Prince of Persia

aka: Jordan Mechner's Prince of Persia, Pers Prensi, PoP, Prince de Perse, Prince of Persia Retro
Moby ID: 196
Apple II Specs
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Conversion (unofficial) Included in See Also

Description official descriptions

While the Sultan of Persia is fighting a war in a foreign country, his Grand Vizier Jaffar orchestrates a coup d'état. His way to the throne lies through the Sultan's lovely daughter. Jaffar kidnaps her and threatens to kill her if she refuses to marry him. Meanwhile, the man the Princess loves is thrown into the dungeon. He has only one hour to escape from his prison, defeat the guards on his way, and stop Jaffar before the terrible marriage takes place.

Prince of Persia is a 2D platformer that is commonly regarded as a progenitor of the cinematic platformer genre. Rather than following the more common jump-and-run mechanics, it focuses on careful advancement through fairly complex levels, emphasizing the protagonist's vulnerability and survival aspect. Rotoscoping technique is used to give more realism to the animation of the characters' movements.

The protagonist must avoid deadly traps, solve some simple jumping and environmental puzzles (such as stepping on pressure plates to raise portcullis), and engage in sword fights with the guards. The player character has an infinite amount of lives, but has to restart at the beginning of a level each time he dies, and must complete the game within an hour. The hero starts with three units of health, which can be replenished with small health potions or permanently increased with large jars.

The Game Boy Color and SNES versions of the game feature additional levels and new enemies. The Genesis version has a new intro, an altered set of graphics and four new levels.

Spellings

  • הנסיך - דו קרב בארמון - Hebrew spelling
  • הנסיך הפרסי - Informal Hebrew spelling
  • プリンスオブペルシャ - Japanese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (Apple II version)

19 People (12 developers, 7 thanks)

Original game design by
Original programming by
Original graphics by
Produced by
Music composed by
Live-Action Footage Modelled by
Special thanks to
Disk routines by
Sound routines by
Title screen by
Cover artwork by

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 81% (based on 83 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.1 out of 5 (based on 524 ratings with 13 reviews)

This game blew me away.

The Good
I love the graphics in Prince of Persia. In a time when good VGA/MCGA graphics were hard to come by, this game just blew me away. The rotoscoping was something I'd never seen before and the details were more than what you would expect. The level design was also quite strong with lots of variations and challenges. The gameplay also worked quite nicely with smooth transitions between the different moves. Everything felt quite fluid and flowed nicely. And of course the action and puzzle solving had almost perfect balance. There was enough action so keep you on your toes, but not so much that it distracted from the ultimate goal.

The Bad
The sound effects were quite weak and the music was non existent. However, I always felt that early PC games with music never quite worked right. The music was always an afterthought and not something that was part of the game. So, in a sense I'm glad they didn't do anything there.

The Bottom Line
You have to rescue the princess from the evil Jaffar. You've been thrown into the dungeons and have 60 minutes to escape and save the princess from being forced to marry Jaffar or face death. On your way, you will have to battle numerous enemies and solve countless puzzles. Time is your constant enemy. You can't go too fast and make a fatal mistake but at the same time you mustn't loiter around. A must for all gamers.

DOS · by Brian Hirt (10409) · 1999

A gaming experience you can never forget

The Good
Prince of Persia had much more than everything you wanted from a platform game, so much that it became a whole different genre. In many ways, this game was way ahead of its time and presented gamers an amazing experience they would never forget.

Atmosphere:

What strikes you first is the graphics of the game. It is very detailed and colorful. The middle-eastern theme is an exotic theme with lots of possibilities, which makes it a great choice. Unfortunately it is very rare, especially compared to medieval and even far-eastern themes. This theme is very well applied, with so many ornamental designs, pillows and pillars which makes you feel like you are in a One Thousand and One Nights story. The sense of duality in the game, which is first implied by the dungeon levels versus the palace levels is also a good idea to make things more interesting. Also, the semi-isometric view of the levels also make the environment seem much more realistic than that of any other game. Combined with an unforgettable soundtrack which sounds great even with the PC Speaker, the atmosphere, overall, is perfect.

Then you've got the animations. Starting from the very beginning, when you see the prologue, where Jaffar enters and has a conversation with the princess. The detailed animations of her hair, the Vizier's cape, make you feel you're watching a movie.

The realistic animations, aren't just animations. They are also a key element in the realistic gameplay. Most platform games back then had protagonists that barely moved their legs while running, or even jumping. The movement usually didn't even seem to be associated with the running animation. They also jumped in an inhuman manner, many times higher than their heights, and again, barely moving their legs. This was not the case with the Prince. The Prince runs really using his legs, with obvious steps, and jumps like normal people. And the fact the you can know how far he can go with any number of steps or how far you can jump in different situations is a key element in the gameplay. Some distances you can take jumping from where you are and some by making a running jump only.

