History Main / PipeMaze

*** ''VideoGame/MarioKart7'': Piranha Plant Slide, based on the ''Super Mario Bros'' underground levels. Not only do you enter the underground portion via a large entrance shaped like a green pipe, but also drive alongside a current of water (and there's a flooded part later on). It returns in ''VideoGame/MarioKart8'' as a NostalgiaLevel.

* The back areas in ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc.'' where Randall carries out his evil experiments are practically made of complicated plumbing. They even made custom software for creating the piping.

* Wiki/SCPFoundation's [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-015 SCP-015]] is a mass of pipes and plumbing work that have taken over an entire warehouse.

This is especially common in VideoGames that use thick pipes for a SpaceFillingPath, InsurmountableWaistHeightFence, or just generic platforms in an AbsurdlySpaciousSewer or EternalEngine.

Can sometimes be TruthInTelevision due to people taking the easy path out and just using whatever scrap parts they happened to have lying around.

** ''VideoGame/MarioParty'': [[VideoGame/MarioParty1 The original game]] has a [[http://www.mariowiki.com/Pipe_Maze_%28minigame%29 minigame]] of the same name. The seventh game has a Duel minigame based on this as well ([[PunnyName Warp Pipe Dreams]]).

** ''VideoGame/MarioParty'': The original game has a [[http://www.mariowiki.com/Pipe_Maze_%28minigame%29 minigame]] of the same name. The seventh game has a Duel minigame based on this as well ([[PunnyName Warp Pipe Dreams]]).

* Pictured above, the [[UsefulNotes/ApplicationProgrammingInterface OpenGL Pipes]] screensaver introduced in [[UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows Windows NT 4.0]]. Windows Vista removed it, but you can still copy the .SCR file from an older version for that retro feel. The more screens you have, the better the effect.
** [=XScreensaver=] has a version with improved graphics, including valves and gauges.

* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioMaker2'': Whereas most game styles have a selectable [[TheLostWoods Forest theme]] (which was absent in the first game), the one based on ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' has instead this setting (it's still called "Forest", as it technically still takes place in one). The floor tiles, including the slopes, are all shaped like minuscule green pipes, and all semi-solid platforms are industrial setpieces instead of forest flora. It has a body water whose level can be adjusted, like in the forest theme of the other game styles). And accordingly, said water becomes toxic and lethal during night.

* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioMaker2'': Whereas most game styles have a selectable Forest theme (which was absent in the first game), the one based on ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' has instead this setting (it's still called "Forest", as it technically still takes place in one). The floor tiles, including the slopes, are all shaped like minuscule green pipes; it has a body water whose level can be adjusted, like in the forest theme of the other game styles). And accordingly, said water becomes toxic and lethal during night.

** Two examples in [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 the original game]]:

** World 6-1 of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2''. At first it plays like a traditional desert level, but then you enter the underground area housing 21 jars (them being the game's equivalent of pipes); almost all of them can be entered, but only ''one'' has the key that leads to the end. Among them is also one jar leading to an extra life, so it's not all bad.
** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' has World 7, the [[TropeNamer Pipe Maze]] (or Pipe Land in the original US release), which has quite a few levels which most probably come under this (note the vast amount of pipes which don't do anything other than make temporary walls rather than actually taking anything anywhere). The background in the remake is even more completely insane in terms of pipe layout. The first level (7-1) showcases the concept in a primitive form, while later levels mix things up by adding extra perks (such as invisible blocks meant to create paths you have to take by using alternate pipes, or platforms whose direction can be manipulated with your own jumps). World 7-9 has a particular pipe maze level even by the world's standards, as you don't travel through the pipes (they're smaller in size, much like the ones seen in World 2-1; the difference is that those are colored purple while these are sky blue) - it's just a 2D maze in an athletic level. The world map itself for World 7 is broken up into several islands and they all use pipes to travel between them. The islands themselves are even ''shaped'' like pipes!

** Piranha Plant Slide in ''VideoGame/MarioKart7'' and ''VideoGame/MarioKart8'', based on the ''Super Mario Bros'' underground levels.
** The original ''VideoGame/MarioParty'' has a [[http://www.mariowiki.com/Pipe_Maze_%28minigame%29 minigame]] of the same name. The seventh game has a Duel minigame based on this as well ([[PunnyName Warp Pipe Dreams]]).

** ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2'' for the UsefulNotes/GameGear and UsefulNotes/SegaMasterSystem has the oddly named Scrambled Egg zone, which is basically a mass of pipes, and you have to very quickly choose ways to go sometimes. Often, you'll get it wrong and get flung into spikes. Trial and error at it's purest.

* Wiki/SCPFoundation's [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-015 SCP-015]], a mass of pipes and plumbing work that have taken over an entire warehouse.

*** World 6-2 has an inordinate amount of pipes, many of which can be entered, implying that it may be the first attempt by the series. You don't travel through pipes in Mario Bros.

[[quoteright:230:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pipemaze.jpg]]

* Pictured above, the [[UsefulNotes/ApplicationProgrammingInterface OpenGL Pipes]] screensaver introduced in Windows NT 4.0. Windows Vista removed it, but you can still copy the .SCR file from an older version for that retro feel. The more screens you have, the better the effect.

** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' has World 7, the [[TropeNamer Pipe Maze]] (or Pipe Land in the original US release), which has quite a few levels which most probably come under this (note the vast amount of pipes which don't do anything other than make temporary walls rather than actually taking anything anywhere). The background in the remake is even more completely insane in terms of pipe layout. The first level (7-1) showcases the concept in a primitive form, while later levels mix things up by adding extra perks (such as invisible blocks meant to create paths you have to take by using alternate pipes, or platforms whose direction can be manipulated with your own jumps). World 7-9 has a particular pipe maze level even by the world's standards, as you don't travel through the pipes (they're smaller in size, much like the ones seen in World 2-1; the difference is that those are colored purple while these are sky blue) - it's just a 2D maze in an athletic level. The world map itself for World 7 is broken up into several islands and they all use pipes to travel between them.

* Series/PrisonBreak has the pipes under Fox River State Penitentiary. There's a twisted series of lead pipes, the copper pipes that replaced them and newer plastic pipes all entangled together in a maze that even the genius Michael Scofield can't navigate.

** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' actually has a world called 'Pipe Land/Maze', which has quite a few levels which most probably come under this (note the vast amount of pipes which don't do anything other than make temporary walls rather than actually taking anything anywhere). The background in the remake is even more completely insane in terms of pipe layout. The first level (7-1) showcases the concept in a primitive form, while later levels mix things up by adding extra perks (such as invisible blocks meant to create paths you have to take by using alternate pipes, or platforms whose direction can be manipulated with your own jumps). World 7-9 has a particular pipe maze level even by the world's standards, as you don't travel through the pipes (they're smaller in size, much like the ones seen in World 2-1; the difference is that those are colored purple while these are sky blue) - it's just a 2D maze in an athletic level. The world map itself for World 7 is broken up into several islands and they all use pipes to travel between them.

** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' actually has a world called 'Pipe Land/Maze', which has quite a few levels which most probably come under this (note the vast amount of pipes which don't do anything other than make temporary walls rather than actually taking anything anywhere). The background in the remake is even more completely insane in terms of pipe layout. The first level (7-1) showcases the concept in a primitive form, while later levels mix things up by adding extra perks (such as invisible blocks meant to create paths you have to take by using alternate pipes, or platforms whose direction can be manipulated with your own jumps). World 7-9 has a particular pipe maze level even by the world's standards, as you don't travel through the pipes (they're smaller in size, much like the ones seen in World 2-1; the difference is that those are colored purple while these are sky blue) - it's just a 2D maze in an athletic level.

* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'':

This is especially common in {{videogames}} that use thick pipes for a SpaceFillingPath, InsurmountableWaistHeightFence, or just generic platforms in an AbsurdlySpaciousSewer or EternalEngine.

* In ''[[WesternAnimation/SylvesterTheCatAndTweetyBird Tweety]] and the Magic Gems'' for the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance, one of the mini games is "Pipe Maze", which involves [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin going through a maze of pipes]] to find the exit, and there's another mini-game called "Mushroom Trampoline" that plays similarly. Since the game was developed by Kemco, who also developed the ''WesternAnimation/BugsBunny Crazy Castle'' games, it features similar gameplay mechanics.

* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' actually has a world called 'Pipe Land/Maze', which has quite a few levels which most probably come under this (aka, note the vast amount of pipes which don't do anything other than make temporary walls rather than actually taking anything anywhere) Although the background in the remake is even more completely insane in terms of pipe layout. World 7-9 has a particular pipe maze level, though you don't travel through the pipes. A more straight example is World 7-1.

** World 6-2 of the original ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros'' also has an inordinate amount of pipes, many of which can be entered, implying that it may be the first attempt by the series. You don't travel through pipes in Mario Bros.
** In World 8-4, you have to go down the pipes to progress through the level and reach Bowser, and going down the wrong pipe will send you back to the beginning of the level.
* Piranha Plant Slide in ''VideoGame/MarioKart7'' and ''VideoGame/MarioKart8'', based on the ''Super Mario Bros'' underground levels
* World 6-1 of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2''. 21 jars and only one of them has the key that leads to the end.
* ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros'' has levels 3-A and 7-A, and both even mimic the background layout of their [=SMB3=] counterparts, only with updated graphics.
* The original ''VideoGame/MarioParty'' has a [[http://www.mariowiki.com/Pipe_Maze_%28minigame%29 minigame]] of the same name.

** Oh and ''VideoGame/SonicBlast'''s Blue Marine zone, an icy underwater hell full of strong currents and pipes. You can breathe in the pipes, but that is almost the level's only saving grace. To say it is arduous doesn't even cover it.

* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorldPiranhaIsland:'' Piranha Pipe takes place in a set of twisting pipes. Some of its sections have forced-scrolling and Rotodiscs in them, and other sections have thorns to avoid. Mario also has to avoid plenty of Venus Fire Traps and Piranha Plants.

* ''Series/PrisonBreak has the pipes under Fox River State Penitentiary. There's a twisted series of lead pipes, the copper pipes that replaced them and newer plastic pipes all entangled together in a maze that even the genius Michael Scofield can't navigate.

This is especially common in {{videogames}} that use thick pipes for SpaceFillingPath[==]s, InsurmountableWaistHeightFence[==]s, or just generic platforms in an AbsurdlySpaciousSewer or EternalEngine.