Sid Meier’s Pirates! is the original award-winning pirate life simulation game developed and published by MicroProse in 1987 for the Commodore 64. It was also released for the Apple II, Amstrad CPC, and PC Booster. Over the years, it was ported to several other platforms, including the Amiga in 1990.
There have also been several remakes of the title, like Pirates! Gold (1993), as well as Sid Meier's Pirates!: Live the Life (2004).
Step into the shoes of a swashbuckling pirate in the original real-time, open-world pirate game. Set sail, trade, sack ships, find treasure, and mount daring rescue missions. But before all that can happen, you must pick your starting point. After receiving your Letter of Marque (a sort of privateer license, if you will), you must choose who you want to be in the service of. Don’t worry, it’s not permanent. You can switch sides whenever you want to or just pirate the open seas and plunder all you encounter.
But to start, you must choose whether your buccaneer is Dutch, English, French, or Spanish. You can also choose which era you want to play in. Each era offers different political and economic dynamics that alter the game. After that, set your name, difficulty level, and unique skill; then you’re all set. Everything after that is up to you. You can explore, plunder, be diplomatic, and whatever else you desire. The game is open-ended and has no actual ‘ending’. However, your pirate will age, making it harder to pillage and plunder.
Nabbing several perfect scores upon release and snapping up multiple awards, it’s safe to say Sid Meier’s Pirates! was a hit. This ambitious mix of genres offers tremendous replayability thanks to the game's randomized, fluctuating features. This makes every playthrough feel entirely new, and players must change their strategy as they go. This title is a gaming must, a classic, and even educational. No surprise if it's in our Top 20 Commodore 64 Games of all time.
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