Which brings us to Gameplay:

Controlling the Prince is really simple: You have four movement keys (the arrow keys) and one action button (shift). That's all it takes to make moves that other platform games of the time didn't even have. Using these keys you can run, make a vertical jump, crouch, move one step, take a leap, make a running jump (which took you further than a leap), make a long running jump (which took you a little further, using the action button), climb up or down a ledge, hold on to a ledge, open and close doors (these are done simply by stepping on certain pressure-plates), and drink potions...

The game also has a fighting system, another feature that makes the game way better than other platform games, which usually had a button to shoot a projectile weapon of some kind--even the ones featuring swords as a weapon operated in a similar manner, it just wasn't projectile and instead affected enemies at close range. The Prince of Persia featured a much more realistic sword-fighting, which made the fighting more complicated, but still simple to control. The Prince basically enters "fighting mode" when he encounters an enemy, by drawing his sword. The player has four options: move (forward or backward), attack, parry or sheathe sword (which makes him vulnerable but mobile, until he chooses to draw his sword again).

Again, as opposed to other platform games of the time (and even of today), the Prince cannot jump higher than a real life person can and cannot fall a long way down; he gets injured for a medium fall, and dies for a long one.

Speaking of, the health system in Prince of Persia is also more realistic than its counterparts. It features a number of "lives", initially 3, which basically represent the number of blows the Prince can take before dying. The Prince is injured (loses one life) when he gets hit by the sword, falls a medium fall (two floors), a brick falls on him, or drinks a blue potion. If he gets hit by the sword on his back, falls a long way down (three floors or more), or is caught by a trap, he instantly dies--regardless of how many lives he has.

The Experience:

Prince of Persia has a lot of elements throughout the game that make it more than a platform game, and evolve into an action/adventure.

First and foremost: You have 60 minutes to save the princess, and the game is in real time, which means you have 60 minutes to complete the game. This is of course, impossible if you are playing the game for the first time. But although criticized for being an insanely difficult mission, I'm glad that this is the case, because it means that the game CAN be completed in 60 minutes, but if you do that the first time you play the game, then that's a damn short playing time you've got. Today we actually value games with the average time of gameplay, and want at least 20 hours or so to complete a game. Why should Prince of Persia be just a 1-hour game? Fortunately, it isn't, and it is very difficult so you'll have to restart the game at least a couple of times. This might not sound good now, but back then, Prince of Persia was already the best game you could play, so I think it didn't really matter if you could complete the game or not, you were going to play it again anyway...

Let's go back to the game. The levels in general, although linear in principle (there is usually one way to complete a level), have a non-linear layout where you can usually go left, right, up or down. You have to find your way through the levels. For example, at the very first level, you start as a prisoner in the dungeon without your weapon. So you must find a sword first, and then go further. The levels sometimes also have alternate paths to complete the level or secret areas where you can get healing or extra life potions. This encourages exploration despite the time limit.

Throughout the levels, there are pressure plates to open and close doors, doors slowly closing down when opened (giving you a time limit to make it), traps, unstable bricks (which fall a little after you step on them or hit them from below), and enemies that get tougher each time, some even having their own fighting styles (parry a lot and counter-hit, or always wait for you to make the first attack, etc). Combined with the great level design, these features make every level a puzzle on its own.

But there's more. You also have surprising unique puzzles such as the undead, the mirror, the green potion(s), and much more that I do not want to ruin for those who might still want to play this game and haven't yet...

The Bad
The only thing about the game that can be disliked is the high difficulty. A game which requires action and fighting skills and solving puzzles with a 60 minute overall time limit is practically impossible for a first timer. But as I said, if you could complete this great game within the first 60 minutes you played it, wouldn't that be very disappointing?

The Bottom Line
Prince of Persia is a ground-breaking game that defined a new genre and was followed by great games like Another World (a.k.a. Out of This World), Flashback and BlackThorne, featuring similar adventure elements and puzzles, detailed graphics and animations, and realistic controls.

If you haven't played it, you've missed a lot.

DOS · by erseN akçay (23) · 2007

The ground breaking platform game, often copied, never bettered

The Good
Slick motion capture and tight controls gave this action game a unique feel. The graphics, although not great overall, felt appropriate, the animations were simply terrific for the time and made it a cult classic.

The Bad
Repetitive and uninspired backdrops and enemies along with almost non existent music (save for a few jingles and sound effects) gave the game a washed-out look. Some gameplay snags and a difficulty rating a tad too high were the major issues.

The Bottom Line
A ground-breaking action game and a must-have Amiga game!

Amiga · by Paolo Cumin (11) · 2005

[ View all 13 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Developed by Mechner or Brøderbund? Игги Друге (46654) Jul 29, 2014
Triangular Version - Info Please Arjon van Dam (1247) Feb 19, 2013
ZX Spectrum UNOFFICIAL port Rola (8486) Aug 5, 2012
Jordan Mechner made the source code available chirinea (47504) May 26, 2012

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Prince of Persia appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Animations

The animations were modeled from live video. In particular, the Prince climbing onto a ledge was spliced from two different takes: Jordan's brother pulling himself up a ledge to his chest, and a reversed clip of his brother on top of the ledge climbing down. The technique use to animate the characters is called Rotoscoping. It was also used in one of Mechner's other games, Karateka.

