Jordan Mechner

"Which is your favorite/definitive version of the original Prince of Persia?"

💾As promised-- after 35 years, here's a proper blog post with my thoughts, and the story behind Prince of Persia's multiple 1990s ports.

https://www.jordanmechner.com/en/latest-news/#a-platform-jumping-prince

Sep 25, 2025 at 3:43pmWeb
Show threadJordan MechnerOct 1, 2025

I made an oversight in my post. I should have mentioned the NEC 9801 port done by Arsys in Japan in 1990!

Not just because it was excellent, but also because we adopted its revamped high-resolution Prince sprites (with new costume & turban) for the Mac port. This became the "official" Prince, used again in The Shadow & The Flame.

Thanks to Rob Beschezza for this BoingBoing article today https://boingboing.net/2025/09/29/jordan-mechners-favorite-version-of-prince-of-persia.html and reminding me to give credit where credit is due!

Jordan Mechner's favorite version of Prince of Persia

Even as he gives due credit to those working with more powerful systems than his original Apple II cut, one in particular impressed him

Boing Boing
Show threadLuc, CréoleSep 25, 2025
@jmechner I ran it on my CGA PC and I keep a big nostalgy for this version. What you had achieved with a 4 basic color palette was so fluent and visually great !
Show threadDansLeRuSH ᴱᶰNov 26
@lc_lol All agree 🤓 @jmechner
Show threadmonkee Sep 25, 2025

@jmechner Thanks for writing ❤️

I loved the DOS Version as a kid!

Show threadFediThing Sep 25, 2025

@jmechner

Excellent article, thank you! 👏 And your answer to the question is spot on 👍

"While Prince of Persia's Apple, Amiga and PC versions languished on store shelves (the game wasn't a hit in its first two years),"

Had no idea about this! 😲 Guess it shows how randomly releases happen, not everything finds its audience straight away. It's great that the publisher stuck with it!

Show threadJordan MechnerSep 25, 2025
@FediThing Right?!? I can't help thinking that for indie developers today, a game wouldn't have a two-year grace period to build up sales. If it doesn't hit right off the bat, few publishers would have the patience to experiment with different marketing.
Show threadRon's Computer Videos🖥️📼Sep 25, 2025
@jmechner There's sort of an interesting side story about the Macintosh version of PoP being locked to 25fps due to some playtesting decision that ended up making it to the final release? There is a 30fps unlocked version available online. I'm sure someone knows the full story about this :)
Show threadJordan MechnerSep 25, 2025
@RonsCompVids I honestly don't remember! If anyone out there knows, please post!
Show threadRon's Computer Videos🖥️📼Sep 25, 2025
@jmechner the Macintosh version at 25 FPS always felt like you were behind the eight ball to complete the game in one hour. 30 FPS really opens things up quite a bit and let you get some significantly better completion times.
Show threadActionLuziferSep 29, 2025
@jmechner @RonsCompVids Maybe @stayforever knows, from their investigation for their episode about Prince of Persia!?
Show threadE. Schneider 🇪🇺Sep 25, 2025
@jmechner can i say the #Commodore 64 version? 😉 But otherwise the #Amiga one.
Show threadzuqbuSep 25, 2025
@jmechner Fascinating writeup! For me, as I first played the Macintosh version, it is my definitive one 😅 I remember looking at the DOS version my friends played and thinking it lacked in fidelity.
Show threadKroc CamenSep 25, 2025
@jmechner The first time I saw the game was 1991 or 92 on a friend’s dad’s PC, which you have to remember was an absolute rarity in the UK! PCs were old hat to Americans by the 90s but the UK was still dominated by the C64 and Amiga. A PC cost thousands of £s, so expensive that you would rarely ever see one, let alone be allowed to touch one as a kid, so my memories of seeing PoP for the first time and its movement so realistic it was unreal is wrapped up in the awe of using a machine that was so alien to me it may as well have come out of the Soviet Union. PCs didn’t become common in the UK until Win95!
Show threadBobaSep 25, 2025
@jmechner Macintosh version of Prince of Persia is the first game I remember ever playing. I couldn't figure out how to get past the skeleton without my dad's help lol
Show threadJohanna JaniszewskiSep 25, 2025
@jmechner I think I played the DOS version as a child and loved it.
Show threadLog 🪵Sep 25, 2025
@jmechner I never got past the second level. Definitely could have used a few seconds worth of sand for rewinding.
Show threadBen S.Sep 25, 2025

@jmechner would have purchased the DOS version, but my local mall Radio Shack at the time only had a dodgy open-box copy.

Ended up buying the Game Boy port instead, which I beat a few times.

Show threadRetronom - Die Arcade-Bar!Sep 25, 2025
@jmechner i really enjoyed the Amiga version but i assume, there is no really bad version of the fresh prince out there 😁
Show threadJoost van der BorgSep 25, 2025
@jmechner “The digitized spike and slicer sound effects that traumatized many an elementary-school gamer originated with the PC version” Now that sentence brings back memories.
Show threadThe Penguin of EvilSep 25, 2025
@jmechner the totally unofficial soviet spectrum clone one is pretty neat
Show threadDaniel BarberSep 25, 2025
@jmechner For me it was always the DOS version as that's the version I played as a kid. Only played it with PC speaker sounds then, but now I can run it with MT-32 music and digital sound effects.
Show threadkjpaxSep 25, 2025
@jmechner I have fond memories of being allowed to bring in our own Amiga computers, to an activities week at school in the UK. I was probably around 14-15 at the time (Somehow I talked my dad into letting me take the family computer to school 😁). For the whole week, we mainly played Prince of Persia.
Show threadMarcin KrzyzanowskiSep 25, 2025
@jmechner for me, the "original" version is grayscale PC version in "Hercules" graphic card
Show threadmelSep 25, 2025
@jmechner when I was in middle school, I wandered into the storage room next to the band room (was basically a giant closet), and it had a couple Macintosh computers there, with a number of games on them, including Sim City 2000, Oxyd Magnum, and... the Mac version of Prince of Persia 😮 that was my introduction, and I was in love instantly! We didn't have Macs at home, so we got the DOS version of the original game, then Shadow & the Flame (story and art wise, still my favorite), then the tragically beleaguered Red Orb 3D release (yes, it had its technical struggles, but I still love it fondly), which had some of my favorite music of the series, and onward and onward... but the Mac at school was my first full play-through :)
Show threadMieszko ŚlusarczykSep 25, 2025
@jmechner the first one I’ve played was the DOS version.
Show threadKiwiguySep 25, 2025
@jmechner I snuck into my home class during a lunch break around 93 and smooshed all the keys until suddenly PoP starting playing. It gave me such a fright I bolted immediately.
Show threadstepplSep 26, 2025

