''Pirates! Gold'' is a 1993 computer game, a remake to Sid Meier's

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release, '' Sid Meier's Pirates!''

Development

MicroProse MicroProse is an American video game publisher and video game developer, developer founded by Bill Stealey, Sid Meier, and Andy Hollis in 1982. It developed and published numerous games, including starting the ''Civilization (series), Civilizat ...

developed this 256-color version for

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Sega Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Sys ...

, Amiga CD32 and Windows 3.x featuring a

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score and

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support (in MS-DOS and Windows versions).

Gameplay

''Pirates! Gold'' features Super VGA graphics including hand-painted screens, and a more-detailed playing environment than the original. The update also includes 3-D modeled ship and flag animations, and graphic depictions of items that were menu choices in the original game. The player can play as a pirate, privateer, or a pirate hunter. It features sword fighting, ocean-faring battles, and land battles as its three main arenas of action, connected by role-playing which allows the player to court the favor of local politicos, romance women, and recruit pirates in the local pub. Players have the opportunity to go on quests, but must also strategically plan raiding excursions and trading routes. The PC versions contain a

copy protection Copy protection, also known as content protection, copy prevention and copy restriction, is any measure to enforce copyright by preventing the reproduction of software, films, music, and other media. Copy protection is most commonly found on vid ...

scheme requiring the player to identify the flag of a pirate ship sighted on the horizon (similar to the

Commodore 64 port). Sea and sea-to-land combat are played in real-time while land battles are done in

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. Sun sighting is not present in this version, and there are no special items. The game does, however, include several new features.

Reception

Paul C. Schuytema for ''

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'' was positive to the game and called it "addicting". In 1993, ''Computer Gaming World'' described ''Pirates! Gold'' as adding "three disks of graphical gold" to "a great game engine". The magazine stated that the game "has much to offer a new player and comes with the highest of recommendations", but warned those familiar with the original that it was "not a significantly revised game with fresh game play". James Trunzo reviewed ''Pirates! Gold'' in '' White Wolf'' #39 (1994), giving it a final evaluation of "Excellent" and stated that "''Pirates! Gold'' does have built-in replay value thanks to the option of playing in one of six historical periods or historical expeditions. By combining your initial choices with the ones that come up during play, you will have enough variety to keep ''Pirates! Gold'' on your hard drive for months." In 1994, ''

PC Gamer US ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games ma ...

'' named ''Pirates! Gold'' the 39th best computer game ever. The editors wrote: "We're recommending the new version of this old classic, because it looks so darn good and it'll be easier for most of you to get your hands on. But the award really goes out to the gameplay that made the original ''Pirates!'' great". In 2018,

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ranked ''Pirates! Gold'' 26th among "The 100 Best

Games". According to Microprose, ''Pirates! Gold'' sold in excess of 450,000 copies by September 1997.

Reviews

* '' Mega'' #15 (December 1993) * '' The One'' #65 * ''

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'' #71 (Mar 1994) * ''PC Joker'' (German) * ''Power Play'' (German) * ''Micro Mania'' (Spanish) * '' Tilt'' (French) * ''Gambler'' (Polish) * ''

PC Games ''PC Games'' is a monthly-released PC gaming magazine published by the Computec Media GmbH in Germany. History ''PC Games'' was founded in 1992 and included a 3½-in floppy disk, which was changed to a CD-ROM in 1995. By 1999 it became the ...

'' (German) * ''Megazin'' (Slovenian) * '' Pelit'' (Finnish) * ''PC Player'' (German) * ''Amiga Joker'' (German)

References

External links