Yes, it’s a japanese Famicom game featuring the former President of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev, and the goal is to lay a pipeline throughout Russia. Each dot on the map represents a stage, and the difficulty rises progressively.
Gorbachev however only appears on the Title Screen.
It’s actually a quite entertaining game if you like puzzle games. It resembles Tetris a bit, except here you have pieces of two pipes in each falling block and you will have to connect a pipeline from the right wall to the left by rotating and placing the blocks correctly.
There are quite a few games that resembles this one, like for example Pipe Dream for Game Boy. However Gorby’s Pipeline has a uniqueness to it. There’s different music on the stages, I only played through the first three, but they were all different. I guess it will start looping eventually. Both the animation and music has a very USSR feeling to it, the japanese have portrayed a very cosy image of old Russia. It makes me think of ballets like the nutcracker and swan lake, snowy landscapes, and of course the old fashioned Tetris.
It was fairly hard though, if you are not used to puzzle games it will take some time to think where to put the pieces. I myself have played quite a few puzzlers and love the genre, but Tetris is always easier. (Unless you’re playing NotTetris2)
Here’s a movie I put together of the gameplay:
Retro Video Gaming 
did they launch a rocketship at the end of stage 2????? The graphics try to pretend that you are working on indoor plumbing but this is clearly an oil-pipeline economic power-play, Ender’s Game style. By the time you reach stage ten you can shut-off the lifeblood of much of Europe.
It is clear that Gorbachev has since gotten a better agent: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/05/business/media/05vuitton.html?_r=1
I can’t tell if this looks way harder or easier than tetris, is there any penalty for having lots of extra pipe?
Yes, indeed they did! Cool huh? ;D
Haha that ad for Louis Vuitton was hilarious!
It sure is a game based on the politics during that time, trying to make us forget what it really was about and just play and have fun while the USSR is trying to take over the world o_O
It is harder than Tetris, if you have too many extra pieces they stay at the bottom when you make a line and turn into blocks that you can’t use. You have to make two lines to clear a stage, so if you have f*cked up a bit on the first one it makes the second one harder. Eventually you have to clear 3, and 4 and so on before beating a stage.
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I wish I would have found this game, but I’ve never seen it for sale… Did have Hitler No Fukkatsu but sold it way to cheap… Still bothers me.. Good game regardless
omg! Hitler no fukatsu! I have to get me that one! ^_^ There’s one on Ebay but it’s like 130 USD.. =(
You can find Gorby no Pipeline for 12 USD on ebay ;D
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