Prince of Persia (1989 video game)
| Prince of Persia | |
|---|---|
Original cover art used for the home computer versions in the West | |
| Developer(s) | Broderbund (see Ports) |
| Publisher(s) | Broderbund (see Ports) |
| Designer(s) | Jordan Mechner |
| Composer(s) | Francis Mechner (music) Tom Rettig (sound) Mark Cooksey (NES) Matt Furniss (Sega Master System / Sega Game Gear) |
| Series | Prince of Persia |
| Platform(s) | Apple II (see Ports) |
| Release |
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| Genre(s) | Cinematic platform |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
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 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. 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).