Pirates! Gold

Pirates! Gold is an action-strategy game developed by MPS Labs and published by MicroProse in 1993 for DOS and Sega Genesis, with an Amiga CD32 version following in 1994. It is a full remake of Sid Meier's Pirates!, rebuilding the game's presentation from the ground up while keeping the core gameplay intact.

The premise is identical to the original: you command a pirate ship in the Caribbean between 1560 and 1680, choosing your nationality, starting era, and a special skill. The open-world structure — sailing between colonies, managing crew loyalty, trading goods, tracking down buried treasure, and navigating the shifting alliances of four European powers — is unchanged. Sea battles, land battles, and one-on-one sword duels are all present in the same form as the original.

What Pirates! Gold adds is substantial. VGA graphics replace the original's CGA/EGA display, with a rich visual style reminiscent of Baroque painting that suits the Caribbean setting well. Ship and captain status indicators are now visible during battles. An in-game map displays all colonies and their current ownership. A turbo mode on the overhead sailing map makes long ocean crossings significantly faster. The soundtrack is a major upgrade — where the original had minimal music, Pirates! Gold has a full score that holds up well. New mission types from governors and additional characters expand the content meaningfully.

The DOS version's main weakness is its mixed mouse and keyboard control scheme, which feels clumsy in sword duels — the manual itself recommends keyboard over mouse for most sections. The Genesis version handles this better with gamepad-native controls, and adopts a visual style closer to the original. The Amiga CD32 version adds CD-quality music and digitised sound effects, making it the best-sounding release in the series.

Pirates! Gold shipped with game-breaking bugs in its original 1993 release; the patched version is more stable but can still occasionally crash. Save frequently, and only in port — unlike the original, you cannot save anywhere on the map.

For new players, Pirates! Gold is the recommended starting point: more approachable, better looking, and well supported under DOSBox. Veterans may prefer the tighter controls and slightly higher difficulty of the 1987 original. If you enjoy open-ended historical sandboxes, also try Seven Cities of Gold and Uncharted Waters 2: New Horizons.