Commodore 64, BBC Micro and Atari 8-bit amateur versions

According to the Prince of Persia Unofficial Website, a Commodore 64 version was not released at time. There was a preview created that played the theme and showed some scenes but the game never emerged. It is unknown why. A Commodore 64 port was made at last by an independent coder in 2011. Information is available at popc64.blogspot.com

Bitshifters also released a port of the game to the BBC Micro. It took advantage of the Apple II game code being made public by Jordan Mechner and the hardware similarities between the Apple II and the BBC Micro, which share the same CPU. It needs 128k of RAM and is available from here.

And finally, on december 2021 yet another amateur version was revealed, this time for the Atari 8-bit computers. It is available here in disk and cartridge formats. It requires 128K of RAM, so it won't work in every one of these computers.

Development and release

An excerpt taken from the, as of 2012, defunct official Prince of Persia 3D web site http://www.pop3d.com/

Today, several dozen artists and programmers are involved in the creation of a computer game. But in the 1980's, computer games were normally created almost entirely by one person. And for Prince of Persia that person was Jordan Mechner, a then 25 year old recent college grad. Jordan created the story, characters, and levels for Prince of Persia. He programmed the game and drew the graphics. And when Jordan needed help, he didn't go far from home. His dad composed the original music. And his brother served as the Motion Study actor for the Prince. Truly a labor of love, Prince of Persia took nearly 4 years to be completed.

Mechner scored gold in 1989 when Prince of Persia was released. Described by PC Review as "an ever-present in any compiled list of classic games of all time," it has sold nearly 2,000,000 copies and won numerous awards, including "Game of the Decade" from Generation 4/Canal+ in 1997. The game was published first on the Apple II platform, but soon made it to virtually all platforms in existance at the time including: DOS, Macintosh, Amiga, NES, SNES, GameBoy, Sega Genesis, Sega Mega Drive, Sega CD, Game Gear, Commodore 64, and FM Towns. It's popularity was not confined to just the United States. In all, the game has been published in the United States, Canada, England, Germany, France, Spain, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, China, Korea, and Israel.

Manual

The manual for Macintosh/IBM release of the game had a figure of Prince in the right bottom corner of each spread. If you flip through the book, Prince would jump.

References to the game

Prince of Persia was alluded to in Episode 705 (Escape from the BronxMystery) of the TV show Science Theater 3000. During an underground chase scene, Tom Servo quips: "It looks like Prince of Persia."

Censorship in the SNES version

The North American Super NES release was censored --- a scene found in the Japanese version's introduction sequence showing the hero being tortured is missing from the US version. As a result, the music loses sync with what is happening on-screen.

Source code

On April 17, 2012, Jordan Mechner released the source code of the Apple II version. You can find it here.

Awards

  • Amiga Power
    • May 1991 (Issue #00) - #12 in the "All Time Top 100 Amiga Games"
  • Computer Gaming World
    • November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) - #84 in the “150 Best Games of All Time” list
    • February 2006 (Issue #259) – Introduced into the Hall of Fame
  • FLUX
    • Issue #4 - #42 in the "Top 100 Video Games of All-Time" list
  • PC Gamer
    • November 1999 - #43 Best Game of All Time
  • Retro Gamer
    • Issue #37 - #9 in the "Top 25 Platformers of All Time" poll

ZX Spectrum version

A version for the ZX Spectrum was in development by the same people that made the SAM Coupé port but it was never released due to licensing problems with Domark. Later a Russian team released an unofficial Spectrum port of the game.

Information also contributed by Big John VW, Chentzilla, leileilol, LepricahnsGold, Mickey Gabel, NewRisingSun, PCGamer77, Sean Gugler, and William Shawn McDonie.

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Donny K..

Sharp X68000 added by Rola. Wii added by Charly2.0. iPad added by MrMamen. Nintendo 3DS added by CrankyStorming. Amiga added by Famine3h. SEGA Master System added by Bock. Game Gear added by chirinea. PC-98 added by Infernos. Apple II added by KnockStump. TurboGrafx CD added by Kaminari. Macintosh added by Zovni. SAM Coupé, iPhone added by Kabushi. SEGA CD added by Blood. Atari ST added by Terok Nor. Amstrad CPC added by cafeine. NES added by Longwalker. FM Towns added by Unicorn Lynx. SNES, Genesis added by Syed GJ. Game Boy added by quizzley7. Game Boy Color added by Jim Fun.

Additional contributors: IJan, MAT, Adam Baratz, Roedie, Jeanne, Jalal Noureddine, Kabushi, Henry Calot, Martin Smith, Norbert J, Pseudo_Intellectual, Crawly, Neville, ctrl turk, Cantillon, Patrick Bregger, MrMamen, yenruoj_tsegnol_eht (!!ihsoy), Jo ST, qpossum, FatherJack, ZeTomes.

Game added August 10, 1999. Last modified March 27, 2024.