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Description

Screenshots

Promo Images

Alternate Titles

"席德梅尔的海盗" -- Simplified Chinese spelling

"Xide Meier de Haidao" -- Simplified Chinese title

"Sid Meier's Pirates!: Action and Adventure on the Spanish Main" -- Tag-lined title

"Pirates!" -- NES title

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We have a joke that we only do the research after the game is finished. If I read too many books, I will create a game based on the books.

(...)

Pirates! was about pirate movies, not the period.

Extras

Game Art Beyond

Missions

Music

Amstrad CPC version

NES version

Awards

Amiga Joker Issue 01/1991 – Best Adventure Game in 1990

Computer Gaming World Hall of Fame member October 1988 (Issue #52) - Action Game of the Year November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) - #18 overall among the “150 Best Games of All Time” November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) – #6 Most Rewarding Ending of All Time

GameStar (Germany) Issue 03/2013 – One of the "Ten Best C64 Games“

Retro Gamer September 2004 (Issue #8) – #84 Best Game Of All Time (Readers' Vote)



Related Web Sites

Take on the life of a buccaneer in the golden age of Caribbean Piracy! This game lets you choose from 6 different "ages" (for example, "The Silver Empire" from 1560-1600, "War For Profit" from 1640-1660, etc.), one of 4 nationalities (English, French, Dutch, Spanish), 4 difficulty levels, and one of 5 special abilities (skill at fencing, skill at navigation, etc.). Nine different types of ships were represented.The goal of the game is to retire with as much gold and land as possible, as many ranks/titles as possible (Colonel, Admiral, Marquis, Duke), and a wife. Finding long lost relatives helps too. You accomplish these goals by plundering cities, capturing and sinking enemy ships, getting in good with governors to receive titles, learn news of "evil Spaniards" holding your relatives, capturing evil pirates, etc.The game is educational, as you will learn about piracy through the thoroughly researched manual. You'll smell the sea salt as you participate in wild sword fights, desperate sea battles, and daring attacks by land.appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.Each of the six "ages" you could choose from were historically accurate. Some examples: Some ages featured cities that others didn't (the cities historically hadn't been settled yet), the four different European powers gained and lost power as they did in history, and different types of ships were more common in different eras. Sid Meier on his design philosophy and how he applied it to his favorite game (from the May 2001 issue of Computer Gaming World):The original box came with a map of the entire Caribbean, with each of the cities noted with their founding date (so you'd know when not to visit them!)In 2018, Pirates! was selected as one of the biggest classics on the Commodore 64 by the creators of the C64 graphics collection Game Art Beyond . Pirates! was honoured with a high resolution title picture (based on the title screen made for the Amiga version) in a special C64 graphics format called NUFLI. While all other game screens in Game Art Beyond featured a remix of their respective title music, there really was no compelling theme in the original C64 version except for a few jingles, so instead you'll hear a C64 SID remix of Bach Prelude C Minor, which later suddenly turns into Pirates of the Carribbean.Unlike the Apple II version, some following versions often lets governors offer the player special missions to accept or reject in return for potential rewards.If the player runson a Tandy machine, the player will find snippets of 3-voice music throughout the game.Amstrad CPC version of the game was advertised as "The World's First Swashbuckling Simulation" and was only for CPC 6128.Unlike other versions of, the NES port lacks "tobacco" as a trade item for the 1600-1640 time period. In its place? An item simply labelled "crops."