Prince of Persia (1989 video game)

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| caption = {{#if:Prince of Persia 1989 cover.jpg|Original cover art used for the home computer versions in the West|Original cover art used for the home computer versions in the West}}

| label2 = Developer(s) | data2 = Broderbund (see Ports)

| label3 = Publisher(s) | data3 = Broderbund (see Ports)

| label4 = Director(s) | data4 = Template:If first display both

| label5 = Producer(s) | data5 = Template:If first display both

| label6 = Designer(s) | data6 = Jordan Mechner

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| label8 = Artist(s) | data8 = Template:If first display both

| label9 = Writer(s) | data9 = Template:If first display both

| label10 = Composer(s) | data10 = Francis Mechner (music)
Tom Rettig (sound)
Mark Cooksey Template:Small
Matt Furniss Template:Small

| label11 = Series | data11 = Prince of Persia

| label12 = Engine | data12 = Template:If first display both

| label13 = Platform(s) | data13 = Apple II (see Ports)

| label14 = Release | data14 = Template:Vgrelease Template:Vgrelease

| label15 = Genre(s) | data15 = Cinematic platform

| label16 = Mode(s) | data16 = Single-player

| label17 = Arcade system | data17 = Template:If first display both

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Prince of Persia is a 1989 cinematic platform game developed and published by Broderbund for the Apple II. It was designed and implemented by Jordan Mechner. Taking place in medieval Persia, players control an unnamed protagonist who must venture through a series of dungeons to defeat the evil Grand Vizier Jaffar and save an imprisoned princess.

Much like Karateka, Mechner's first video game, Prince of Persia used rotoscoping for its fluid and realistic animation. For this process, Mechner used as reference for the characters' movements videos of his brother doing acrobatic stunts in white clothes<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and swashbuckler films such as The Adventures of Robin Hood.

The game was critically acclaimed and, while not an immediate commercial success, sold many copies as it was ported to a wide range of platforms after the original Apple II release. It is believed to have been the first cinematic platformer and inspired many games in this subgenre, such as Another World.<ref name=Rybicki08>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Its success launched the Prince of Persia franchise, consisting of two sequels, Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame (1993) and Prince of Persia 3D (1999), and two reboots: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2003), which was followed by three sequels of its own, and Prince of Persia (2008).

Gameplay

File:Prince of Persia 1 - MS-DOS - Gameplay.gif

Mechner used videos of his brother as a reference for the original animation of the game (pictured: IBM PC–compatible version).

The main objective of the player is to lead the unnamed protagonist out of dungeons and into a fortress tower within 60 minutes (or 120 in the SNES version). This cannot be done without bypassing traps and fighting hostile swordsmen. The game consists of twelve levels (though some console versions have more). After a player reaches level 2, a game session may be saved and resumed at a later time.

The player has a health indicator that consists of a series of small red triangles at the bottom of the screen. The player starts with three. Each time the protagonist is damaged (cut by sword, falls from two floors of heights, or gets hit by a falling rock), the player loses one of these indicators. There are small jars containing potions of several colors and sizes. The red potions scattered throughout the game restore one health indicator. The blue potions are poisonous, and they take one life indicator as damage. There are also large jars of red potion that increase the maximum number of health indicators by one, and large jars of green potion that grant a temporary ability to hover. In level 9, there are also two large green potions, one which turns the game display upside-down, and another to restore the display back to normal. If the player's health is reduced to zero, the protagonist dies. Subsequently, the game is restarted from the beginning of the level in which the protagonist died but the timer will not reset to that point, effectively constituting a time penalty. There is no counter for the number of lives, but if time runs out, the princess will be gone and the game will be over, with exceptions below.

There are three types of traps that the player must bypass: spike traps, deep pits (three or more stories deep) and guillotines. Getting caught or falling into each results in the instant death of the protagonist. In addition, there are gates that can be raised for a short period of time by having the protagonist stand on the activation trigger. The player must pass through the gates while they are still open, avoiding locking triggers. Sometimes, there are various traps between an unlock trigger and a gate.

Hostile swordsmen (Jaffar and his guards) are yet another obstacle. The player obtains a sword in level 1, which they can use to fight these adversaries. The protagonist's sword maneuvers are as follows: advance, back off, slash, parry, or a combined parry-then-slash attack. Enemy swordsmen also have a health indicator similar to that of the protagonist. Killing them involves slashing them until their health indicator is depleted or by pushing them into traps while fighting.

In level 3 a skeletal swordsman comes to life and does battle with the protagonist. The skeleton cannot be killed with the sword, but it can be defeated by being dropped into one of the pits.

A unique trap encountered in level 4, which serves as a plot device, is a magic mirror, whose appearance is followed by an ominous leitmotif. The protagonist is forced to jump through this mirror upon which his doppelganger emerges from the other side, draining the protagonist's health to one. This apparition later hinders the protagonist by stealing a potion in level 5 and throwing him from level 6 into a dungeon in level 7.

