Most people think time is like a river that flows swift and sure in one direction. But I have seen the face of time, and I can tell you: they are wrong. Time is an ocean in a storm. You may wonder who I am or why I say this. Sit down and I will tell you a tale like none you have ever heard. [First and Last lines in the Trilogy].
Father, I have brought us honour and glory.
Trust not a man who has betrayed his master, nor take him into your own service, lest he betray you too. I learned the truth of this, to my sorrow, the day we arrived in Azad as the Sultan's honoured guests.
When a man is faced with his own death, he finds the impossible less of a barrier.
He now had his prize, but for some unknown reason coveted the Dagger as well. Well, I would give him what he sought. I would plunge it into his foul and treacherous heart!
I could marry her! After all, she is a Maharajah's daughter. A conquered one, but still, her blood is royal. . . . All right, I've decided. I will marry her. I'll tell her the first chance I get.
My father's army sacked your palace, captured you as a slave; you have every reason to hate me...now you want me to trust you?
I had faced my enemy, I had looked into his eyes, and I had lost...everything.
....and though I fought until the desert sands themselves were red with blood; I could not bring back the dead.
Prince of Persia is a
platform gameA platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
, originally developed by
Jordan MechnerJordan Mechner is an American video game designer, screenwriter, author, and filmmaker, best known for creating the Prince of Persia video game franchise.- Life and career :Mechner was born in New York City...
and released in 1989 for the
Apple IIThe Apple II series is a set of 8-bit home computers, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer and introduced in 1977 with the original Apple II...
, that represented a great leap forward in the quality of
animationAnimation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
seen in video games.
After the original release on the Apple II,
Prince of Persia was ported to a wide range of platforms. The game managed to surprise and captivate the player despite being at first glance, repetitive. This was achieved by interspersing intelligent puzzles and deadly traps all along the path the Prince had to take to complete the game—all this packaged in fluid, life-like motion.
Prince of Persia also influenced a sub-genre, which imitated the sprawling non-scrolling levels, fluid animation, and control style pioneered by
Prince.
Plot
The game is set in Ancient Persia. While the
SultanSultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...
is fighting a war in a foreign land, his
vizierA vizier or in Arabic script ; ; sometimes spelled vazir, vizir, vasir, wazir, vesir, or vezir) is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in a Muslim government....
Jaffar seizes power. Jaffar's only obstacle to the throne is the Sultan's daughter. Jaffar locks her in a tower and orders her, under threat of execution, to become his wife. The game's nameless protagonist, whom the Princess loves, is thrown into the palace dungeons. To win the game the player must lead the protagonist out of the dungeons and to the palace tower, defeating Jaffar and freeing the Princess in under 60 minutes.
The character of Jaffar is loosely based on Ja'far bin Yahya Barmaki, a Persian vizier who was executed for allegedly having an affair with a princess. He is a recurring character in the Arabian Nights and elsewhere in film and literature.
Gameplay
The gameplay is similar to the later
Prince of Persia games as the player can jump through walls, avoid traps and fight enemies.
Development
Mechner used a process called rotoscoping, in which he studied many hours of
filmA film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
of his younger brother
DavidDavid Mechner is an American amateur 6-dan Go player. He was a student of professional player Janice Kim and later an insei in Japan, studying under Oeda Yusuke ....
running and jumping in white clothes. Also unusual was the method of combat: protagonist and enemies fought with
swordA sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...
s, not projectile weapons, as was the case in most contemporary games. Mechner has said that when he started programming, the first ten minutes of the film
Raiders of the Lost ArkRaiders of the Lost Ark is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by George Lucas, and starring Harrison Ford. It is the first film in the Indiana Jones franchise...
had been one of the main inspirations for the character's acrobatic responses in a dangerous environment.
Ports
Prince of Persia was originally released for the
Apple IIThe Apple II series is a set of 8-bit home computers, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer and introduced in 1977 with the original Apple II...
in 1989. One year later it was ported to other personal computers such as the
AmigaThe Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
, the Amstrad CPC, the
Atari STThe Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
, and the
PCIBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT. Such computers used to be referred to as PC clones, or IBM clones since they almost exactly duplicated all the significant features of the PC architecture, facilitated by various manufacturers' ability to...
(
MS-DOSMS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...
). The game was ported in 1991 to the
Sharp X68000The Sharp X68000, often referred to as the X68k, is a home computer released only in Japan by the Sharp Corporation. The first model was released in 1987, with a 10 MHz Motorola 68000 CPU, 1 MB of RAM and no hard drive; the last model was released in 1993 with a 25 MHz Motorola 68030...
and the Japanese PC Engine, using the Super CD-ROM format (but got distributed in the US only two years later). In 1992, when the home console market was growing steadily, versions for the
Sega Master SystemThe is a third-generation video game console that was manufactured and released by Sega in 1985 in Japan , 1986 in North America and 1987 in Europe....
, Sega CD, TurboGrafx-CD (the American version of the PC Engine),
NES-Localities:In Norway:* Nes, Akershus, a municipality in the county of Akershus in Norway* Nes, Buskerud, a municipality in the county of Buskerud in Norway* Nes, Hedmark, a former municipality in the county of Hedmark in Norway...
, and
Game BoyThe , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
were released, as well as a version with enhanced artwork for the
MacintoshThe Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
. An enhanced version for the SNES had been released , and a Mega Drive/Genesis version was released later in 1993. Another port was released for the
Game Boy ColorThe is Nintendo's successor to the 8-bit Game Boy handheld game console, and was released on October 21, 1998 in Japan, November 19, 1998 in North America, November 23, 1998 in Europe and November 27, 1998 in the United Kingdom. It features a color screen and is slightly thicker and taller than...
in 1999.
