C64 Prince of Persia by Mr SID Review
This port of Prince of Persia for the Commodore 64 was released way back in 2011, by Andreas Varga (aka Mr. SID).
The project leaned heavily on the early development notes from Jordan Mechner and a disassembly of the Apple 2 version of the popular video game. It’s a shame since the original source code for the Apple 2 version was not re-discovered until 2012 stored on multiple 3.5″ disks, a year after this release, making what Andreas accomplished even more amazing. Andreas documented this work in a fascinating series of blog posts.
http://popc64.blogspot.com/2011/10/part-one-why-hell-would-anyone-want-to.html
GAME DESCRIPTION:
The Commodore 64 version of Prince of Persia requires an easy flash compatible cartridge. This was necessary since the game did not entirely fit nicely in 64K. It works just fine with the Commodore 1541 Ultimate 2 Plus cartridge. Although I prefer the cartridge format, I was wondering why he didn’t just use a disk image and just load in the levels as needed. I guess that would have slowed it down too much…
Before the game officially starts up we are presented with the option of reading the documentation. This is important because included within the documentation are things like the background, control tips, fighting tips, hints, keyboard options, game save options, and cheats.
Once the game starts up we are presented with the familiar title screen and music. On a technical side note, in his blog, Andreas discussed how the left and right edges of the screen in the border area are filled with multiplexed sprites for the title screen and attract mode screens. It’s the little details like this that help make this such an impressive port. If no button is pressed the screen changes to tell the game’s story.
Gameplay / Controls
Prince of Persia is a single-player platforming game. You start out the game in Jaffar’s dungeon. Your goal is to make your way to the Princess but you only have 60 minutes to do so. Using the joystick you can move your character left or right. You can kneel by pressing down. Pressing the button and moving left or right will move the Prince slowly. When running if the joystick is pressed diagonally upward, this will cause the prince to jump in that direction. When close to an edge pressing down will move the prince downward. While doing so, if you hold the button the prince can grab onto a ledge. Pressing up again will move the Prince back onto stable ground. You have to be careful because the Prince can only fall so far without taking damage or dying. There are many obstacles thrown in along the way of your adventure. Some of them can be frustrating to overcome, more on that later.
You start out with three health bars that you can lose by either falling too far or dueling with an opponent. Along the way, you will sometimes come across “potions” which have various effects on the Prince, including replenishing your health or even adding an extra health bar. There are a total of twelve levels in this game. Each new level brings the excitement of new challenges and places to explore.
Scoring
There is no official score in Prince of Persia, although you could use the time remaining combined with your remaining health bars if you really wanted to keep track.
Spare man
If you happen to die during your adventure, you are granted a spare Prince, this effect is unlimited but it does cost you time. Should you run out of time during your quest, you will have to start all over from the beginning.
Graphics
The graphics in this Commodore port are pretty much spot on. The levels are beautiful and the Prince himself is nicely animated. I appreciate the effort that was put into this game to make it true to the original. The dungeons are multi-colored and change as you progress through the game. There are graphical intermissions placed in between many of the levels and when you destroy certain enemies. These feel like little rewards for your accomplishment and help to keep you motivated to complete the game.
Sound
I noticed only a few differences between this port and the definitive DOS PC version. You have sounds for running, jumping, landing, dying, fighting, getting stabbed. As well as sounds for closing doors, spikes, and other obstacles. There are also plenty of musical effects for various things such as completing a level, winning a battle, etc, and all are true to the original classic. Speaking of the music, I came across this interesting tidbit, The Game Boy version of Prince of Persia was the first game to feature music by Tommy Tallarico.
Strategy
The best advice I could give for playing Prince of Persia is to learn the controls really well and what kind of moves the Prince is capable of doing. After that this game is all about exploring the landscape and trying to figure your way through the levels.
The levels do get more complicated to complete the further you progress into the game. The enemies get much tougher to defeat. The first enemy on level 8, was a killer for me. It took me at least an hour to figure out how to defeat him. I’ll share my strategy here. What I found was if you maintain enough distance from him, he will not lunge into you until you first make a move on him. If you move in toward him, back out, and quickly back in while pressing the button to attack, this would usually score you a point, So in, out, back in… After I figured that out, I was able to progress. There was one other strategy I had discovered, which was to just get past him and avoid the fight. Little did I know however this was just the first of many obstacles to overcome on Level 8, which in my opinion was the most difficult and nerve-racking level in the game.
