Before I was a fan of the NBA Live series...I used to play NBA Jam Tournament Edition. But before that, I discovered a game called Pirates! on the original Nintendo Entertainment System. The basic premise? Assume the role of a pirate captain in the 17th century, sailing around the Carribean capturing ships, plundering towns and getting into plenty of swordfights. Pure swashbuckling fun.
As many pirates or "privateers" did back then, you could gain a Letter of Marque which authorised you to attack ships and towns of a certain nation's enemy. As you picked your nationality when you started the game, by default you would be given your homeland's Letter of Marque, informed of their enemies and given permission to create havoc.
You could visit the Governor in each town and if you had proudly represented your country by interfering with the economy and resources of your enemies, you might get a promotion to a rank in the Royal Navy and eventually, a title of nobility. In each town you could also repair ships, trade with merchants, recruit new crew members or end your voyage by dividing up the plunder. You would also get missions from governors, duel evil nobleman for information on the whereabouts of your long lost family members, acquire old treasure maps and find chests laden with thousands of pieces of gold.
The game was repackaged as a "Gold" edition for the PC, with a few new features and better graphics. Unfortunately, I no longer have the NES version and Pirates! Gold doesn't work for Windows XP. However, last year I read that Pirates! would be making a return for the 21st century. The long wait is finally over and the other day I was able to get my hands on the game.
If it wasn't for NBA Live 2005 or GTA:SA, the new Pirates! would easily be the best game I've bought this year. They're pretty much tied on my list of favourite anti-social free time activities at the moment.
I was amazed at how the classic gameplay remained unspoiled by the upgrades and new graphics. I was afraid that some of the old school gameplay and elements would suffer from making the transition to 21st century video gaming but I was relieved to find that it's the same old game updated for today's technology. There are some brand new elements, but these are either as good as or even better than the original games. All in all, it's a very successful remake.
For those keeping score, Sid Meier is also the creator of the Civilisation series. Pirates! is definitely one of his best games. Gamespot named the original the third best PC game of all-time a couple of years back.
, played on rogue difficulty throughout the game (I found the last difficulty level duels a bit hard, rogue is about just right).
. Which is pretty annoying as I found out last night, when I was just near the end of the stage and I fell off a cliff 
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