@jmechner

The only version I ever played is DOS - so cannot compare to others 😉

Though I was not particularly good (came through 2nd level without cheat), the game was great. 1st time I had ever seen such smooth animations and sneaking across the spring blades. ... Mid 90s I may have found out Roland support in Audio.

Feels like I should get DOSBOX out and snatch a copy from one if the abandon ware sites 😉 🤺

Show threadBenSep 26, 2025

@jmechner for me it’s the Mac version. I’d somehow convinced my parents that I *needed* a computer for high school, and they spent what must have been most of their savings on a Mac LCII.

My mother got a pirated version of PoP from a friend (sorry!) and 12yo me became completely obsessed. I’m re-playing it now on a handheld emulator and it’s still amazingly fun and frustrating :)

Show threadByte KnightSep 26, 2025
@jmechner The original Apple II version, closely followed by the Macintosh version! The Mac version blew the PC DOS version out of the water - unfortunately that wasn't the case for POP2...
Show threadJeff C. 🇺🇦🇬🇱Sep 26, 2025

@jmechner I spent many an hour playing Prince of Persia on both the Apple IIe and my mom's Mac LC, back in the day.

And more than a few hours, when the teacher wasn't looking, in my school’s Mac lab. Oops.

Thank you so much for your contribution to gaming on Apple platforms, and for many hours of fun over the years.

Show threadJordan MechnerSep 26, 2025
@jeff You're welcome, and thank you!
Show threadXtoFSep 26, 2025
@jmechner MSDOS as it is the platform on which I discovered and played the game as a kid.
But I also have a sweet spot for the Apple II’. It is a technological marvel! And after all, as it is the original version, there would be no other version without it 😉
Show thread🇨🇦 Maverick ✊🇲🇲🇺🇦🇻🇪🇬🇱Sep 26, 2025
@jmechner I played the original version, on a green-screen Apple //c, way too much. I rediscovered PoP by playing the Mac version on a work computer in 1992. Years later, a friend showed me a game he was addicted to, which ended up being “Sands of Time” on some console. As soon as I saw it I said “I know this game!” & dove in. I guess inadvertently I’ve played only versions “with your fingerprints” — which probably says something about your ability to craft a good game. 👍
Show threadJernej Simončič �Sep 26, 2025
@jmechner That two-column blog layout really doesn't work – took me several paragraphs to figure out I should read the left column in entirety first, then scroll back to the top and read the right column.
Show threadJernej Simončič �Sep 26, 2025
@jmechner But otherwise, great article. I only ever played the PC version, at first on a 286 with PC speaker, later on 486 with soundblaster. I remember finding some glitches in 3rd level, where you could warp through a wall in one corner (also figured out how to beat the first level without ever picking up the sabre).
Show threadJordan MechnerSep 26, 2025
@jernej__s Noted. Will pass this feedback on to web designer.
Show threadkirpichSep 26, 2025
@jmechner dos game was the best together with the book https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_of_Gosplan 😀
Prince of Gosplan - Wikipedia

Show threaddoragasuSep 27, 2025
@jmechner I only played the Amstrad CPC version back in the day, and it was really good. Got so used to it that even though objectively the DOS version is better, I still prefer the CPC version 😅.
Show threadSteckschweinSep 27, 2025
@jmechner The DOS version followed by the C64 version a couple of years later.
Show threadBartek "Pan Nindyk" WanotOct 1, 2025
@jmechner My first memories of PoP are when I saw this game on my friends computer (PC AT with EGA card) and few months later I played it on my very own PC AT with VGA card and monochrome CRT... 👴
Show threadAlexOct 1, 2025
@jmechner good point about the hi-res color Mac graphics. In my case I remember playing on my mom’s SE/30 with just black and white, which imo looked better than the color Mac version! Do you have any photos/screenshots of that?
Show threadAntaconNov 26
@jmechner SNES was the one I grew up with and my favorite
Show threadMichael KnudsenNov 26
@jmechner I have fond memories of playing this on my uncle's computer when we went to visit him. At the time I had an A500 and thought most pc games had ugly graphics in comparison (CGA colours don't agree with a 10yo), but PoP was the one exception to all the other pc games at the time.
Show threadJiří Fiala Total LandscapingNov 26
@jmechner that's a great read! I find it very weird that there was a frikkin Sam Coupé port but the C64 one wasn't greenlit 😂
Show threadstepplNov 26

@jmechner

Since it's the only version I ever played - DOS.

Though I back then may have also loved a proper C64 version 😉

Show threadbeetle_bDec 6

@jmechner

The DOS version for me as well. What one could achieve on CGA on an 8080 - it was amazing.