Jordan Mechner created the multi-platform game Prince of Persia (often referred to as POP) on October 3, 1989, for the Apple II. Prince of Persia was largely regarded as a significant improvement in computer game animation quality. Despite appearing repetitious at first, the game surprised and captured people. This was accomplished by strategically placing challenging riddles and lethal traps along the route the Prince had to travel to win the game.
About the Game
The player’s main goal is to finish the game within an hour. The game’s main character needs to be guided into a tower from a dungeon. To do this, one must avoid traps and engage in combat with adversarial swordsmen. Twelve stages make up the game (or levels). All twelve levels must be finished in one session to win the game. Only after reaching level 3 is a gaming session stored and restarted.
The player’s health bar consists of a collection of tiny red triangles. With three, the player has three. The player loses one of these markers every time he sustains harm, such as being slashed by a sword, falling from two stories up, or being struck by a falling boulder. Small red potion jars that restore one health indication may be found all across the game. Large containers of the red potion are also available, which raise the maximum number of health indicators by one. The protagonist passes away if the player’s health is zero. The timer will not reset to the beginning of the stage where the protagonist died when the game is later restarted, essentially adding a time penalty. Although there is no counter for the number of lives, the player will ultimately run out of time if they die too frequently.
The player must avoid three different kinds of traps: spike traps, deep pits (three levels or deeper), and guillotines. The protagonist instantly dies if they are caught or fall into them. In addition, the protagonist can activate gates by standing on the activation trigger, which will raise them for a small duration. While the gates are still open, the player must pass through them while avoiding locking triggers. An unlock trigger and a gate may occasionally be separated by several traps.
Another challenge is hostile swordsmen, specifically Jaffar and his guards. The initial stage of the game requires the player to acquire a sword that he can use to combat these enemies. The protagonist can only move forward, back off, slash, or parry with his sword. Similar to the protagonist, enemy swordsmen also have a health indicator. They must be hacked until their health bar is empty to be killed.
A magic mirror is a special trap found in stage four that acts as a plot device. Its appearance is preceded by a foreboding musical tone. The main character must leap through the mirror, through which his duplicate appears on the opposite side. Later, this ghostly figure inhibits the main character by locking him in a dungeon. This apparition cannot be killed by the protagonist because they are life partners and any harm done to one also harms the other. The protagonist must therefore combine with his doppelganger.
Characters of the Game
- The Prince
- The Princess
- Sultan
- Zaffar
