Pipe Dream

I had a craving for pipe/road-builder style puzzles and I ended trying out several versions of Pipe Dream, the ubiquitous pipe placement game that has been ported all over. The NES and Gameboy Color versions simultaneously bored and stressed me out, and the NES has a Tetris-style bonus level that was somehow more stressful, but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the Super Famicom version.

There are a lot of little bells and whistles, like a level selection map and a shop for powerup purchases. The player is given a start and ending pipe along with a minimum piece goal, which encourages more elaborate paths. The ooze travels at what feels like a slower pace, and bonuses are awarded for more complex connections like crossover pipes. It’s the combination of refined win conditions and a slower timer that turned this version into something I can see myself revisiting from time to time. A+ would pipe again.