A procedurally-generated pirate voyage for the Game Boy.
Thank you for selecting the PIRATE'S FOLLY Game Pak. Please read this instruction booklet thoroughly to ensure maximum enjoyment of your new game. Then save this book for future reference — a wise captain always keeps the charts close at hand.
THE LEGEND OF THE NINE ISLES ......... 3
CONTROLLER OPERATION ................. 4
BEGINNING YOUR VOYAGE ................ 5
THE SHIP'S HUD ....................... 6
SAILING THE OPEN SEA ................. 7
THE SEA CHART ........................ 8
HAZARDS OF THE DEEP .................. 9
GOING ASHORE ......................... 9
LIFE IN PORT ......................... 10
THE TAVERN ........................... 11
THE NINE ISLES OF LEGEND ............. 12
DIGGING FOR FRAGMENTS ................ 13
THE FINAL BATTLE ..................... 14
SHIPWRECK ............................ 15
THE CAPTAIN'S LOG (SAVING) ........... 16
CAPTAIN'S SECRETS .................... 17
PRECAUTIONS & WARRANTY ............... 18
Every sea is born from eight hex digits. Share a seed, share a world — but no two captains need ever sail the same ocean.
You are a pirate captain with a small ship, a blank chart, and an ocean that has never existed before. Somewhere out there, ringing the center of the world, lie the Nine Isles of Legend. Each isle is guarded by a jealous sentinel ship, and each hides a fragment of an ancient chart.
Assemble all nine fragments, survive the final fleet that rises to defend the secret, and the Treasure of the Nine Isles is yours.
Fair winds, Captain. The sea is waiting.
+ Control Pad
At sea: Trim the sails. Your ship has momentum — she will coast, drift, and carry her way, so ease off before the shore! In port and on menus: Move the cursor. On the seed screen: LEFT and RIGHT choose a digit; UP and DOWN change it.
A Button
At sea: Dock at a friendly beach, fire the cannons, or — with the dinghy aboard — land on any beach. Ashore: Dig up a chest or the X on an Isle of Legend, read a landmark, or reboard the dinghy. In port: Confirm a selection. On the title screen: Begin.
B Button
In port: Back out of a menu, or set sail from the main menu. At sea: Weigh anchor and return to the seed screen. Mind you record the voyage in port first — leaving the helm writes nothing to the Log. When hailed by a merchant: Rob the dog (see MERCHANTS OF THE MAIN).
SELECT Button
Anywhere but the seed screen: Sound on and off. On the seed screen: Roll a fresh random sea.
START Button
At sea: Open the Sea Chart. On the title screen: Begin. On the seed screen: Continue a saved voyage.
Insert the Game Pak and turn the power switch to ON. After the title screen, press START or A to reach the Seed Screen.
Eight hex digits make an ocean. Use LEFT and RIGHT to choose a digit and
UP and DOWN to change it, then press A to set sail on a brand-new sea.
Every captain's first sea ought to be DEADBEEF — a fine, lucky number.
If a voyage is already recorded in the Captain's Log, its seed appears on the screen. Press START to continue that voyage where you left off.
There are 65,536 seas awaiting. No two alike.
At the bottom of the screen, your instruments keep two rows of readings:
- TX — your east-west position, in hex, by tile.
- TY — your north-south position, in hex, by tile.
- SPD — your current speed. Watch it near land!
- H — hull remaining. When it reaches zero, see SHIPWRECK.
- G — gold in the hold.
- F — chart fragments found, out of 9.
A good navigator notes the coordinates of anything worth finding again.
The action moves in every direction, Captain — the whole world is yours the moment you leave the dock.
- Hold a direction to build speed; release it and the ship coasts to a stop. She answers slowly, like any proud vessel.
- Ramming land damages the hull — but a port's shore is a dock, not a rock: bumping into dock planks just stops the ship. Come about before the sandbar, not after; aim for the planks anytime.
- Sailing into a new part of the world inks it onto your Sea Chart. Newly charted waters are not always empty — pirates and storms favor the unknown.
- Shallow, speckled water means land is near. Watch for beaches with wooden dock planks — those are ports, and friends.
Press START at sea to unroll your chart. Waters you have sailed are inked in — sea and land — while the rest stays blank parchment.
- Your ship's position is marked on the chart.
- Ports you have docked at are marked with a little harbor house. You need only visit a port once to remember it forever.
- Your voyage's seed is printed along the bottom — note it down, and you can sail this same sea again (or dare a friend to).
