PoP

[Leo T_C_K]

I wanted to create a new topic on Prince of Persia. The "original", well the MS-Dos version and later the Famicom/NES version are the games I grew up with actually. I did recently play some interesting hacks of the NES version that improve it/make new twists and even a fan port of PoP2 into the NES version, pushing the engine to limits and being incredibly buggy at times, but hey...its something.

PoP is definitely something to "get used to", its not for everyone but it did introduce a challenge and even though the controls might be clunky at times it was at a time a step in different direction towards more realism based movement and environment.

I did not play any of the 3d games myself but I am aware of them, not very intimately but I know many of them are not total garbage. However I always held out hopes that Jordan Mechner would get to make PoP3 and it almost happened, twice, the second time PoP 3 was cancelled even quite far in developement under Ubisoft. To make things clear, out of the released games, Jordan Mechner was involved with three released PoP games. The original Prince, then PoP2 and then the reboot sand of time and also the movie adaptation (I didn't see it).
And unfortunately he never could finish the original trilogy. PoP3D was like a soft reboot but is seen more in line with the original games, but it wasn't Jordan's vision. Honestly that guy is a bit of a sadist when it comes down to it in his game design, you can hate or love him for that.

But umm...then now there is yet another reboot except it features completely different characters and in different style and they somehow in some capacity got Jordan aboard. But guess what? Its utter TOTAL GARBAGE. If you wanted this game out, just call it something completely else. It has the opposite of any realistic physics, this is like what...is this a sonic game, is this metroid...what the heck is even going on....and they even have a character called Hassan like in that looney tunes old cartoon? ....Hassan Chop? Except its now Ghassan. Okay I'm done. I'm really done. If you are fan of the old games stay away from this, if you are a new player don't associate this with the brand at all, just pretend its not Prince of Persia. For god's sake in the past there were games made like Vinyl, the godess of Mars, which was originally a Jill of the Jungle sequel, but due to Epic choosing to go with Jazz Jackrabbit, the authors had to publish Jill sequel the other way, except they changed the characters and things a little, even though the gameplay is still basically Jill.....kind of like Xargon was also in that cathegory but Xargon not being a Jill sequel but kind of feeling like a spinoff.

This new PoP though....feels like...its...IM FUCKIN' SORRY but its just fucking RAPE of the "name". It has less to do with PoP than Vinyl with Jill..its the reverse of that situation. Its like they developed a completely different game and then decided to somehow shove it up with PoP brand name to make it SELL BETTER. That's all there is to it. There's nothing more to this. NOTHING.

edit: wat is this...this is like Castlevania meets metroid, meets captain comic meets sonic meats comic... confused travolta up to 11, and at the end it has dragon dai-satan or something. okay I'm done...fine bring in super sentai too I'm just done

There's actually no sword-fighting in this game. Let's call it what it is. The swords never touch. Not real sword-fighting at least.

[Leo T_C_K]

I watched further than just being exposed to the demo. I can't stomach all of it so I'm skipping. But the dialogue is some of the worst I've seen in a game for a while apart from some highlights but I am sure they ripped it from somewhere. Now I saw the...

GIANt ENEMY EARWORM (or earwig)

WHAT I'LL DO IS TO USE MY SWORD tO ATTACK tHE EARWORM WEAK SPOT

THAT ACTUALLY TOOK PLACE IN ANCIENt PERSIA

IN MESOPOTAMIA BORNED AND RAISED

SEEN BEttER DAYS

FRESH PRINCE OF BEL AI..I MEAN FRENSH PRINCE OF PERSIA

[THEBaratusII]

I believe I remember playing the first PoP while I was emulating the Macintosh Plus via Mini vMac many years ago. One friend of mine did say something about it being the definitive way of playing the first game. I also recall hearing the game was pretty difficult and even PoP 2 was supposed to be even more difficult as well.

Maybe one of these days I can attempt a playthrough at some point.

[Leo T_C_K]

I believe I remember playing the first PoP while I was emulating the Macintosh Plus via Mini vMac many years ago. One friend of mine did say something about it being the definitive way of playing the first game. I also recall hearing the game was pretty difficult and even PoP 2 was supposed to be even more difficult as well.

Maybe one of these days I can attempt a playthrough at some point.

The macintosh version had graphics that were similar to some of the console ports, though if I recall correctly it was otherwise the same. There are also different Genesis and Mega Drive versions, I believe the mega drive one contained more levels and some potions not used in the original. Its quite weird. The SNES version is the one most drastically different from the rest and feels a bit overdone at times.
The original game was for Apple II, though the character kinda became "whitewashed" in the ms dos version, but its still up to interpretation plus he wasn't supposed to be from there. Still..I suppose the macintosh version is more faithful in continuity with what came after.

Prince of Persia 2 is definitely more difficult, the unofficial NES port is a nightmare as it can hang up while too many tiles are falling like in the bridge with the skeleton etc. But it has some funny bugs you can also take advantage of. But its really the limitations of the NES engine that made it like that. Still that port is something to write home about as its so extensive.

I personally like the style of the original Prince rather than PoP2 to be honest, as it did sometimes get a bit too random in my opinion but its still a nice game overall.

I did play through the original whole and even the NES version and completed it, as a kid. So its not like its impossible but it certainly has a difficulty curve. I enjoy the custom levels or hacks for the NES version because of the challenge and there are also some insane ones I saw footage of, for the MS Dos version, like the infamous "Resurrection of Jaffar" that pushes things to the extreme when it comes to difficulty and also hilarious to watch glitches and bugs to occur when the game is used in unintended ways.

PoP2 dwelves even a bit into Escher-style trappings. It kind of reminds me of when Red Hot Chilli Peppers did that videoclip..what was it called...the one that kind of loops from beginning into end perfectly.
Ah, the "Otherside" I think. It features a sequence similar to some prince of persia moments in the video.

[Leo T_C_K]

That new game is such a comedy guys

It has grapple beam as some kind of time lasso and even ice beam in form of freezing arrows and actual "metroids" and mermaid hybrids, as in floating jellyfish and the sort...its absolute madness



The final boss or one of the final bosses is LENIN in a frozen MAUSOLEUM and he is five times the size of the player so

GIANT ENEMY LENIN

and the guy before has a speech of "I wish I'll be at least half the king you are"

yea well that guy is ENORMOUS



EDIT:

He apparently prays to Mazda
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazda

I mean...this Mazda

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahura_Mazda

I remember that guy back then in 2006 on Unreal Coop he was called Ahura Mazda, he was annoying and kept following me, trying to rape me as Nali Player everywhere.....and people saying I need protective shield belt against Mazda...