Game Information

Pirates Gold! For Genesis/Megadrive was a near exact port of the Amiga CD32 version; missing the 3D rendered full motion video intro, and I assume the CD-quality sound tracks.

Colors were slightly different between the Amiga CD32/Genesis versions due to the different palettes – the Amiga could display 256 colors on screen from a 16.7 million color palette; while the Genesis could only display 64 colors from a palette of 512. Additionally, the Amiga version had higher resolution bitmapped fonts to take advantage of the higher resolution of PAL televisions in Europe.

Some text was changed slightly between the two versions, I assume to save space; you can see the differences below on this page.

References:

Hall of Light Page on Pirates Gold! for Amiga CD32
Lemon Amiga page on Pirates Gold! for Amiga CD32
MobyGames page on Pirates Gold! for Amiga CD32

Amiga CD32 Intro Screenshot

Comparison images below

Game Hints

The Ten Pirate Quests: Below, they are listed as they appear in the end game screen:

1.) Captured Pirate
2.) Rescued Sister
3.) Rescued Father
4.) Rescued Mother
5.) Rescued Uncle
6.) Got Married
7.) Silver Train
8.) Treasure Fleet
9. Incan Treasure
10. Title of Nobility

Fountain of Youth: To get this, you need to complete all ten pirate quests and then retire. When you're asked whether you want to return to sea or stay on land, choose “Return to a Pirate's Life”. Save your game in the current town. Reset the console and load the saved game. The year and age of your pirate will have reset, but everyone thinks you're a pirate. Leave the town and quickly return; and then everything is back to normal again as people no longer think you're a pirate.

Fencing as Special Skill: This makes for significantly easier ship captures as you just sail straight into it, and then do a quick duel against the enemy captain until he surrenders to you.

Game Genie Codes
by Tony Hedstrom

You can use these in an emulator like KEGA Fusion, or on physical hardware. All these codes were developed by Mr. Hedstrom using an emulator to find memory areas and generate codes for them.

Mr. Hedstrom’s contact address is [email protected] (at least it was when he originally wrote these codes).

Mr Hedstrom’s Notes

If you are using these codes with a real Game Genie (on a real Genesis), you will probably not be able to save your game (this is because of the Game Genie, not because of the codes), but if you are playing on an emulator, you should have no problems saving your game.

AACA-AA86
Master code. Only use if you get a red screen, and the game won't load.

8VKA-JCC0
When you choose English Buccaneer as your nationality, you will start the game with $5000 gold. (instead of only $2000 gold.)
This code must be entered at the start of a new game.

4BKA-JRC0
When you choose English Buccaneer as your nationality, you will start the game with $20,000 gold! (instead of only $2000 gold.)
This code must be entered at the start of a new game.

JBKA-K8C0
When you choose English Buccaneer as your nationality, you will start the game with $80,000 gold! (instead of only $2000 gold.)
This code must be entered at the start of a new game.

AFKA-J2CY
When you choose English Buccaneer as your nationality, you will start the game with 12 cannons (instead of only 8).
This code must be entered at the start of a new game.

AFKA-KJCY
When you choose English Buccaneer as your nationality, you will start the game with 20 cannons (instead of only 8).
This code must be entered at the start of a new game.

D3KA-JACW
When you choose English Buccaneer as your nationality, you will start the game with 30 crew members (instead of 40).
This code must be entered at the start of a new game.

HBKA-JACW
When you choose English Buccaneer as your nationality, you will start the game with 56 crew members (instead of only 40).
This code must be entered at the start of a new game.

9KKA-JACW
When you choose English Buccaneer as your nationality, you will start the game with 250 crew members (instead of only 40).
This code must be entered at the start of a new game.

AJ1A-AA84
The Number of Cannons You Have Doesn't Decrease When You Try To Sell Them At Seaside Towns.
(Infinite money cheat, effectively).

AMRA-AA2J
Don't Lose Any Crew Members When You Have Sword Fights.
(Although You Can Still Lose The Duel).

RG6A-C6VA
Enemy cannons can only shoot at you once during a battle. After the first cannon shot, the enemy will not shoot at you again. This makes it much easier to win battles. The code works on sea and town/fort battles.

ALKA-AA2N
Don't get charged in shops (sugar, food, goods).

