Pirates! (NES) Playthrough

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Published on September 6, 2023 6:49:17 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAGi8JwjchY

Game:

Sid Meier's Pirates! (1987)

Category:

Let's Play

Duration: 7:52:27

3,971 views

197

A playthrough of Ultra's 1991 adventure/simulation game for the NES, Pirates!

This video shows "The Buccaneer Heroes" scenario played on the journeyman difficulty level as a witty and charming Englishman named Mr. Tycoon. (Just a friendly nod to Sarisa "Faris" Scherwil Tycoon, badass princess and swashbuckler extraordinaire.)

The story of his illustrious career is one of humble beginnings. Having arrived in the New World as an indentured servant bereft of prospects, a thoroughly disillusioned young man finds himself spearheading a mutiny when he draws his blade on the captain in a bid to seize control of the ship. Once he proves himself the better man, he and his newfound crew of brigands can set course for fame and fortune. The Caribbean awaits!

Pirates! on the NES was the first console port of Sid Meier's Pirates!, a hugely popular sandbox-style simulation game originally released for PC, the Commodore 64, and the Amstrad CPC in 1987.

(For anyone not already familiar, Sid Meier was a pretty big deal in the world of computer gaming throughout the 80s and 90s. He co-founded Microprose and was known for his detailed simulation games, including such classics as F-15 Strike Eagle, Civilization, and Railroad Tycoon.)

With the Spanish Main as your personal playground, there's no shortage of things to do in Pirates! You can woo the ladies, trade goods at various ports, attack and plunder ships at will, do favors for governors, raze towns, search for buried treasure, follow trails of clues in hopes of rescuing enslaved family members, or fight a war on behalf of one of the four European powers.

The open-ended, nonlinear gameplay is thoroughly absorbing and makes hours disappear in the blink of an eye. It's not quite as deep or as complex as some of the games that would later draw inspiration from it, like Koei's Uncharted Waters (https://youtu.be/JbwY4TGd5M4), but it's an ambitious, fun game with a dash of cinematic flair, and it's just as playable today as it was nearly forty years ago.

The same holds true for the NES version. Produced by Rare and published under Konami's Ultra label in 1991, it's a slightly enhanced but altogether faithful adaptation that sticks the landing. It controls well, it looks and sounds good, and the gameplay hasn't been compromised in the leap between platforms. This is actually my favorite way to play Pirates! in its original form, though the Sega Genesis did see a rather nice port of the remake, Pirates! Gold, in 1993. I still have my boxed copy of this one sitting on my games shelf, snugly sandwiched between Uncharted Waters and Defender of the Crown.

If you're an NES fan who likes *good* games, this is one that really shouldn't be missed.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.

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