Sid Meier's Pirates! (Commodore 64)

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Description

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.

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

Part of the Following Groups

• Games with game altering copy protection
• Games with nobility titles
• Game with creator's name
• Merchant / Trade-oriented games
• Physical Bonus Content: World Map
• Pirates! series
• Setting: Ship / Boat
• Sid Meier's licensees
• Theme: Sea Pirates
• Video games turned into board / card games

User Reviews

The most timeless game I have ever found	Peter Brady (4)
ABsolutely awesome game, even in 2004	stvrich (3)

Critic Reviews

GamesAreFun.com (GAF)	Sep 19, 2003	10 out of 10	100
Commodore User	Sep, 1987	9 out of 10	90
Computer and Video Games (CVG)	Nov, 1987	9 out of 10	90
Power Play	1989	85 out of 100	85
Happy Computer	Sep, 1987	85 out of 100	85
Your Commodore	Oct, 1987	34 out of 40	85
64'er	1991	8 out of 10	80
ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment)	Oct, 1987	734 out of 1000	73
Zzap!	Sep, 1987	68 out of 100	68
Commodore Format	Aug, 1993	57 out of 100	57

Forums

Topic	# Posts	Last Post
Is the listed DOS CD-ROM version really Pirates?	2	Rwolf (18385) Oct 28, 2017

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Sid Meier's Pirates! appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Ages

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.

Development

Sid Meier on his design philosophy and how he applied it to his favorite game (from the May 2001 issue of Computer Gaming World):

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

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!)

Game Art Beyond

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.

Missions

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.

Music

If the player runs Sid Meier's Pirates! on a Tandy machine, the player will find snippets of 3-voice music throughout the game.

Amstrad CPC version

Amstrad CPC version of the game was advertised as "The World's First Swashbuckling Simulation" and was only for CPC 6128.

NES version

Unlike other versions of Pirates!, the NES port lacks "tobacco" as a trade item for the 1600-1640 time period. In its place? An item simply labelled "crops."

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)

Information also contributed by Andrew Grasmeder, Indra was here, JubalHarshaw, Kasey Chang, Nathan Jedinak and PCGamer77

Related Web Sites

• AtariMania (Kixx XL, UK, Atari ST) (For Atari ST: game entry database; downloadable release; game packaging; advertisement; manuals; magazine reviews; additional material.)
• AtariMania (MicroProse Software UK; AU, DE, CH; Atari ST) (For Atari ST: game entry database; downloadable release; game packaging; advertisement; manuals; magazine reviews; additional material.)
• AtariMania (MicroProse Software UK, France, Atari ST) (For Atari ST: game entry database; downloadable release; game packaging; advertisement; manuals; magazine reviews; additional material.)
• AtariMania (MicroProse Software UK, UK, Atari ST) (For Atari ST: game entry database; downloadable release; game packaging; advertisement; manuals; magazine reviews; additional material.)
• AtariMania (MicroProse Software UK, USA, Atari ST) (For Atari ST: game entry database; downloadable release; game packaging; advertisement; manuals; magazine reviews; additional material.)
• Cambridge Centre for Computing History (Microprose, Atari ST) (For Atari STE compatible: exhibit reference ID CH8011; additional material.)
• Cambridge Centre for Computing History (Microprose, C64) (For Commodore 64, 5.25" Floppy disk: exhibit reference ID CH31381; additional material.)
• Commodore 64 Boxed Sets (For C64: game packaging digitalisations. Include box, manual, brochure, additional material.)
• CPC-Power (in French) (For Amstrad CPC: game database entry; game packaging; manual digitalizations; goodies; advertisement; magazine reviews; downloadable releases; additional material.)
• CPCRrulez (in French) (For Amstrad CPC: game database entry; advertisement; game packaging; downloadable releases; additional material.)
• DOSBox, an x86 emulator with DOS (Compatibility information page about the original game and its DOSBox versions. )
• DOSBox Wiki (The encyclopaedic page of the DOSBox project.)
• Hall of Light (For Amiga: game database entry; digitalised manuals; game packaging; screenshots; additional material.)
• Hooked on Pirates (Information and forum on the Pirates! series)
• Lemon 64 (For Commodore 64: game entry database; advertisement; magazine reviews; music; documentation; cover art; additional material.)
• Macintosh Garden, an abandonware games archive (For Macintosh: reviews; game packaging; downloadable releases; manual; screenshots; additional material.)
• Museum of Computer Adventure Game History (Microprose, Apple II) (For Apple II: game packaging; manuals; media; additional material.)
• Replacementdocs (C64, Manual in German) (Documentation for Commodore 64.)
• The Lost Tavern (Dedicated to Pirates!)
• Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Encyclopaedic entry for combined platforms.)