Gorby no Pipeline Daisakusen (NES, iOS, Windows)

Gorby no Pipeline Daisakusen
Also known as: Pipeline Daisakusen (2021) Developer: Compile Publishers: Tokuma Shoten (1991), D4 Enterprise (2021) Platforms: NES (1991), Unlicensed NES (2021) Released in JP: April 12, 1991 (Tokuma), January 18, 2021 (D4) This game has hidden developer credits. This game has unused sounds. This game has unused text. This game has a hidden sound test. This game has revisional differences.

Gorby no Pipeline Daisakusen is a puzzle game where the player connects a pipeline between Tokyo and Moscow. The titular Gorby, Mikhail Gorbachev (then-head of the Soviet Union, which would end up collapsing just eight months after the game's release), only appears on the title screen.

Staff Screen

Finish the game with enough points for 2nd place (not 1st!) on both the Score and Stage rankings of the Record Table. When prompted for a name, enter "STF". Press Start, then on the Level Select menu press Left (×29) followed by A, B, or Start.

Sound Test

Get 1st place for both the Score and Stage rankings of the Record Table, then enter "SDT" as your name. Press Start, then on the Level Select menu highlight the "LEVEL 2" option and press A, B, or Start.

Notably, three tracks are otherwise unused. All three are from Zanac, another Compile game.

Unused Sound

The signature "Compile jingle" which shows up in many of their games, usually serving as an extra life jingle. This version in particular is taken from Gun-Nac.

Unused Text

Present at address 0xF7E5 is what appears to be part of an early script from Little Master: Raikubaan no Densetsu, a Game Boy game also published by Tokuma Shoten.

Control characters appear as garbage in the text below. "@" is used to switch between hiragana and katakana.

Text	Text with Kanji	Translation
ｲｶﾇﾃﾞ ｺﾞｼﾞｬﾙ｡ｲｻﾞ､ｼｮｳﾌﾞ= ｢ﾏｲｯﾀﾃﾞｺﾞｼﾞｬﾙ｡ ﾜｼﾓﾅｶﾏﾆﾅﾙﾃﾞｺﾞｼﾞｬﾙ｡ ｹﾝﾉﾏｼﾞﾝｶﾞ ﾅｶﾏﾆﾅﾘﾏｼﾀ ｲｴﾆﾊ ﾓｳﾀﾞﾚﾓｲﾏｾﾝ｡ ｱﾒｶﾞﾌｯﾃｷﾃ､ﾎﾉｵｶﾞ ｷｴﾃｼﾏｲﾏｼﾀ｡ ｼｭﾂｹﾞｷｼﾏｽｶ ﾊｲ ｲｲｴ ﾓﾘﾉﾅｶｶﾗ､ﾏﾓﾉﾉ ｴﾝｸﾞﾝｶﾞ､ｱﾗﾜﾚﾏｼﾀ｡ ｼﾞﾗｲｦ ﾌﾝﾃﾞｼﾏｯﾀ｡ ﾀｲﾘｮｸｶﾞ ﾊﾝﾌﾞﾝﾆﾅｯﾀ｡ ﾎﾉｵﾉﾅｶﾆ ﾊｲｯﾃｼﾏｯﾀ｡ ﾀｲﾘｮｸｶﾞ ﾍﾘﾏｼﾀ｡ @ﾜｰﾌﾟﾊﾟﾈﾙ@ﾆﾉﾘﾏｼﾀ｡ @ﾜｰﾌﾟﾊﾟﾈﾙ@ﾆﾉﾘﾏｼﾀｶﾞ ｲﾄﾞｳﾃﾞｷﾏｾﾝﾃﾞｼﾀ｡ ｺｺﾏﾃﾞﾉ ｼﾞｮｳﾀｲｦ @ｾｰﾌﾞ@ｼﾏｼﾀ｡ @ｼﾅﾘｵ@ @ｼﾅﾘｵ@ｦ ｴﾗﾝﾃﾞｸﾀﾞｻｲ｡ ﾏﾎｳﾉﾂﾎﾞﾃﾞ ﾐｶﾀｦ ｶﾞｯﾀｲｻｾﾏｽ｡ ｶﾞｯﾀｲﾃﾞ ｱﾀﾗｼｲﾅｶﾏｶﾞ ﾃﾞｷｱｶﾞﾘﾏｼﾀ｡ ｷｺﾘｶﾞ ｷｦ ｷﾘﾀｵｼﾏｽ _ﾞ}kﾞ ﾉ ｳﾏﾚﾙ ﾊｶｦ ﾊｶｲｼﾏｽ｡ @ｼﾅﾘｵ@ ｦ@ｸﾘｱ@ｼﾏｼﾀ｡ ﾂｷﾞﾉ@ｴﾘｱ@ﾆｽｽﾐﾏｽ｡ ﾘｸ	行かぬで ごじゃる。いざ、勝負＝ 「まいったでごじゃる。 わしも仲間になるでごじゃる。 剣の魔人が 仲間になりました。 家には もう誰もいません。 雨が降ってきて、炎が 消えてしまいました。 出撃しますか はい いいえ 森の中から、魔物の 援軍が、表われました。 地雷を 踏んでしまった。 体力が 半分になった。 炎の中に 入ってしまった。 体力が 減りました。 ワープパネルに乗りました。 ワープパネルに乗りましたが 移動できませんでした。 ここまでの 状態を セーブしました。 シナリオ シナリオを選んでください。 魔法の壺で 味方を 合体させます。 合体で 新しい仲間が 出来上がりました。 きこりが 木を 切り倒します _ﾞ}kﾞ の 生まれる 墓を 破壊します。 シナリオ をクリアしました。 次のエリアに進みます。 陸	without going. Now, let us battle. I yield. I will join you. The genie of the sword became your ally. No one is in the house now. It is raining, and the flames have been extinguished. Sortie? Yes No Monster reinforcements appeared from the forest. You stepped on a land mine. Your HP have been halved. You stepped into the flames. Your HP have decreased. You stepped on a warp panel. You stepped on a warp panel but couldn't go anywhere. The current state has been saved. Scenario Select a scenario. Use the magic pot to combine allies. The combination created a new friend. The lumberjack cuts down a tree. The grave that spawns *** is destroyed. You cleared the scenario. Proceeding to the next area. Land

Revisional Differences

To do: Any other differences besides the title screen and publisher logo?

In 2021, D4 Enterprise, who managed to snatch up the rights to most of Compile’s back catalog when it went bankrupt, rereleased the game through its emulation storefronts PicoPico (iOS) and Project EGG (Windows) as a free download for subscribers. While Compile had allegedly obtained the Soviet embassy's blessings to use Gorbachev's likeness on the game in 1991, those rights have either expired or fallen into a grey limbo with the Soviet Union's collapse.

Either way, D4 chose to play it safe (and also probably decided that shelling out cash to directly pay Gorbachev for image rights on a freebie 30-year-old kusoge wasn't worth the money), removing him from the title screen, replacing his appearance on the promotional material with an ominous silhouette, and renaming the game to simply Pipeline Daisakusen.

Title Screen

1991	2021

More clouds were added to fill the empty void left by Gorbachev's removal, and the "Daisakusen" part of the title was enlarged and put to the right of "Pipeline".