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For today’s episode of War Stories, Ars Technica sat down with Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner to learn about the challenges he faced while bringing his ambitious vision for the game to life.
As the 1980’s wound down, Mechner found himself fighting against not only the limitations of the Apple II hardware but the impending death of the platform itself.
Decades later, Prince of Persia remains a classic example of how the constraints of early gaming led to solutions that advanced the artform.
Prince of Persia is a video game franchise created by Jordan Mechner. It is built around a series of action-adventure games focused on various incarnations of the eponymous Prince, set in ancient and medieval Iran.
The first game draws inspiration from multiple general sources of inspiration, including the One Thousand and One Nights stories, and films like Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Adventures of Robin Hood. In the game, the protagonist’s character animation was created using a technique called rotoscoping, with Mechner using his brother as the model for the titular prince.
The original game remains one of the most ported games in video game history to this day.
Quick Recap
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- REWRITE FATE. SAVE PERSIA. DIE TRYING: Shape the legend of a Prince spared by death, whose fatal mistake doomed his people. Try your best to right your wrongs: each failure is a new chance to explore different paths, discover secrets, meet new characters, and use the knowledge gained from past attempts to change your people's fate and prove yourself as the true Prince of Persia!
- MASTER A FAST AND ACROBATIC STYLE: As the Prince of Persia, agility is your greatest weapon. Dodge traps, wall-run, chain acrobatic combos, and strike with precision. Every movement is an opportunity, and every battle will reward skill and style.
- FIGHT YOUR OWN WAY: Discover, unlock, and master over 100 unique weapons and medallions. Adapt, upgrade, and customize your build with each run, crafting deadly combinations that fit your playstyle.
- ONE MORE TRULY UNIQUE RUN: No run is ever the same. Dive back into this ever-evolving adventure, where narration, metaprogression, difficulty modifiers, random events, and procedurally generated levels will always leave you craving just one more unique run.
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- Relive the epic adventure in high definition. Fully re-mastered in 720p HD with new textures, normal maps and anti-aliasing, these titles have never looked as vibrant and crisp.
- Play a combined total of over 30 hours of gameplay on one Blu-Ray disc.
- Experience the Prince's adventures in full 3D stereoscopic view (3D television required).
- All games will run in spotless frame rate of sixty frames per second, which allows for more fluid game control and an overall heightened Prince of Persia experience (30 FPS for stereoscopic 3D view).
- Supports online leaderboard and achievements / trophies system to help foster an online community aspect for the original games.
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| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
![Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown [video game]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/419Tgsx5a-L._SL160_.jpg)
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Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown [video game] | $30.73 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
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Prince of Persia Trilogy HD - Playstation 3 | $119.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
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The Rogue Prince of Persia - Nintendo Switch 2 | $26.99 | Buy on Amazon |
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