the game and its promotional materials feature the name and likeness of Mikhail Gorbachev, who was President of the Soviet Union at the time of the game's development and release. The cover art of the game featuring Gorbachev was created by Takamasa Shimaura (島浦孝全). ^[10]

Two months after Tokuma Shoten released Gorby no Pipeline Daisakusen in Japan, Sega published Ganbare Gorby! (がんばれゴルビー!) for the Game Gear handheld game console. ^[11] Both games were released in Japan several months before the dissolution of the Soviet Union. ^{[12] [13]}

The Famicom version was re-released on iOS through the PicoPico service and Windows through Project Egg in 2021, although references to Gorbachev have been removed or censored, including a game name change to Pipeline Daisakusen. ^{[lower-alpha 2] [14] [15] [16]} The title screen was the only part of the game where Gorbachev was depicted and the game's graphic tiles that had his name and likeliness was overwritten with other tiles that were then used to enlarge the word "大作戦" (which is the "Daisakusen" in the name) and place it beside the "パイプライン" ("pipeline") that was there in the original. ^[16]

Gameplay

Gameplay (MSX2 version)

In this falling-block puzzle game, a small girl—wearing a Russian national costume of sarafan, kokoshnik, and valenki—pushes tiles representing segments of water pipe down a two-dimensional, vertical shaft; this shaft is the field of play. A second girl, also in national costume, waves semaphore flags to give the impression that she guides the placement of the tiles.

The player must quickly rotate and place the tiles to catch and conduct a continuously-flowing stream of water from pipes on one side of the shaft to the other. When the player successfully links an inflow pipe on one side of the shaft to an outflow pipe on the other side, a row of tiles disappears, and the player earns points. If the player routes the water to a dead end, the game adds a layer of pipe segments for the player to clear. If the accumulating pipe segments stack to the top of the shaft, the game ends. By clearing the requisite number of rows, the player proceeds to the next game level.

Music

The background music for each level is a rendition of a Russian classical music composition. Among the selections are "The Great Gate of Kiev", the final movement from Mussorgsky's suite Pictures at an Exhibition (1874); "Swan's Theme" from Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake (1876); and "Flight of the Bumblebee", an interlude from Rimsky-Korsakov's opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan (1900). ^[17]

See also

• Tetris (1984)
• Pipe Mania (1989)

Notes

1. Gorby no Pipeline Daisakusen (ゴルビーのパイプライン大作戦, Gorubī no Paipurain Daisakusen, lit. Gorby's Great Pipeline Strategy)
2. Pipeline Daisakusen (パイプライン大作戦, Paipurain Daisakusen, lit. Great Pipeline Strategy)

References

1. "Compile". gdri.smspower.org. Game Developer Research Institute. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
2. "Gorby no Pipeline Daisakusen Release Information for Family Computer". GameFAQs . Retrieved 22 October 2012.
3. "FC: ゴルビーのパイプライン大作戦". Famitsu (in Japanese). Enterbrain . Retrieved 22 October 2012.
4. "MSX2: ゴルビーのパイプライン大作戦". Famitsu (in Japanese). Enterbrain . Retrieved 22 October 2012.
5. "Gorby no Pipeline Daisakusen Releases". MobyGames . Retrieved 5 April 2018.
6. "New Soft: ゴルビーのパイプライン大作戦". MSX Magazine (in Japanese). ASCII: 15. May 1991.
7. ゴルビーのパイプライン大作戦. MSX-Fan (in Japanese). Tokuma Shoten: 112. May 1991.
8. "ゴルビーのパイプライン大作戦（コンパイル）". plaza.harmonix.ne.jp. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
9. "ゴルビーのパイプライン大作戦 コンパイル（1991年）", 8 Bitters
10. "ゴルビーのパイプライン大作戦/video game ・広告". saiyuukai.com. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
11. "Factory Panic / Ganbare Gorby! (がんばれゴルビー！) / Crazy Company". SMS Power!. Retrieved 2017-03-22.
12. Plunkett, Luke (4 January 2012). "There Was a Famicom Game About the Leader of the Soviet Union". Kotaku . Gawker Media . Retrieved 2017-03-22.
13. (in Russian) Declaration № 142-Н of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, formally establishing the dissolution of the Soviet Union as a state and subject of international law.
14. "レトロゲーム遊び放題のiOSアプリ「PicoPico」2021年1月18日（月）アップデート実施！｜株式会社Ｄ４エンタープライズのプレスリリース". PR TIMES (in Japanese). 18 January 2021. Retrieved 2021-01-18.
15. "パイプライン大作戦". Amusement Center.
16. "Gorby no Pipeline Daisakusen (NES, iOS, Windows) - the Cutting Room Floor". tcrf.net.
17. "Gorby no Pipeline Daisakusen". VGMdb.

External links

• Gorby no Pipeline Daisakusen at MobyGames
• Instruction manual (Family Computer) at Giant Bomb