World Record / Game Variations
There are no world records or game variations that I am aware of for this version of Prince of Persia.
Easter eggs
I am not sure you can call these easter eggs, but there are a few “hidden” areas within the game where you can find potions. Also in this version of the port, there are a few key cheats that I used in my gameplay video. Pressing “Control-V” will replenish your health and take you to eight bars. Pressing “Control-N” will advance you to the next level. After level three, pressing “Control-G” will save your progress up to the beginning of a particular level. Pressing “Control-L” will load your current save and pressing “Control-R” will reset the game back to the menu. There are a few more keyboard shortcuts and they are all documented in the “Instructions” section before you start the game.
Suggestions for Improvements
You may notice some performance degradation if there are a lot of things going on at the same time within a screen. The instructions say the game does run smoother on a Commodore 128. This minor issue did not bother me at all. I would caution you to wait for example until a door fully closes before trying something risky. I did notice a couple of bugs during my gameplay a few of which were frustrating. Before I go into it, I am pretty sure I read somewhere Andreas had mentioned there were a few unresolved issues.
The first couple are minor, in this one, I show how you can accidentally fall down one side, and when you stand up you are on the other side of the curtain/carpet.
The second one I noticed on level 8 but it happens on other levels as well, when you fight your opponent off the screen a sword appears on the wrong side of the screen briefly. Not a huge deal.
The third one has happened to me a couple of times, probably only because of how many times I had to start over and try again, but here are a few examples of when playing, the Prince unexpectedly falls through the floor and dies.
I have had to reset my C64 a couple of times after game freezes. But most of these were minor inconveniences and with the built-in “cheats” I was able to quickly resume where I left off.
One of my biggest gripes I had with this game, is not the fault of this port, I believe many others have had the same complaint. It’s the lack of checkpoints in the game. There are a FEW in the game, not exactly sure how many, but for me, not enough. Without the cheats, I am not sure I would have had the patience and discipline to complete this game.
Packaging / Ports
I really wish this game had been released in a boxed format, although I can certainly understand why it wasn’t after all these years.
This game has been ported to nearly every other gaming console out there, the Commodore 64 being one of the most recent.
There is a really nice fan page with additional information including download links at this site:
https://www.popuw.com/com64.html
This is how the Apple 2 packaging looked:
… Front cover (Apple II) ... … Back cover (Apple II) …
Conclusion
What can I say that hasn’t already been said. This port is a masterpiece. Having read through the blog entries really helped me understand the amount of effort that went into bringing this game to life. Thanks to this effort, what we are left within the end is this amazing faithful port. I am going to read from a post from the RGCD website from Ruari O’Toole who put it this way:
The graphics are spot on, the audio is excellent, and my bank of superlatives is starting to look pretty barren. Every facet of gameplay is scimitar-sharp and as thrilling as a back-alley swordfight. The atmosphere of tense yet sedate exploration mixed with bursts of do-or-die violence and the ever-present likelihood of falling to a horrible slumped death on steel spikes has been perfectly preserved. The C64 port of Prince of Persia is nothing less than a gem of a game, excavated from the shadowy sands of the last millennium, and showcased in the mind-blowing display cabinet that is the Easyflash cartridge.
I couldn’t have said it any better myself. I spent about 5 or 6 hours with this port replaying all of the levels and it was a ton of fun.
Highly recommended.
Youtube Description:
This is my review of the Commodore 64 port of Prince of Persia by Mr. SID 2011.
My complete playthrough of the game:
https://youtu.be/T0MPD4fEbcw
Game Development Blog:
https://popc64.blogspot.com/2011/10/part-one-why-hell-would-anyone-want-to.html
Fan website:
https://www.popuw.com/com64.html
RGCD.com Review:
https://www.rgcd.co.uk/2011/10/prince-of-persia-c64.html
Wiki page:
https://www.c64-wiki.com/wiki/Prince_of_Persia
Youtube Original Post Date: 05/16/2020