- Isles you have dug bare are marked with an X. X marks the spot — and the proof you took it.
- An isle whose guardian still swims is marked with a skull. Sail in expecting a fight.
- Ink in every last cell of the chart and a cartographer's bounty of 500 gold is yours, once per voyage.
- Press A, B, or START to return to the helm.
Chart everything. A blank chart makes a poor pirate and a rich undertaker.
Pirates. Rival scoundrels prowl newly charted waters — perhaps one voyage in five. They will close with you and open fire. Press A to answer with your own broadside; your gunners aim true at any enemy in sight. Sink a pirate and plunder his gold. Even well-charted waters are never wholly safe: old haunts turn up the occasional scoundrel, and the more chart fragments you carry, the bolder every pirate becomes.
Storms. Dark weather blows up without warning and drags the ship where it will — hard enough that a bold captain can ride the blow like a fast current, if he dares. Keep a firm hand on the helm: a captain who fights the rudder keeps his hull; a captain who abandons it does not.
The Kraken. Old salts swear it surfaces only over the deepest water, and only for captains who sail the same seas too often. It is tougher than any guardian — and its hoard is worth the fight. Believe half of what you hear. Then sail deep, and learn.
Hull is life. Enemy shot, hidden rocks, and storm-tossed drifting all cost hull. When the hull reaches zero, see SHIPWRECK, and say a prayer.
A ship is a fine thing, Captain, but she cannot follow you up the beach. Buy the DINGHY at any shipyard, and the world's islands open to you.
- Sail beside any beach without dock planks and press A to row ashore. (Planked beaches are ports — you'll dock instead, as always.)
- Explore on foot with the + Control Pad. The island under your boots is the very landmass your Sea Chart shows, seen up close — every cove and headland exactly where you charted it.
- Deep water, thick forest, boulders, and crags block your way. A wise captain skirts them; a stubborn one starves.
- Your instruments still read at the bottom of the screen: TX, TY in hex, and your hearts, gold, and fragments.
- The sea waits for no one, but your ship does: walk back to the dinghy and press A to reboard her where you left her.
- Pirates and storms lose interest while you're ashore. Coward's comfort, some say. Take it.
Treasure ashore. The islands are not empty, Captain:
- Buried chests gleam in the grass — stand close and press A to dig up the gold.
- Washed-up salvage (barrels and wreckage) holds cargo for the hold — free goods for the taking, if you have the room.
- Grim landmarks — gibbets and skull-poles left by less fortunate sailors — mark the isles of legend's shores. Read them and remember.
Every dug site stays dug — the Captain's Log remembers what you've taken. The same island never hides the same chest twice in one voyage.
Dangers ashore. The islands are guarded, Captain:
- Snakes in the meadows and skeletons on the sand will come for you. Press B to answer with the pistol — one shot drops a snake; a skeleton takes two but drops its coin.
- A bite costs a heart (watch the H reading) and knocks you clear. You keep three hearts per landing, and a bite buys a beat of safety.
- Lose them all and the island takes its due: 15 gold, and you wake beside the dinghy with your pride in tatters. The crew patches you up, no questions asked.
- Foes you leave behind slip back to their lairs — cross far enough inland and the island restocks behind you.
Port towns. Behind the dock planks, every port district is a little settlement. Walk inland from the beach and you'll find four houses:
- the TAVERN (a foaming mug) — gossip and bearings, same as the bar,
- the MARKET (a stack of coin) — buy low, sell high,
- the SHIPYARD (an anchor) — refits, plating, and the dinghy herself,
- the HARBOR house (a bell) — repair, recruit, save, or set sail.
Stand before a door and press A to step in. The same counters you know from docking — just reached on foot. Press B to step back out to the street.
Lone sails on the horizon are not always pirates. Merchants drift the open sea and will hail a captain who sails close — a bell rings, and an offer is made: a small lot of goods at half the going price.
- A — buy the lot. Honest trade, fairly priced.
- B — rob the dog. Take his strongbox instead (30-60 gold) — but half these honest merchants sail with an escort, and it will come for you.
The black flag or the red, Captain. Choose.
Beaches with dock planks are ports. Sail alongside and press A to dock. Every port offers:
- TRADE — Buy low, sell high. Four goods move on every market: RUM, SILK, SPICE, and CANNON. Prices drift from port to port — and shift a little between visits — so the wise captain never trusts last week's price. RIGHT buys, LEFT sells, and the hold fits 50 barrels in all.
- REPAIR — The shipwright patches your hull, 2 gold per point.
