PoP went on to become one of the most revered classic games of all time, with ports to more than a dozen platforms and multiple sequels (though the standout game in the series is probably 2003's Sands of Time, which Mechner was involved with and which influenced a lot of '00s-era game design). Mechner's game had a long road from development to the screen, but what I learned from our interview with the man is just how much the Apple II's memory limitations shaped the game's final form-even though none of those limitations applied to the platform on which I (and the majority of players, going by sales numbers) first experienced PoP. All I knew was that from the moment that game came into my life-likely purchased from our friendly neighborhood Babbage's-I was hooked. Mechner had quite famously spent literally years working on the game's animations, tracing them from videotaped recordings of his brother (also of Errol Flynn, interestingly enough), but I didn't learn about any of that until some time later. It was, for me, the summer of Prince of Persia-and I was completely entranced.Ĭreated by Jordan Mechner a couple of years earlier in 1989 for the Apple II, the MS-DOS port of PoP came thundering onto shelves near the end of 1990, just as the Apple II platform was gasping its last breath as a viable gaming platform. And sometimes he'd collapse into a bleeding pile after crossing swords with pixellated bad guys. Sometimes he'd be chomped in half by giant steel jaws. I remember a lot of things about the summer of 1991 (like sneaking into the theater to watch Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead because my parents absolutely did not approve of movies that so clearly showed teenage disrespect for authority), but the thing I remember most about that summer is spending countless sun-dappled afternoon hours staring at a rotoscoped little dude on my computer screen as he died a million deaths.
If you missed the video last month, here's another chance to give it a look! And if you're interested in picking up a copy of Mechner's book, there's a link at the bottom of the piece. We're resurfacing our Prince of Persia war story from last month to coincide with the release of PoP creator Jordan Mechner's book, The Making of Prince of Persia.