Hello, I'm Gary, the creator of that Space Pirate browser game from way back in 1997.
So the history goes like this: I created Space Pirate (v1) back in 1996 using Macromedia Shockwave. At the time, it was fairly unique to have interactive media on a web page. In fact, the only ways you could do it were to use Shockwave or Java. And Java was so slow and difficult to use back then that Shockwave was pretty much it. So I had a field day creating all sorts of games (solitaire, crosswords, golf, etc) and got a lot of attention for it. Space Pirate was by far the most complex of those games.
In 1997 I decided to improve Space Pirate. I started from scratch and created a much more advanced version (v2). Most people that remember Space Pirate are thinking about v2. A company pretty quickly approached me and offered to buy it. With the money I put a downpayment on a house and seeded the small company that I run to this day. A real success story.
After my non-compete agreement ended, I decided to make another game like Space Pirate, but needed to use a different name. In 2003 I released Rebel Dawn. This was even more advanced than SPv2 and had some real-time player interaction. But by 2003 we already had some 3D games like this with big budgets, so it didn't get as much attention. After a few years of moderate success, I had to shut it down as it cost a bit month-to-month to run.
But the story doesn't end there. I kept thinking about this kind of game and it was only a matter of time before I did another one. Now instead of web-based browser games, I make apps. So it seemed natural to do an iPad app. I spent the last few months working on it, fueled by encouragement from some old Space Pirate fans (including this very thread!). The new game is called Starship Captain: Adventure in Alpha Sector and it is in the iTunes app store right now. It is free to get started, so try it and let me know how you like it and how it compares to your memory of Space Pirate. Here's a shortcut link:
http://goo.gl/tm9x3Z