10. The Secret Of Monkey Island
Pirates have a long-running cultural imprint, but surprisingly there have been precious few excellent pirate video games. One game series however stand head and shoulders above the rest of the genre, offering a tidemark that all pirate games should aim at. Ubisoft clearly recognise the importance of The Secret Of Monkey Island - that essential game series - as there are a couple of references to the game in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. Firstly, the first assassination contract you pick up in Nassau is for a pirate captain called Mancomb Seepgood, a name which should be familiar to Monkey Island fans. He is of course the first pirate you talk to in the Scumm Bar in The Secret of Monkey Island, who regales other pirates with salty tales of pirate exploits, and attempts to burn Guybrush Threepwood, without any hint of self-awareness...
Mancomb: "Guybrush Threepwood?" (Laughs) "That's the stupidest name I've ever heard!" Guybrush: "What's your name?" Mancomb: "My name is Mancomb Seepgood."
And not only that, there is also a sequence in the game where you can overhear two NPC guards around the slavers' plantation, discussing the art of sword-fighting. One says to the other that sword fighting is kind of like making love and that it's not what you do but what you say that's important, almost directly quoting Captain Smirk from the sword training section of Secret Of Monkey Island.