In level 8, the protagonist becomes trapped behind a gate before he can reach the exit. In this level the Princess sends a white mouse to trigger the gate open again, allowing him to proceed to level 9.

In level 12 the protagonist faces his shadow doppelgänger. The protagonist cannot kill this apparition as they share lives; any damage inflicted upon one also hurts the other. Therefore, the protagonist must merge with his doppelganger. Once they have merged, the player can run across an invisible bridge to a new area, where they battle Jaffar. Once the final checkpoint is reached, the player will no longer get a game over screen even if time runs out. (See below.) Once Jaffar is defeated, his spell is broken and the Princess can be saved. In addition, the in-game timer is stopped at the moment of Jaffar's death, and the time remaining will appear on the high scores.

• The DOS and Macintosh ports will not give the player a game over once they reach the final area of level 12 (stored in data as level 13), provided they make it there on time. The player must cross the magic bridge and make a screen-transition to a room with falling tiles to be 'safe'. Running out of time at any point before the screen-transition, including the bridge, will result in game over as usual in both ports.
  • Once there in the Macintosh port, they will always be allowed to continue, regardless of deaths or time expiration.
  • The "overtime" in the DOS version has no extra life, so:

1. Pressing Control A to restart level 13 is no death, thus not failing the game yet.
2. Any player's death fails the game so the Princess is also gone even if Jaffar is already killed.
3. Only defeating Jaffar and exiting level 13 alive will save the Princess, with a negative time on the high scores.

• The Super NES remake allows the players to save themselves after time is out, to get the "game over" at the end without the princess saved, as opposed to "the end" announced for good ending.

Plot

The game is set in medieval Persia. While the sultan is fighting a war in a foreign land, his vizier Jaffar, a wizard, seizes power. His only obstacle to the throne is the Sultan's daughter. Jaffar locks her in a tower and orders her to become his wife, or she would die within 60 minutes (extended to 120 minutes in the Super NES version, which has longer and harder levels). The game's unnamed protagonist, whom the Princess loves, is thrown prisoner into the palace dungeons. In order to free her, he must escape the dungeons, get to the palace tower and defeat Jaffar before time runs out. In addition to guards, various traps and dungeons, the protagonist is further hindered by his own doppelgänger, conjured out of a magic mirror.

Development

File:Prince of Persia 1 - Sketches by Jordan Mechner.jpg

Mechner used hand-drawn storyboards such as this to lay out the game's level design and character movements.

Development for the game began in 1985, the year Jordan Mechner graduated from Yale University. At that time, Mechner had already developed one game, Karateka, for distributor Broderbund. Despite expecting a sequel to Karateka, the distributor gave Mechner creative freedom to create an original game.<ref name=POPEdge>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The game drew from sources of inspiration including video games such as The Castles of Dr. Creep and Lode Runner,<ref name=NGen41int>Template:Cite magazine</ref> literature such as the Arabian Nights stories,<ref name="PoPhistory1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and films such as Raiders of the Lost Ark<ref name="gamasutra_2180">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and The Adventures of Robin Hood.<ref name="GDC2011">Template:Cite speech</ref>

Template:Quote box Prince of Persia was programmed in 6502 assembly, a low-level programming language.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Mechner used an animation technique called rotoscoping, with which he used footage to animate the characters' sprites and movements. To create the protagonist's platforming motions, Mechner traced video footage of his younger brother running and jumping in white clothes.<ref>October 20, 1985 | jordanmechner.com Template:Webarchive</ref> To create the game's sword fighting sprites, Mechner rotoscoped the final duel scene between Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone in The Adventures of Robin Hood.<ref name="GDC2011"/> Though the use of rotoscoping was regarded as a pioneering move, Mechner later recalled that "when we made that decision with Prince of Persia, I wasn't thinking about being cutting edge — we did it essentially because I'm not that good at drawing or animation, and it was the only way I could think of to get lifelike movement."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Also unusual was the method of combat: protagonist and enemies fought with swords, 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 Ark had been one of the main inspirations for the character's acrobatic responses in a dangerous environment.<ref name="gamasutra_2180"/>

During development, the Prince was meant to be a nonviolent character, so the game did not initially include combat.<ref name=NGen41/> However, due to finding the gameplay to be dull and after incessant demand from Tomi Pierce, a colleague of his, Mechner added sword fighting to the game and created Shadow Man, the Prince's doppelgänger. Guards were later added when Mechner managed to make use of an additional 12K of the Apple II's memory.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Mechner was offended by the cover art for the Sega Genesis version, which depicts the prince as a Luke Skywalker lookalike about to cut down a helpless black guard, but by the time he made his objections it was already being printed.<ref name=NGen41>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

