Sega Junction game question
CMC
the manager of the store, a friend of mine, showed me this game called
Junction for the Sega Genesis. It is published by Micronet Co., Ltd. and is
rated H for "High Level of Intellect Needed To Complete This Game". I am
wondering if anyone has heard of and/or played this game before?
Cheers,
Colin
BelPowerslave
I've heard of it, but have yet to play it. Looks like a puzzle game...
Bel
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CMC
That's what I gathered from the box art. I am wondering what king of
puzzles that they are. Also, the instructions do not seem to be of any
better explanation of the game play.
Cheers,
Colin
BelPowerslave
Why not just break out an emulator and try the rom?
Azel
yes, Junction, how do i love thee... great game. actually, if you look
at the small print around Micronet you'll find that it was somewhere
connected to Konami, possibly a subsidiary or temporary publishing
house, kinda like Matsuya and Renovation.
k, onto the important stuff. Ever played those tile slide puzzles?
y'know, like the Picture Puzzle on MACs, or those tile puzzles w/ tiles
labeled 1~15? yeah, that's the basic mechanic of the game. but it takes
on a sweet twist. you have to play the tile game while a ball rolls
along the track labyrinth. if the ball runs out of track you lose a
life. later they add enemies to chase down your ball, too, just in case
if it wasn't hard enough. the goal is to roll the ball through all the
periphery U-turns (it's those semicircle flaps around the edge of the
board). also, the ball NEVER STOPS. if you pause you are not allowed to
view the tile board, so no cheating and leisurely strategizing! oh, and
you gotta do this before time runs out. fun!
you control the speed of the ball, from crawl to fast. it's an on/off
speed, so no real nuance involved, or really needed. also, to make
things interesting, there's pyramid tiles which allow "jumping." what
speed you take the jump determines how slow you float through the air.
you can literally build your labyrinth in front of your ball as it
floats through the air -- if you're fast enough.
and then there's switch tiles, basically tiles that offer forks in the
road. though these are tricky and i'll give you a hint on how to work
them. think of the game as on/off; every tile move you make, from the
first one, determines when these tracks are "on" or "off." basically,
when you are "on" the ball will go straight ahead ("on track"), and
everytime you are "off" the ball will take the detour fork ("off
track"). it gets interesting in some mazes because you'll have multiple
essential fork tiles and will have to end up calculating in your head.
so, to recap: it's a game about sliding tiles to create a labyrinth for
your ball, which never stops, to roll on. you have to manipulate tiles
to roll your ball over the semicircle U-turns on the edges of the board.
on some boards you can use tiles to catch air, or to double back on the
track. some tiles are forks, you should calculate "on/off" in your head
during these to determine which fork the ball will take. you have to do
this all under a time limit. there's no time to study the boards.
eventually your ball is also pursued by enemies.
there's 50 game boards in the genesis version. there's 5 backgrounds,
each sectioned off to 5 different sets of 10 stages. to beat the game,
truly, you cannot use choose level mode to lvl 50, beat it, and expect
the full ending. you must beat all 50 in one sitting. doing so will
leave you with a great sense of accomplishment, around 6+ hours gone,
and one splitting migraine. :D it's fun i tell you!
a version of Junction came out for game gear in america, that i
remember. the game is similar to Timeball from TG16. hope that helps! :D
CMC
Thank you for the info. I look forward to playing it.
Cheers,
Colin
John
"Azel" <opao...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:TqednTp1aumy8fDY...@comcast.com...
> CMC wrote:
>> I was at my local game store (not a chain, only two local stores) today
>> and the manager of the store, a friend of mine, showed me this game
>> called Junction for the Sega Genesis. It is published by Micronet Co.,
>> Ltd. and is rated H for "High Level of Intellect Needed To Complete This
>> Game". I am wondering if anyone has heard of and/or played this game
>> before?
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Colin
>
> yes, Junction, how do i love thee... great game. actually, if you look at
> the small print around Micronet you'll find that it was somewhere
> connected to Konami, possibly a subsidiary or temporary publishing house,
> kinda like Matsuya and Renovation.
>
> k, onto the important stuff. Ever played those tile slide puzzles? y'know,
> like the Picture Puzzle on MACs, or those tile puzzles w/ tiles labeled
> 1~15? yeah, that's the basic mechanic of the game. but it takes on a sweet
> twist. you have to play the tile game while a ball rolls along the track
> labyrinth. if the ball runs out of track you lose a life. later they add
> enemies to chase down your ball, too, just in case if it wasn't hard
> enough. the goal is to roll the ball through all the periphery U-turns
> (it's those semicircle flaps around the edge of the board). also, the ball
> NEVER STOPS. if you pause you are not allowed to view the tile board, so
> no cheating and leisurely strategizing! oh, and you gotta do this before
> time runs out. fun!
>
I was really hopeful for this game when I got it, I used to really like
guttang guttong. But for some silly reason Junction has taken a pretend 3d
isometric view of the play field which really kills it for me.
Azel
i guess that can be a problem for some people. but i'm old. i'm used to
Zaxxon, Land Stalker, Rings of Power, and other isometric games. besides
this was before the age of 3D, and Timeball was already out on a
competing platform. so it really does make sense to try isometric
perspective.
i thought it looked pretty cool when it first came out. yes, i'm old
enough to say i bought this game when it first came out. i payed $50 for
it back in the day. but then i love puzzle games and had a blast with it.
i'm surprised you didn't know about the isometric perspective
beforehand. i mean, it was one of the game's biggest selling points.
pseudo-3D perspective, utilizing jumps, looking pretty instead of a flat
tile game, etc. there were pictures of said board on the back of the
box, in the magazine reviews of the time, on its mag advertisements,
etc. i'm surprised you couldn't find a game shot anywhere on the net.
John
> John wrote:
>> "Azel" <opao...@comcast.net> wrote in message
>> news:TqednTp1aumy8fDY...@comcast.com...
>>>
>>
>>
>> I was really hopeful for this game when I got it, I used to really like
>> guttang guttong. But for some silly reason Junction has taken a pretend
>> 3d isometric view of the play field which really kills it for me.
>
> i guess that can be a problem for some people. but i'm old. i'm used to
> Zaxxon, Land Stalker, Rings of Power, and other isometric games. besides
> this was before the age of 3D, and Timeball was already out on a competing
> platform. so it really does make sense to try isometric perspective.
>
> i thought it looked pretty cool when it first came out. yes, i'm old
> enough to say i bought this game when it first came out. i payed $50 for
> it back in the day. but then i love puzzle games and had a blast with it.
>
> i'm surprised you didn't know about the isometric perspective beforehand.
> i mean, it was one of the game's biggest selling points. pseudo-3D
> perspective, utilizing jumps, looking pretty instead of a flat tile game,
> etc. there were pictures of said board on the back of the box, in the
> magazine reviews of the time, on its mag advertisements, etc. i'm
> surprised you couldn't find a game shot anywhere on the net.
I bought it second-hand from a pawn shop, having never heard of it before.
The period when I was excited was between when I started playing and
realised the style of the game, and 20 mins later, when I then realised that
the forced perspective was an encumberance that sapped some of the enjoyment
from it.
It cost me $5, so I'm not complaining too much :)
I've got nothing against isometric games, I love Head Over Heels on the C64,
Cadaver on the Amiga, and Marble Madness. I just think it's really
unnecessary for this style of game, and interferes with the play.