Pirates! (NES)
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Sid Meier's Pirates! is a video game created by Sid Meier for the Commodore 64 and published by MicroProse in 1987. It was the first game to include the name "Sid Meier" in its title as an effort by MicroProse to attract fans of Meier's earlier games, most of which were combat vehicle simulation video games. The game is a simulation of the life of a pirate, a privateer, or a pirate hunter in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. It was widely ported to other systems.
Pirates! is set in the Caribbean. The Pirates! playing field includes the Spanish Main (namely the northern coast of South America), Central America and the Yucatán Peninsula, the entire Gulf of Mexico, Florida, and all Caribbean islands, plus Bermuda. The player is free to sail to any part of the above-mentioned lands, stopped by an invisible barrier southeast of Trinidad, all the way north to just northeast of Bermuda.
The Pirates! Gold remake, with minor improvements and better graphics, was released in 1993. An enhanced remake, also named Sid Meier's Pirates!, was released in 2004. Versions for mobile devices have also been released.
The NES version is done by the same development team who brought you Silent Service.
Screenshots
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Music
For 1991, David Wise of Battletoads and Donkey Kong Country did a good job, replicating famous themes from the past century, as well as Ken Lagace's soundtrack from the C64 version.
The song titles and track orderings come from the NSFE file.
To write music on the NES, David had to write the music in 6502 assembly language.
Recording
Though the game was released in Europe, the PAL version's soundtrack sounds identical to the NTSC version; as it plays at the same pitch and tempo, so only the NTSC version has been recorded. David Wise is one of the few European composers who used the NTSC format to create music, instead of using the PAL format.
Credits
- Ripper:
- Recorder: Duc4Wikmedia
- Game Credits:
- Uncredited Composer: Ken Lagace
- Uncredited Arranger: David Wise
- Uncredited Sound Driver: Chris Stamper
- Uncredited Sound Driver: Mark Betteridge
(Source: Verification from composer; game lacks credits.)
Like most of Rare's NES games, this one does not contain credits. According to various staff at Rare, this was to prevent their employees from job offers from other companies. We have contacted David Wise who has verified composing the game's soundtrack. Mark Betteridge may have also been responsible for the game's sound effects.
Game Rip
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Ripping NSF music is an arduous process that is beyond the scope of this site.
Audio Devices
The game uses the NES's RP2A03 in the US and RP2A07 in Europe. It uses the later revision of Rare's sound driver, originally created by Rare founder Chris Stamper and modified by Mark Betteridge.
Releases
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- Games Released In 1991
- Games Developed By Rare
- No Amazon
- Games
- Pirates! (NES)
- Missing Screenshots
- Games By Ken Lagace
- Games By David Wise
- Games By Chris Stamper
- Games By Mark Betteridge
- Games Without Credits
- Games That Use NSF
- Games Released In USA
- Nintendo Entertainment System Games
- Games Published By Konami
- Games Released In UK
- Needed Song Descriptions
