Prince of Persia: Remastered Edition

Prince of Persia is one of those games that shouldn't have worked as well as it did. You play as a nameless guy from the streets who happens to be in love with the sultan's daughter, but of course, things go sideways when the evil vizier Jaffar pulls a coup, locks the princess in a tower and gives her an hour to decide between marrying him or dying. Meanwhile, he's thrown into the dungeons and the whole game becomes a mad dash through traps, guards and your own literal shadow to save her before time runs out.

Prince of Persia: Remastered Edition

The biggest thing everyone notices right away is the animation. The dev used this technique called rotoscoping, where he filmed his little brother running around in white clothes and traced over the footage to create the character movements, that's why movements feels so realistic. When he runs, when he grabs a ledge, when he awkwardly stumbles if he almost falls, it all feels real in a way that most games from that era completely ignored. You have to time your jumps carefully because the Prince has actual weight and momentum. You can't just change direction mid-air like in other platformers. That makes every leap over a spike pit or every close call with a guillotine blade feel super tense.

Gameplay-wise, it's brutal. You've got one hour real time to get through twelve levels, and trust me, that sounds generous until you realize how many times you'll die. The levels are full of pressure plates that open gates for a few seconds, loose floors that crumble beneath you and potions scattered everywhere, red ones heal you, blue ones poison you and big ones can increase your health or give you weird temporary powers, and then there's the sword fighting. At first, it feels clunky because you can only step forward, step back, slash or parry, but once you get the rhythm down, it becomes a weird dance. You learn to back enemies into traps or just push them off ledges because sometimes that’s easier than a fair fight.

The level design is clever, it's not just about running and jumping, it's about figuring out the order of things. You might have to run across a room, step on a plate to open a gate, then sprint back before it closes, all while dodging spikes, and the game loves to punish you for rushing. There's no room for careless mistakes, but at the same time, you're always aware of that clock ticking down. It creates a constant pressure that few games manage to pull off.

Visually and audibly, the game sets a moody mysterious tone. The backgrounds are dark and detailed, with torches flickering on the walls and shadows stretching across the stone, the music is sparse but effective and the sound effects, like the clang of swords or the ominous thud when you land on a loose floor tile, all add to the tension. It feels isolated and dangerous, like you really are alone in these dungeons.

When you look at the SNES version of Prince of Persia, it's honestly kind of wild how different it is from the original. It's not just a port, it's more like a full reimagining. They added more levels, so instead of the usual 12 or 13, you're getting 20, and because of that, they give you two whole hours to finish instead of just one. That alone changes the whole vibe. It's way less about that frantic panic and more about exploring these detailed levels. The graphics are easily the prettiest, the backgrounds shift as you go deeper, moving from dungeons to actual palace-looking areas with all these cool little details, but here's the thing; it almost feels like a different game, they added boss battles, new traps and even some light puzzle elements that weren't in the original. So, if you're a purist, this one's not for you.

Genesis

The Genesis version is basically the polar opposite. It's trying really hard to be faithful to the original PC experience, just with a fresh coat of paint. You've got the same twelve levels, the same hour timer and that same desperate race against the clock. The controls feel snappier too, probably because the Genesis processor handled the sprite movement really well. The big downside is the sound, there's barely any music, just occasional little jingles and basic sound effects. It makes the whole thing feel way more lonely and atmospheric, but also kinda empty. Now, if you really want the best of both worlds, there's the Remastered Edition hack which fixes the input lag, tweaks the sword fighting to feel more like the original PC version with proper parries and counters, adds sound effects from the Mac version and even throws in a final battle against Jaffar that was originally only in some Japanese releases. It's like the Genesis version finally got the polish it always deserved.

SEGA CD

Then there's the SEGA CD version which is its own beautiful thing, it's based on the Genesis version gameplay-wise, so same levels and same timer, but the CD format lets it do stuff the cartridges just couldn't. First off, the audio is insane: full CD quality with actual orchestral arabic inspired tracks that blow every other version out of the water, but the real showstopper is the cutscenes. You get fully animated anime intro with voice acting and the ending has one too, it makes the whole game feel even more cinematic. If you want the most atmospheric version, this is it.

DOS

Remember how I said the SNES version is its own expanded thing? Well, the 30th Anniversary Edition actually ports the original DOS or Mac levels using the SNES engine. So for the first time ever, SNES owners can play the original experience with that classic level design but with the enhanced graphics and sound. It's wild. They even recreated the color palettes, the gameplay feel and the music from the DOS version as closely as possible.  

Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame takes everything from the original and cranks it up to eleven with darker story and more varied locations. You start thinking you're about to marry the Princess, but then Jaffar shows up looking exactly like you, steals your identity, and puts her under a death spell, forcing you to flee across rooftops, survive a shipwreck, fight skeletons on a creepy island and eventually discover you're actually royalty with a murdered family. The gameplay adds even lets you control your own shadow at one point, but it's brutally hard: enemies come at you in groups from both sides with no good way to defend yourself and the timer doesn't even start until halfway through, which somehow makes it more stressful. The console ports are a mixed bag tho, the SNES version cuts out the entire final level and has janky music, while the Genesis port got canceled and only exists as a buggy prototype with game breaking issues. Thankfully, it has been patched to fix the music, colors and a level nine horse bug, making it the closest we'll get for this game, even if it has less levels than the SNES version.

Full game

 

Remastered Edition