![]() Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame (1994) The game was originally published by Brøderbund for the Apple II and has since been ported to any and every platform you can think of. ![]() Thankfully there were some cheat codes around to extend the timer for a more casual pace. The fiendishly difficult platforming puzzles (usually involving running through a gauntlet of traps and treacherous obstacles with nary a mistake) inspired a further sense of urgency – having to backtrack (or dying) would seriously dent the Prince’s prospects of rescuing the Princess in under 60 minutes. The Prince of Persia is shown how not to jump through guillotines Whereas most platform games at the time had the player starting on the left of the world and making their way right to the end of the level, Mechner had players explore, reach dead-ends and encounter diabolical traps, and backtrack to circumvent obstacles. In another great example of thinking outside of the box, Mechner used an open level design – well, about as open as you can get in a 2D side scroller. ![]() Even Joe Public was impressed, as PoP was used as demonstration software by salesmen trying to show off the power of PC’s. In an era when most platform game characters had very few animations, the subtleties of the Prince’s motion were a giant leap forward in character animation. To top it all off, the Prince was grotesquely impaled on floor spikes, sliced in half by razor sharp guillotines (leaving a bloody smear on the blades), and crumpled into a pitiful heap when defeated by an enemy swordsman. The Prince would swing his arms for balance as he ran, do a quick double step before making a dangerous leap, sway for a few precarious moments when dangling from a ledge, scoot along when crouching under low obstacles, and even perfectly parry enemy sword attacks. The fluid animations of the Prince were one of the first things to catch the eyes of gamers at the time. The Prince of Persia leaps across a deadly trap He then used rotoscoping – tracing the video frames – to create the incredibly fluid movements of the Prince. Pro genitor Jordan Mechner studied video clips of his brother running, jumping, climbing and sword fighting. The game was noted for breaking new ground in a number of areas. Leaping through a magic mirror placed in his path by Jaffar, the Prince is separated from his shadow, who later hinders the Prince’s progress at various points in the game before they are merged. To make matters worse, the Princess’ love interest (apparently a vagabond from a foreign land) has been tossed into the lowest level of the palatial dungeons, and must climb and fight his way back to the top of the palace to defeat Jaffar and rescue the damsel.Īlong the way the Prince has his first encounter with what is to become a recurring element of the games – his alter ego. Refusing his advances, the Princess is given 60 minutes to think about it, or face certain death. The story goes that whilst the sultan of Persia is off waging war, the evil Vizier, Jaffar, has machinations to marry the Princess. The legendary first instalment in the Prince of Persia (PoP) series is revered among those who were lucky enough to have played it during its original reign, and sits firmly in the annals of classic platform games. ![]() It’s with princely anticipation that MyGaming takes a look back at the classic trilogy that started it all. The second instalment of the latest franchise reboot – Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands – is set for an release, and the highly anticipated Prince of Persia movie epic – The Sands of Time – will follow shortly after, set for in USA. There’s a lot of princely goodness on the horizon this month. ![]()
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