AMEA-AA96
Infinite energy during sword fights.

A5EA-AAad96
Infinite energy during sword fights, plus your opponent won't gain any energy when he hits you (this makes it much easier to win the fight).

AMYT-AA4J
Never age (your age and health will never change). Note that this code also affects the year of your voyage (it won't increase). Haven't tested much.

CLXA-CA2Y
and
ECXA-DA3J
Your ship always sails faster on map.

CLXA-CA2Y
and
G4XA-DA3J
Your ship always sails much faster on map.

PAR Codes by Ryan Crierie with some help from the “Pirates Gold Save State Hacking Guide” (LINK)

Set your Fleet Crew Size in Men:

NOTE: This is a two byte code due to the use of two hex locations. Crew size is not binary, but hexadecimal; e.g. 200 men = C8.

FF01C5:xx (Byte One)
FF01C4:xx (Byte Two)

Digits for Crew Size in C5
1 = 1
19 = 25
32 = 50
64 = 100
96 = 150
C8 = 200

Set your Pirate's Titles

English: FF00D0:xx
French: FF00D1:xx
Dutch: FF00D2:xx
Spanish: FF00CF:xx

Title Ranks
00 = No title
01 = Ensign
02 = Captain
03 = Major
04 = Colonel
05 = Admiral
06 = Baron
07 = Count
08 = Marquis
09 = Duke

Set your Pirate's Fleet Gold

NOTE: This is for your pirate's FLEET gold count. Basically, this is what you have during your voyage, and is used in calculations on how happy/unhappy your crew is. This is a two byte code due to the use of two hex locations. Gold is counted in increments of 10, e.g. 1000 gold is counted as 100 by the game engine. Additionally, the values aren't binary, but hexadecimal.

FF01E1:xx (Byte One)
FF01E0:xx (Byte Two)

(Left Number is if just Byte One is this value, Right is if both bytes are this value)

19 = (250 / 64,250 Gold)
32 = (500 / 128,500 Gold)
64 = (1,000 / 257,000 Gold)
C8 = (2,000 / 514,000 Gold)

Set your Pirate's Private Gold

NOTE: This is for your pirate's PRIVATE gold count. It's what counts towards your Retirement funding and ultimate end-game score. This is a two byte code due to the use of two hex locations. Gold is counted in increments of 10, e.g. 1000 gold is counted as 100 by the game engine. Additionally, the values aren't binary, but hexadecimal.

FF0135:xx (Byte One)
FF0134:xx (Byte Two)

(Left Number is if just Byte One is this value, Right is if both bytes are this value)

19 = (250 / 64,250 Gold)
32 = (500 / 128,500 Gold)
64 = (1,000 / 257,000 Gold)
C8 = (2,000 / 514,000 Gold)

Set your Pirate's Land Claims

FF0137:xx

Land Claims
00 = No Land Claims
01 = 50 acres
02 = 100 acres
03 = 150 acres
04 = 200 acres
05 = 250 acres
06 = 300 acres
07 = 350 acres
08 = 400 acres
09 = 450 acres
etc

PAR Codes by Tony Hedstrom with some additions from the “Pirates Gold Save State Hacking Guide” (LINK)

Set your Pirate's Age/Health

FF01E9:xx

00 = 25 years old, Fine Health
01 = 26 years old, Fine Health
02 = 27 years old, Fine Health
03 = 28 years old, Good Health
04 = 29 years old, Good Health
05 = 30 years old, Good Health
06 = 31 years old, Fair Health
07 = 32 years old, Fair Health
08 = 33 years old, Fair Health
09 = 34 years old, Poor Health
etc so on
14 = 45 years old, Poor Health
19 = 50 years old, Poor Health

Set Your Ship's Cannon Reload Speed:

IMPORTANT NOTE: You must enable this only during naval combat. At any other time, it is prone to making your game lock or act weird!

FFFF41:xx

00 = Near Instantaneous
01 = Approx ~ 11 seconds

Infinite Sword Fight Energy

FF12FB:24

Infinite energy during sword fights.

Ship Sailing Speed on Main World Map:

FF1241:xx

001E = Moderate Speeds (Decimal 30)
003C = Fast Speeds (Decimal 60)
005A = Really Fast Speeds (Decimal 90)
00B4 = Insanely Fast Speeds (Decimal 180)