For the Japanese computer ports, Arsys Software<ref name=moby/> and Riverhillsoft<ref name="hg101_pop"/> enhanced the visuals and redesigned the Prince's appearance, introducing the classic turban and vest look. This version became the basis for the Macintosh version and later Prince of Persia ports and games by Broderbund. Riverhillsoft's FM Towns version also added a Red Book CD audio soundtrack.<ref name="hg101_pop"/>

The Amiga version of the game was developed by Dan Gorlin.<ref name=NGen41/> Tommy Tallarico worked on the audio for the Game Boy port of the game, and it was the first game he worked on. He originally started as a playtester for Virgin Interactive.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The game included anti-piracy protection in the form of a second level, where you had to drink the correct bottle according to the manual.

The PC game later received three updates: version 1.1 had minor fixes, in version 1.3 the colors of the walls in some levels were changed (instead of blue walls, level 3 was green, 8th and 9th were gray, and 12th was yellow) and a program for graphics and sound settings was added, version 1.4 contains the same color scheme as the previous one, but the sound could only be set to Sound Blaster or PC speaker and the graphics could not be set to older than VGA.

Ports

File:Prince of Persia SNES.jpg

Screenshot from the Super NES version developed by Arsys. It has enhanced graphics and more levels than the original.

Official {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}
Port	Release	Developer	Publisher
NEC PC-9801	Template:Start date<ref name="hg101_pop"/>	Arsys Software<ref name=moby>Prince of Persia release info Template:Webarchive, Moby Games, October 3, 1989</ref>	Riverhillsoft
MS-DOS	Template:Start date	Broderbund
Amiga	Template:Start date Template:Start date (EU)<ref name=theone>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	Domark
Atari ST	Template:Start date<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	Broderbund
X68000	Template:Start date	Riverhillsoft
Amstrad CPC	Template:Start date	Broderbund
SAM Coupé	Template:Start date	Chris 'Persil' White<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	Revelation
TurboGrafx-16	Template:Start date	Riverhillsoft
Game Boy	Template:Start date	Virgin Games
FM Towns	Template:Start date	Riverhillsoft
Master System	Template:Start date<ref name='ctw406'>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	The Kremlin	Domark
Super NES	Template:Start date (JP) Template:Start date (US, EU)	Arsys Software<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Masaya (JP) Konami (US, EU)
Sega CD	Template:Start date (JP) Template:Start date (US) Template:Start date (EU)<ref name="CVG 138">Template:Cite magazine</ref>	Bits Laboratory	Victor Musical Industries (JP) Sega (US, EU)
NES	Template:Start date (US) Template:Start date (EU)	MotiveTime	Virgin Games (US) Mindscape (EU)
Classic Mac OS	Template:Start date	Presage Software development, Inc.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Game Gear	Template:Start date	Domark
Genesis	Template:Start date	Domark (EU) Tengen (US)
Game Boy Color	Template:Start date	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Red Orb Entertainment<ref name="GiantBomb"/>
Mobile ("Classic")	2007	Gameloft
Xbox 360 ("Classic")	June 13, 2007	Gameloft	Ubisoft
PlayStation 3 ("Classic")	October 23, 2008
Blackberry ("Classic")	April 7, 2009	Gameloft
iOS ("Retro", replaced by "Classic" version in 2011)	Template:Start date	Ubisoft
iOS ("Classic")	Template:Start date
Nintendo 3DS (Game Boy Color version on Virtual Console)	Template:Start date<ref name="NintendoDSandWii">Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Wii (Super NES version on Virtual Console)	Template:Start date<ref name="NintendoDSandWii"/>
Android ("Classic")	September 13, 2012	Ubisoft Pune	Ubisoft
Unofficial {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}
Port	Release	Developer	Publisher
ATM Turbo	Template:Start date	Honey Soft, Andrey Honichem	Moscow
Electronika BK-0010	Template:Start date	Погорельцев В.<ref name="PoPBK10">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}</ref>
ZX Spectrum	Template:Start date	Nicodim<ref name="ZXSpectrum">Template:Cite FTP</ref>	Magic Soft <ref name="ZXSpectrum"/> MC Software <ref>Template:Citation</ref>
HP48/GX	Template:Start date	Iki<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}</ref>
TI-89, TI-92	Template:Start date	David Coz<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Enterprise 128	Template:Start date	Geco (Noel Persa)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Commodore Plus/4 (Demo)	Template:Start date	GFW & ACW<ref name="Plus64">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Commodore 64	Template:Start date	Andreas Varga<ref name="Commodore64">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Linux, macOS, Windows	Template:Start date	Dávid Nagy. This port, called SDLPoP, uses SDL.<ref name="SDLPoP">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Roku (Streaming Box and Smart TV)	Template:Start date	Marcelo Lv Cabral<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
BBC Master	Template:Start date	Kieran<ref name="BBC Master">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Electronika BK-0011M	Template:Start date	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Flame software
Atari 8-bit computers	Template:Start date	rensoup<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}</ref>
JavaScript	2022	Oliver Klemenz<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Commodore Plus/4	Template:Start date	Tamás Sasvári, Csaba Kémeri, Csaba Pankaczy<ref name="Plus4">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}</ref>
VIC-20	2024	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Reception

