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Gamertell Originals
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In this three-part series, Gamertell takes a look at the evolution of the franchise, chronicling where it started and where it’s headed.
The first Prince of Persia game was originally released in 1989 for the Apple ][ from once-great American developer Broderbund. Founded in 1980, Broderbund created a number of relatively successful titles before Prince of Persia, including Chop Lifter! (1982), Lode Runner (1983), and Karateka (1984).
The latter was designed by a young student at Yale named Jordan Mechner. Karateka was a side-scrolling action game, which featured some of the most impressive visuals--especially in terms of character animation--of its time. Combined with the games soundtrack, the graphics created a surprisingly immersive experience. Five years later, Mechner would build upon these traits with his next game, Prince of Persia.
Story: Prince of Persia continued to improve Mechner’s design techniques, featuring even more fluid character movement. The game follows the story of the titular Prince, who at the beginning is an orphan living on the streets of Ancient Persia. When the Sultan is called away, his evil adviser Jaffar imprisons the Sultan’s daughter, the Princess, as well as the Prince who is in love with her (sound familiar?). Jaffar then gives the Princess a choice: marry him or die.
Gameplay: With an hour to decide, the Prince sets out to rescue her, and thus the game begins. One of the most unique aspects of Prince of Persia is that it all takes place within this one-hour time frame. The player can die an infinite amount of times, but the game must be completed within a real-time hour.
Later, ports of the game - which included appearances on the NES, GameBoy, Sega Mega Drive, Game Gear, and more - would allow for save states at the end of each stage, but the time limit would still be enforced. The game had a heavy emphasis on platforming, but Mechner was able to mix things up by adding a healthy does of puzzle-solving and sword-based combat.
In 1993, Mechner and Broder continued the story with a follow-up called Prince of Persia: The Shadow and the Flame. The game takes place several days after the original, and things are certainly much better for our Prince as he has married the Princess and is hailed as a hero by the Persian people. Unfortunately for him, an evil witch brings his nemesis Jaffar back to life. Even worse, Jaffar is able to use his dark magic to take over the Prince’s body and switch the Prince into the body of an old beggar.
Story: The Prince must fight to regain his body, destroy Jaffar, and take his rightful place beside the Princess. In terms of gameplay, Shadow is very similar to the original. While still a platformer at heart, the sequel has a much heavier emphasis on combat. Enemies are much more plentiful compared to the original game, sometimes appearing in groups as large as four (the original featured strictly one-on-one combat).
Gameplay: The sequel also retains the same time-limit system imposed by the original, as well as much more impressive visuals then its predecessors, featuring highly detailed sprites and backgrounds, as well as even more fluid animations.
The Shadow and the Flame marked the end of an era for the Prince of Persia series. Not only was it the last game to be developed by Broderbund, it was also the last game to be released before the series made the jump to 3D.
Although the reigns had been handed from Broderbund to Red Orb Entertainment, Mechner remained in control creatively of the third installment in the franchise. And despite the shift in dimensions, Prince of Persia 3D retained much of what made the first two games so appealing. Released in 1999 for the PC, and a year later on the Sega Dreamcast, the game featured the same middle eastern theme, amazingly smooth animations, and emphasis on puzzle solving and platforming.
Story: The game begins with the Prince in prison once again, as a would-be suitor for the Princess, a half man half tiger named Rugnor, attempts to take what he believes is rightfully his. Apparently, before the Prince came along, the Princess’ father had promised Rugnor her hand in marriage.
Gameplay: 3D takes place across 15 levels, which in addition to traditional PoP platforming and puzzle solving sections, included the addition of stealth-based gameplay. But while the atmosphere was classic PoP, not all was well with the transition from 2D.
As with many of the earlier batch of 3D games, PoP suffered from a problematic camera that made some sections brutally difficult. Adding to this, the controls were not as tight as in past games, a major problem for a platform titles. Unfortunately, the game was a commercial bomb, and in 2001 the French publisher Ubisoft purchased the rights to the franchise with the hopes of reinventing it for the new generation of consoles.
Read [IGN Retro] Also Read [Prince of Persia Legacy]
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