Prince of Persia is a video game franchise created by Jordan Mechner, originally published
by Brøderbund, then the Learning Company, and currently Ubisoft.
The franchise is built around a series of action-adventure games focused on various
incarnations of the eponymous prince.
The first game in the series was designed by Mechner after the success of his previous
game with Brøderbund, Karateka.
The title was successful enough to spawn two sequels: the series has been rebooted twice
since its acquisition by Ubisoft, and has been successful enough to warrant a film adaptation,
penned in part by Mechner and released by Walt Disney Pictures in 2010.
Even though Mechner has been involved with the series in varying capacities throughout
its history, the games themselves have been developed and published by several different
companies.
The first two games in the series, Prince of Persia and Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow
and the Flame, were developed by Brøderbund for the Apple II.
Prince of Persia 3D, the first to use 3D computer graphics, was developed by Red Orb Entertainment
and published by The Learning Company on PC, and developed by Avalanche Software and published
by Mattel Interactive on Sega Dreamcast.
French-based video game company Ubisoft began developing and publishing the series in 2003
with Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and so far have been the most prolific of
any company in bringing out new games in the series.
Games
Original trilogy
The first game in the series, simply titled Prince of Persia, was created by Jordan Mechner
after the success of Karateka.
Drawing from multiple general sources of inspiration, including the Arabian Nights stories, and
films like Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Adventures of Robin Hood, the protagonist's
character animation was created using a technique called Rotoscope, with Mechner using his brother
as the model for the titular prince.
Despite the success of the game, Mechner enrolled in New York University's film department,
producing an award-winning short film during his time there, before finally returning to
Brøderbund four years later to make a sequel to the original game.
Production for the game, Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame, was led by Brian
Eheler, the first game's director, and Sherman Dickman, while Mechner acted as a creative
consultant.
The game, like its predecessor, received critical acclaim and high sales, but the company fell
on financial difficulties, leading to its purchase by The Learning Company, which later
merged with US gaming company Mattel.
On top of that, Mechner's next game for Brøderbund, a point-and-click called The Last Express,
was a financial failure, resulting in Mechner withdrawing from the company.
Development for the third game in the series, Prince of Persia 3D, was given to Red Orb
Entertainment, a former subsidiary of Brøderbund, with Mechner again working as writer and co-designer.
The game was released in 1999, before the main bug checks could be carried out, and
was a critical and commercial disappointment.
The event resulted in the Learning Company selling its entertainment division to Ubisoft,
the assets of which included the Prince of Persia franchise.
The Sands of Time series
Mechner, who owned the Prince of Persia IP, was brought in to work with Ubisoft on a reboot
of the franchise, eventually titled Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, although he
was originally wary after his experience with the last two Prince of Persia games.
The team they worked with were also working on Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: their aim with
the new Prince of Persia was to breathe new life into the action-adventure genre.
The Sands of Time was an instant success, although it suffered from lower-than expected
sales, leading to the team behind it reworking the aesthetic formula slightly.
Mechner did not take part the production of the next game, Warrior Within, and he later
commented on finding the dark atmosphere and heightened level of violence unappealing.
The changes also provoked mixed reactions from critics, but sales for the series increased
and a third game, eventually titled The Two Thrones, went into production.
For The Two Thrones, the developers and artists tried to strike a balance between the light,
cartoon-like tones of Sands of Time, and the grittier mediums of Warrior Within.
In November 2008, Ubisoft revealed that they were working on a new entry in the franchise,
which turned out to be The Forgotten Sands, an interqual filling in some of the narrative
gap between Sands of Time and Warrior Within.
The game was released in May 2010, timed to tie in with the film adaptation of the first
game in the Sands of Time subseries, also titled The Sands of Time.
Trilogy collection The Prince of Persia Trilogy is a collection
of The Sands of Time trilogy released on PlayStation 2 and subsequently on PlayStation 3 as part
of the Classics HD range.
The collection includes The Sands of Time, Warrior Within and The Two Thrones, all previously
released on sixth-generation video game consoles and Microsoft Windows.
The games were remastered in HD for the PlayStation 3 with 3D and PlayStation Network Trophy support
on one Blu-ray Disc.