JavaJava is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
versions for mobile devices appeared in the early 2000s. For the revival title,
Prince of Persia: The Sands of TimePrince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a third-person action-adventure computer and video game published by Ubisoft. It was released on November 21, 2003 and is a reboot of the landmark video game series Prince of Persia, created by Jordan Mechner in 1989.The Sands of Time, developed internally at...
, the Macintosh version was included as a secret that could be unlocked. The first level of the game was also made into a secret 3D
minigameA minigame is a short video game often contained within another video game. A minigame is always smaller or more simplistic than the game in which it is contained. Minigames are sometimes also offered separately for free to promote the main game...
in
The Sands of Time. The NES version of the game's music was composed by
Commodore 64The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
musician
Mark CookseyMark Cooksey is a Commodore 64 musician, best known for composing the music for the platform game Ghosts'n Goblins. He was employed by the UK video game developer and publisher Elite Systems....
. While the game does not have credits, he has confirmed that he was the composer to the game.
The
SAM CoupéThe SAM Coupé is an 8-bit British home computer that was first released in late 1989. It is commonly considered a clone of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum computer, since it features a compatible screen mode and emulated compatibility, and it was marketed as a logical upgrade from the Spectrum...
version, released in 1992, is unique because it was programmed unofficially using graphics copied pixel by pixel from paused frames of the
AmigaThe Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
version and only shown to
DomarkDomark Software was a video games software house based in the United Kingdom. The name was derived from the given names of its founders, Dominic Wheatley and Mark Strachan...
(the UK distributors of
Prince of Persia) for potential release near completion. Although the computer had a very small user base and no other mainstream support, the release was allowed because of the very high quality of the conversion and the fact that it would incur almost no further development costs. Due to its independently produced status and the fact that the work was done almost entirely by one individual, Chris White, this version of
Prince of Persia has several unique bugs.
The PC Engine/TurboGrafx-CD and Sega CD versions used the CD format to incorporate animated cutscenes with voice tracks and
CD AudioRed Book is the standard for audio CDs . It is named after one of the Rainbow Books, a series of books that contain the technical specifications for all CD and CD-ROM formats.The first edition of the Red Book was released in 1980 by Philips and Sony; it was adopted by the Digital Audio Disc...
soundtracks. Both versions of the game had modified graphics that seem to be based on the
MacintoshThe Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
version, where the Princess had a turban and colored clothing. Jaffar appears in the final level whereas the enemy encountered in the penultimate level is a champion guard.
The Mega Drive/Genesis port also had improved graphics and background music. The Mega Drive version differs with the Genesis version in that it has four additional unique levels and new kinds of potions (one that freezes time, others that give additional minutes to complete the game and one that causes a small quake and make panels collapse).
The SNES version is also unique. Aside from graphic and aural enhancements, the game has twenty levels instead of the original's thirteen; the original levels that remain have some extra rooms or different routes. Also, there are boss battles that involve not only swordfighting but dodging as well. Unlike other versions, the player is given two hours to rescue the Princess. The prologue is also different, showing the protagonist courting the Princess, then being arrested and beaten. The scene of the protagonist being beaten is only available on the Japanese version of the game; it was censored in the North American and European versions. The SNES version was ported and developed by Nihon Computer System and published by
Konamiis a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
in North America and Europe.
In addition, the Apple II version of the game was included as an unlockable content in the
WiiThe Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
version of
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten SandsPrince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is a multi-platform video game produced by Ubisoft which was released on May 18, 2010, in North America and on May 20 in Europe. The games mark a return to the storyline started by Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is...
.
Prince of Persia also got unofficial ports to the
ZX SpectrumThe ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...
, programmed by Nicodim and released in 1996, and to the Commodore 64, programmed by Andreas Varga and released on October 16, 2011.
Ubisoft released a remake of the game called Prince of Persia Retro for the iPhone and iPad, which seems to be based on the Macintosh version.
Reception
The game received 5 out of 5 stars in
DragonDragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products, the other being Dungeon. TSR, Inc. originally launched the monthly printed magazine in 1976 to succeed the company's earlier publication, The Strategic Review. The...
.
Remake and Modifications
In 2007,
Prince of Persia was remade and ported by
GameloftGameloft SA is a major French computer and video game developer and publisher headquartered in Paris, France. The company also has subsidiaries in 31 countries around the world....
. The remake, titled
Prince of Persia Classic, was released on June 13, 2007 to the
Xbox Live ArcadeXbox Live Arcade is a type of video game download distribution available primarily in a section of the Xbox Live Marketplace, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360, that focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent game developers...
, and on October 23, 2008 on the PlayStation Network. It features the same level design and general premise but contained 3D-rendered graphics, more fluent movements, and
Sands of Time aesthetics. The gameplay and controls were slightly adjusted to include a wall-jump move and different swordplay. New game modes were also added, such as "Time Attack" and "Survival".
Reverse engineering efforts by
fansA Fan, sometimes also called aficionado or supporter, is a person with a liking and enthusiasm for something, such as a band or a sports team. Fans of a particular thing or person constitute its fanbase or fandom...
of the original game have resulted in detailed documentation of the
file formatsA file format is a particular way that information is encoded for storage in a computer file.Since a disk drive, or indeed any computer storage, can store only bits, the computer must have some way of converting information to 0s and 1s and vice-versa. There are different kinds of formats for...
of the MS-DOS version. Various
level editorsA level editor is a software tool used to design levels, maps, campaigns, etc and virtual worlds for a video game. In some cases the creator of a video game releases an official level editor for a game, but other times the community of fans step in to fill the void...
have been created that can be used to modify the level files of the DOS version. With these editors and other software, over sixty mods have been created.
External links