Junction
System: Genesis
Release Date: April 1991
Developer: Micronet
Publisher: Micronet
Genre: Puzzle
Slide pieces all around a board in Junction! If you need a puzzle fix, here’s a title that is familiar, yet different. I feel a little Pipe Dream as I play, but only a hint of it. You have a board of sliding puzzle pieces in front of you and each piece has a track (or lack thereof) on it. The goal of each stage is to guide a ball through all the checkpoints around the edge of the board. There are fifty levels for you to get through with different settings every ten levels.
There is always a hole on the board and pressing a direction on the d-pad will move a piece in that direction. If you can make a path with the pieces on the board, you can then hold the B button and quickly move the ball in order to score more points. If you need more time, you have a limited amount of slowdown with the A Button.
Otherwise, you can move the piece that the ball is on. I had to rely on this a few times. There’s a pyramid that you can jump an adjacent square if you hit it. There are some special junction tiles that may take you in one direction or another depending on how many times it had been moved. There are also gold tiles that are immovable. I had a lot of trouble getting my brain wrapped around these puzzles and was only able to beat a few of them. There is a level select in the options menu, so you can play whatever levels you want whenever you want.
Graphics: 1.5
The backgrounds are animated, digitized pictures, which is neat to see.
Sound: 1.5
I like the first set of screens song a lot, the rest were okay, the annoying sound effect that plays when you’re holding the B Button is annoying.
Gameplay: 1.0
Slide the pieces around the board and get frustrated and confused as you try to get the piece where you want.
Difficulty: 2.5
Every puzzle can be done if you have the patience and you can play any level you want any time you want.
Fun Factor: 1.0
I really found more frustration than enjoyment.
Overall Rating: 1.5
Junction earns a C-. I like puzzle games, but I don’t like all puzzle games and this one falls in the latter category for me.