Prince of Persia received a positive critical reception, but was initially a commercial failure in North America, where it had sold only 7,000 units each on the Apple II and IBM PC by July 1990. It was when the game was released in Japan and Europe that year that it became a commercial success. In July 1990, the NEC PC-9801 version sold 10,000 units as soon as it was released in Japan. It was then ported to various different home computers and video game consoles, eventually selling 2 million units worldwide by the time its sequel Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame (1993) was in production.<ref name="hg101_pop">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=pczone>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=sages>Template:Cite book</ref>

Charles Ardai of Computer Gaming World wrote that the game package's claim that it "breaks new ground with animation so uncannily human it must be seen to be believed" was true. He wrote that Prince of Persia "succeeds at being more than a running-jumping game (in other words, a gussied-up Nintendo game)" because it "captures the feel of those great old adventure films", citing Thief of Baghdad, Frankenstein, and Dracula. Ardai concluded that it was "a tremendous achievement" in games comparable to that of Star Wars in film.<ref name="ardai198912">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

In 1991, the game was ranked the 12th best Amiga game of all time by Amiga Power.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 1992, The New York Times described the Macintosh version as having "brilliant" graphics and "excellent" sound.<ref name="shannon19920811">Template:Cite news</ref> Reviewing the Genesis version, GamePro praised the "extremely fluid" animation of the player character and commented that the controls are difficult to master but nonetheless very effective. Comparing it to the Super NES version, they summarized that "the Genesis version has better graphics, and the SNES has better music. Otherwise, the two are identical in almost every way ..."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) likewise assessed the Genesis version as "an excellent conversion of the classic action game", and added that the game's challenging strategy and technique give it high longevity.<ref name="EGM56">Template:Cite magazine</ref> EGMTemplate:'s panel of four reviewers each gave it a rating of 8 out of 10, adding up to an overall score of 32 out of 40.<ref name="EGM1998">Electronic Gaming Monthly, 1998 Video Game Buyer's Guide, p. 86</ref>

In 1991, PC Format named Prince of Persia one of the 50 best computer games ever, highlighting its "unbelievably good animation".<ref name=pcformat50>Template:Cite journal</ref> In 1996, Computer Gaming World named Prince of Persia the 84th best game ever, with the editors calling it "an acrobatic platformer with amazingly fluid action".<ref name="cgw150">Template:Cite magazine</ref> In 1995, Flux ranked the game 42nd on their Top 100 Video Games.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Legacy

Prince of Persia influenced cinematic platformers such as Another World and Flashback as well as action-adventure games such as Tomb Raider,<ref name="hg101_pop"/> which used a similar control scheme.<ref name="tombraider history">Blache, Fabian & Fielder, Lauren, History of Tomb Raider, GameSpot, Accessed April 1, 2009</ref> A few DOS games were created using exactly the same game mechanics as the DOS version of Prince of Persia. Makh-Shevet created Cruel World in 1993 and Capstone Software created Zorro in 1995.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Prince of Persia was remade and ported by Gameloft. The remake, titled Prince of Persia Classic, was released on June 13, 2007, to the Xbox Live Arcade, and on October 23, 2008, on the PlayStation Network. It features the same level design and general premise but contained 3D-rendered graphics, more fluid movements, and Sands of Time aesthetics.<ref>Review of Prince of Persia remake by Nick Suttner, June 13, 2007, 1Up.com</ref> 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".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The game has also been released on Android.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Reverse engineering efforts by fans of the original game have resulted in detailed documentation of the file formats of the MS-DOS version.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Various level editors have been created that can be used to modify the level files of the game.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> With these editors and other software, over 60 mods have been created.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In April 2012, Jordan Mechner established a GitHub repository<ref>Prince of Persia Apple II Template:Webarchive on github.com/jmechner</ref> containing the long-thought-lost<ref name="1up2012">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> original Apple II source code for Prince of Persia.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> A technical document describing the operation of this source code is available on Mechner's website.<ref name="Technical">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In April 2020, Mechner did an AMA on Reddit where he stated that he would be releasing his journals from the development of the game as a book and users could ask any questions that they may have about the game to him.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

External links

• Prince of Persia on game designer Jordan Mechner's official website
• The Making of Prince of Persia on game designer Jordan Mechner's official website
• Template:Moby game
• Template:Internet Archive game.
• Online JavaScript port
• Prince of Persia 1 page at PoPUW.com
• Template:YouTube