New Game Plus
Restart the adventure with retained skills and deeper challenges.
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. The game uses rotoscoping for fluid animation, with Mechner using videos of his brother doing acrobatic stunts and swashbuckler films as reference. It was critically acclaimed and, while not an immediate commercial success, sold many copies as it was ported to a wide range of platforms. It is believed to have been the first cinematic platformer and inspired many games in this subgenre.
- First Appearance
- N/A (No widely-known canon Prince of Persia game features New Game Plus as a standard mechanic)
Lore & Background
The source does not describe any New Game Plus mode or feature for Prince of Persia. The original 1989 game includes a 60-minute timer (120 in the SNES version) and a save system starting from level 2, but no mode for retaining progress across full playthroughs. The game's plot involves the unnamed protagonist escaping dungeons to defeat Jaffar and save the princess within the time limit, with no cyclical or reset narrative.
In Their Own Story
The source does not provide any story content related to New Game Plus. The plot follows the protagonist from the palace dungeons through twelve levels to confront Jaffar, hindered by traps, guards, and a doppelgänger conjured from a magic mirror. The princess sends a white mouse in level 8 to help the protagonist. The game ends when Jaffar is defeated and the princess is saved, with no mention of replaying with retained abilities.
Reader's Guide
The source does not describe any New Game Plus mode or guide for Prince of Persia. The original game features a health indicator of red triangles, potions (red restore health, blue are poisonous, large red increase max health, large green grant hovering or display effects), traps (spike pits, deep pits, guillotines), and sword combat with advance, back off, slash, parry, or parry-then-slash. The skeleton in level 3 cannot be killed by sword but can be dropped into pits. The doppelgänger in level 12 shares lives with the protagonist, requiring merging rather than killing. The DOS and Macintosh ports allow continued play after reaching the final area of level 12 if done on time, with specific death and overtime rules.
Did You Know?
- Prince of Persia was programmed in 6502 assembly, a low-level programming language.
- The animation loop for the Prince's walk cycle alone required 12 frames.
- Mechner rotoscoped his brother David Mechner performing sword fights, not directly from a film.
- The game did not initially include combat; Mechner added sword-fighting after finding the gameplay dull and after demand from colleague Tomi Pierce.
- The DOS version was developed at the same time as the Apple II version and shipped a few months later.
More in Gameplay & Mechanics
Elsewhere in the Prince of Persia universe
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