Back in the late ‘70s, video games were mostly of the arcade variety, where you had to go to a physical arcade and play on a specific machine. But the Apple II began to change all of that when it released in 1977, opening up new possibilities for home gaming. In particular, the Apple II blew the mind of a young man named Jordan Mechner, who, as a teenager, started experimenting on the computer to create all kinds of games. But it wasn’t until the mid-80s that he began work on what would become his most influential game: Prince of Persia.
At just 21 years old, Mechner began work on Prince of Persia after already having success with another game, Karateka, a martial arts action game. For Prince of Persia, Mechner took inspiration from the old One Thousand and One Nights folk tales as well as films like The Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Adventures of Robin Hood to create an adventure game set in Persia. Using his brother David as a model in some billowy white pants, Mechner used a rotoscoping technique — he filmed David running and jumping around, took those frames and traced them, and then scanned them into the computer to create the graphics for the game.
When Prince of Persia released in 1989 for the Apple II computer, it took awhile to become a success as the Apple II was declining in relevance. But, when it was ported over to a wide range of platforms (Atari, Nintendo, and Commodore 64, to name a few) it shot to popularity. The game introduced players to the idea of speed running for the first time, as the whole game was set on a clock. You only had one hour to get through the game, or else you would fail. What you may not remember is the actual story, but once you hear it, it’s going to sound very familiar. In the game, the evil Grand Vizier Jaffar gives the Princess an ultimatum — either marry him after the hour is up, or die. Her only hope to escape either terrible fate was from her commoner-lover trapped in the dungeon (you, the gamer), who now had just an hour to escape and save her.
Hmm that all sounds eerily similar to the plot of the 1992 Disney film Aladdin, which also features an evil Vizier named Jafar who wants to marry the Princess, whom Aladdin must save. Now, granted, both of these are based on the old One Thousand and One Nights stories, but dang, you gotta wonder if Disney took some inspiration from Prince of Persia. I mean, come on, Aladdin even wears very similar baggy white pants! Eventually, Prince of Persia would actually be made into a movie by Disney, so it all comes back around.
Anyway, what you did not have in Aladdin was this whole idea of a Shadow Prince. Basically, in the game, if you died, you would be sent back to the beginning of the level (with that pesky clock still ticking down those precious 60 minutes), and if you lost enough time, you’d also lose your soul, which would unleash the Shadow Prince, a dark version of yourself that would harass you at every turn. And, if you tried to kill the shadow, you yourself would also die! What you didn’t know at first was that you could just run back into your shadow to merge back with him, so you definitely lost some minutes killing your shadow once or twice, or a few times. These game mechanics were some next level stuff back in those days, particularly for a 2D side-scroller.
The game launched a huge multiplatform franchise, though there have been some bumps along the way. While many of the games have received acclaim, some have been less than stellar entries into the Prince of Persia saga (Prince of Persia 3D, anyone?). Still, the game has been hugely influential, with games like Assassin’s Creed being pretty clearly influenced by Prince of Persia and its sequels. Though a remake of one of the more popular entries in the series, The Sands of Time, was supposed to release in March of 2021, Ubisoft, the current owner of the series, put that on an indefinite hold. Still, you can never keep a good Prince down — he’ll probably be back again one day!
Did you play Prince of Persia? What are your memories of it? Let us know in the comments!
- Jordan Mechner, the creator of Prince of Persia, originally wanted to be a screenwriter and film director. He went to film school in between the releases of the first and second Prince of Persia games, and filmed a short documentary in Cuba called Waiting for Dark that was released in 1993.
- Mechner released a book in 2020 detailing the making of the game called The Making of Prince of Persia: Journals 1985-1993, which features many of his journals and drawings from that time period as well as more current thoughts and notations.
- The original game, with its more than 20 platform ports, is one of the most ported games in videogame history.
- Prince of Persia influenced cinematic platformers such as Another World and Flashback as well as action-adventure games such as Tomb Raider, which used a similar control mechanic.
- The game has been adapted into a few different mediums — a graphic novel, an anthology comic series, a Lego series, and, of course, the film adaptation starring Jake Gyllenhaal.
- Jordan Mechner, the creator of Prince of Persia, originally wanted to be a screenwriter and film director. He went to film school in between the releases of the first and second Prince of Persia games, and filmed a short documentary in Cuba called Waiting for Dark that was released in 1993.
- Mechner released a book in 2020 detailing the making of the game called The Making of Prince of Persia: Journals 1985-1993, which features many of his journals and drawings from that time period as well as more current thoughts and notations.
- The original game, with its more than 20 platform ports, is one of the most ported games in videogame history.
- Prince of Persia influenced cinematic platformers such as Another World and Flashback as well as action-adventure games such as Tomb Raider, which used a similar control mechanic.
- The game has been adapted into a few different mediums — a graphic novel, an anthology comic series, a Lego series, and, of course, the film adaptation starring Jake Gyllenhaal.