- TAVERN — See below. Worth the price of admission alone.
- RECRUIT — Hire able seamen, 5 gold a head. The more hands aboard, the faster your cannons reload. A well-manned ship fires fast.
- SHIPYARD — Refit your ship. PLATING adds 5 hull (twice), SAILS make her half again as fast, LONG GUNS reach half again as far, and the DINGHY lets you go ashore (see GOING ASHORE). Not cheap. Worth it.
- SAVE — Record the voyage in the Captain's Log.
- SET SAIL — Back to the horizon.
The Captain's Log is also written automatically whenever you dock or set sail. Thoughtful of the quartermaster, that.
Every tavern keeps three kinds of treasure: gossip, directions, and more gossip.
- A bit of local flavor — believe half of what you hear.
- The name, bearing, and distance of the nearest other port — measured in days' sailing.
- Word of the nearest unclaimed Isle of Legend — its legendary name, how many days distant, and the heading to steer.
When you're lost, out of gold, or out of ideas, the tavern knows.
Nine isles ring the center of the world, and every sea hides them in different waters. Their names are spoken in every tavern:
LIBERTALIA WHYDAH DEEP KRAKEN SKERRY
THE LOCKER OLD ROGER ROCK KIDDS CACHE
FIDDLERS GREEN DUTCHMAN CAPE MAROON SPIT
Rumor has it each isle is watched by a guardian ship, tougher and quicker on the trigger than any common pirate. Sail into an isle's waters and its guardian will find you.
Each isle hides a chart fragment in its soil — but the ground only gives it up once the isle's guardian lies at the bottom of the sea.
- Find an isle (the tavern always knows the nearest).
- Sink its guardian.
- Land the dinghy on its beach — no dinghy, no treasure, so buy one at the shipyard early.
- Walk inland to the X and press A to dig.
With every fragment the screen tells you how many you hold — three of nine and counting. X marks the spot, Captain, nine times over.
The ninth fragment is not the end. It is the beginning of the end.
Assembling the complete chart wakes the final fleet — four guardian ships rising one after another to defend the Treasure of the Nine Isles, each tougher and quicker on the trigger than the last. Sink them all. There is no retreat, no repair, no mercy.
Survive, and the Treasure — and your final haul of gold — is yours. The screen will say the rest. And the sea remembers: a won sea never calms. Pirates prowl even your best-charted waters, as thick as the day you first sailed them. The Treasure's curse, they call it.
When the hull reaches zero, the sea takes her due: you lose half your gold, and wake in open water with a patched hull and your pride in tatters.
The voyage continues — a pirate does not die so easily — but Davy Jones keeps a ledger, and he always collects.
Your voyage is recorded automatically:
- whenever you dock at a port,
- whenever you set sail,
- and on the day you win the Treasure.
To continue a recorded voyage, press START on the seed screen. The Log is kept in two fair copies — if one is ever spoiled, the quartermaster produces the other. The Log keeps your seed, your gold, your cargo, your hull and crew, your chart, your fragments, and every port you've ever called at. It also remembers your greatest gold haul — shown as BEST on the seed screen, for captains who measure themselves. The isles themselves need no remembering — the seed always knows where they lie.
- Fire the cannons with no enemy in sight and the shot flies straight ahead — useful for discouraging whatever is about to be in sight.
- Storms cannot hurt a captain who keeps steering. Idle hands are the real hazard.
- An isle's waters roll no random encounters. The guardian is hazard enough.
- Prices differ from port to port. Buy your cannon where they're cheap, sell them where they're dear, and let the merchants call it piracy.
- A wreck costs half your gold. Gold spent in port, on the other hand, cannot be lost at sea.
- Twenty hands reload your broadside a third faster than five.
- The sea learns your name. Every fragment you hold makes pirates hit harder and shoot faster — chart the easy waters first.
- With the dinghy aboard, mind the A button near any coast — one press too many and you're watching the battle from the beach. Lead pirates into open water before you trade broadsides.
- If you sail for long periods, take a 10 to 15 minute break every hour or so. Even pirates rest.
- Do not store the Game Pak in conditions of extreme temperature, and never, ever let it get wet. Salt water is death to a cartridge.
- Keep this booklet in its protective case when not in use.
WARRANTY: This Game Pak is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind, express or implied, under the terms of the MIT License — which, we note, is rather less generous than Nintendo's old 90-day warranty, but considerably more honest about the dangers of the sea.
PIRATE'S FOLLY — 65,536 seas await. Fair winds, Captain.