The PS2 collection was released on October 27, 2006 in Europe, while the remastered collection
was released on November 19, 2010 on Blu-ray in PAL regions.
The release marks the first Classics HD title to not be published by Sony Computer Entertainment.
In North America, the three games were originally released separately as downloadable only titles
on the PlayStation Store.
The first, The Sands of Time, was released on November 16, 2010 while the other two games
followed in December 2010.
The Blu-ray version was to be released in North America on March 22, 2011 but the collection
then ended up being delayed until April 19, 2011.
Spin-offs and mobile games
The first spin-off of the series was developed alongside and released in the same year as
The Two Thrones for the Nintendo DS.
It was titled Battles of Prince of Persia, and was a real-time strategy game set between
Sands of Time and Warrior Within.
It received mediocre reviews from critics.
In 2006, concept designs surfaced hinting at another entry in the franchise.
The game, titled Prince of Persia was finally officially unveiled in 2008, with Ubisoft
marketing it as a reboot of the franchise, with its level and combat design harking back
to the original 1989 game.
The game came out in December 2008, receiving positive reviews from most video game outlets
and decent sales.
Alongside the main game, Ubisoft's Casablanca branch developed a direct sequel and spin-off
to the reboot for the Nintendo DS, titled Prince of Persia: The Fallen King.
The game was released alongside the main game, and received fair reviews.
So far, no more games set within the reboot world have been made.
There have been a number of Java ME mobile games developed by Gameloft, some based on
older PC or console titles with 2D graphics and others loosely based on contemporary games
but with 2D graphics and different gameplay due to technology constraints.
Gameloft has also developed some ports for both the iPhone and the iPad.
Specifically, the company has developed HD remakes of the original Prince of Persia in
2007, and its sequel The Shadow and the Flame in July 2013.
While the stealth-action series Assassin's Creed shares little but basic gameplay concepts,
it has been called the Prince of Persia series' spiritual successor.
Future In 2012, leaked images from an eventually-cancelled
Ubisoft project entitled Osiris were widely assumed to be the next Prince of Persia title.
Jordan Mechner even commented on his Twitter account that the images were not from a Prince
of Persia game.
A year later, in 2013, Yannis Mallat, CEO of Ubisoft Montreal, said that the franchise
was being "paused", saying that "As soon as we have something to show, we will".
In the following months, Ubisoft confirmed that they were either planning or considering
next-gen entries in multiple franchises, including Prince of Persia.
Adaptations Graphic novel
Jordan Mechner finished writing the story for a graphic novel in 2007.
The novel was written by A.B.
Sina, and illustrated by Alex Puvilland and LeUyen Pham.
It was released by First Second Books in autumn 2008.
The story follows two Princes, jumping to and from the 9th and 13th centuries.
Although it belongs to the franchise the plot is not related to any of the game continuities
or that of the 2010 film.
Prince of Persia: Before the Sandstorm "Before the Sandstorm" is a 2010 one-shot
comic book that serves as a direct prequel to the feature film and thus explains the
motives and backgrounds of some characters.
It was published by Disney press and written by Jordan Mechner with illustrations by Todd
McFarlane, Nico Henrichon, David Lopez and Bernard Chang.
Lego Prince of Persia
Film adaptation
Reception Awards
The success of the Prince of Persia series resulted in Guinness World Records awarding
the series 6 world records in the Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition 2008.These
records include, "First Motion-Capture Animation in a Video Game" and "Highest Rated Platformer
on PS2 and Xbox".
Impact and legacy Under his associated act, "The Classic" in
1994, South Korean singer-songwriter Kim Kwang-Jin released the song, Magic Castle with lyrics
inspired from the storyline of the original Prince of Persia.
In 1992, Russian author Victor Pelevin wrote a book called A Werewolf Problem in Central
Russia and other stories, in which there is a short story called Prince of Gosplan.
The story is greatly influenced by the game; the main hero of the story lives in a mixed
reality of real world and computer games and identifies himself as Prince of Persia.
He tries to understand if his life is real or is he just seeing it on a computer display.
References
External links Prince of Persia Official Website
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time at Disney.com Prince of Persia - Download for Commodore
64 Source code for original game