New Horizons - SNES

ESRB Rating:
Release Date: 1994
Moby Score (1-10): 7.4
Genre(s): Simulation, Strategy / tactics, Naval / watercraft, Diagonal-down, Age of Discovery / Enlightenment
Media Type(s): Physical

The Ultimate Role-Playing Adventure!

Imagine a time when mighty navies controlled the seven seas, ruthless pirates searched for hidden treasurers and scholars argued that the Earth was round. Now picture yourself as a young explorer on a mission that will carry you to the four corners of the globe.

Play the son of a Portuguese Duke out to discover the legendary land of Atlantis, a Spanish female navy lieutenant turned pirate, a British privateer commissioned by Henry VIII to destroy the Spanish Fleet, an Italian adventurer in debt because of his father or a Turkish orphan starting his own trading business.

Your adventure will take you to over 130 exotic destinations, ranging from Mozambique on the coast of Africa to Macao in the Far East. Along the way, you will discover exotic monuments, long sought treasures and valuable merchandise to trade. As captain of your fleet, keep a careful eye on the horizon for pirates eager to steal your valued cargo or an enemy navy at war with the flag your ship flies. Once in port, remember to recruit mates, purchase new ships and guns, gather useful information and settle disputes with your enemies by challenging them to a duel.

Get ready for the adventure of a lifetime. And remember, if you should get shipwrecked, it's always the skipper's fault!

Features- Play 1 of 6 ambitious young heroes, each with their own scenario- Seek out more than 180 treasures, including rare animals & exotic monuments- Organize a powerful fleet with up to 25 different types of historical ships- While in port, explore the guild, bank, shipyard & fortune-teller- When in battle, challenge your opponent to a duel aboard ship- Rise the ladder of 9 ranks until you achieve the ultimate goal of your quest- 1 player adventure with 10 save games- Orchestrated game music included on CD

In the first Uncharted Waters game, it was the 15th century and the New World was discovered. Now in New Horizons, it is the early 16th century and the age of exploration and sea trade is underway. Players choose from any one of six adventurers (scenarios), each with their own distinctive but intertwining plot, to embark on a quest of sailing, seamanship and exploration. The six characters are:

• João Franco is the son of Duke Leon Franco, the hero of the first Uncharted Waters game and an influential man in Portugal. His father wants to make him into a strong man and so decides to send him out to sea. Young Joao is tasked with learning the skills of the sailor (he is the only character who starts at level one) and embarking on a quest of discovery; reaching the far east and eventually looking for the secret of Atlantis.

• Catalina Erantzo is a Spanish naval officer who believes her beloved and her brother were both murdered by the Portuguese armada. Vowing revenge she turns to a life of piracy and soon becomes a red haired scourge of the seas.

• Pietro Conti is a indebted man, having inherited the financial woes of the Conti family. When the Duchess Franco hires him to spy on her son, he accepts the job and obtains a ship. Pietro hopes to use these resources to seek out valuable treasure and clear up his family's debt.

• Ernst Von Bohr is a geographer who is teaching classes in Holland. He yearns to leave the classroom and sail the high seas, living a life of adventure that he has only read about in books. When his friend, Mercator offers to finance his initial voyage in exchange for cartography information about the world, Ernst is given the opportunity to live out his dream.

• Ali Vezas is a poor orphaned child living in Istanbul and serving others. He dreams of becoming his own master and making his own fortune across foreign lands. A twist of fate aides in providing him with small loans, with which he is able to afford his first ship and sail out with a cargo hold full of goods...

• Otto Baynes styles himself a Royal Knight of the British Empire, in the service of his majesty the king. Promoted to Admiral of the British fleet, the kingdom is worried about the increased naval power of Spanish fleets. Otto is given a letter of marque by the king and ordered to terrorize the Spanish Fleet. Equipping himself simply at first, Otto strives to become a great privateer in the name of king and country.

Regardless of the character chosen, Uncharted Waters: New Horizons is a top-down sailing simulation. At sea, players control the direction of their ship, where speed is affected by the number/health of the crew, the wind and the currents. Players can navigate anywhere there is water (though some ships are not ocean worthy) and discover interesting landmarks and new ports. Upon landing at a port, the view is also top-down and the player can enter different buildings, each with unique services and goods. These include: the Inn, the Item Shop, the Shipyard, the Tavern, the Castle, the Guild Hall, the Church, the Merchant and the Harbor. It's up to the player to earn enough gold to keep the crew fed and financed and keep the fleet repaired. Primary methods of earning money are through sea trade, accepting jobs from the guild, gambling and battle with other ships.

During naval combat, the game becomes a turn-based top-down strategy game, with the player moving ships in order to obtain trajectories needed to fire cannons at enemy ships, or run alongside enemy vessels in order to board them. If the player's flagship attacks the flagship of the enemy fleet, they can challenge the opponent to a duel. If accepted, the game changes to a side-view of the two captains engaged in a fight. During this sequence, the player can only choose which fighting maneuver (strike, thrust, parry, lash) they wish to engage in.

*** Data by MobyGames.com ***

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