The newest game in the Prince of Persia franchise, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, is now available for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, PC, and Xbox.
The Lost Crown is a spectacular modern 2D Metroidvania relaunch of Prince of Persia from Ubisoft's Montpellier studio. Trailer, info, and links to pre-order are on Ubisoft's official Prince of Persia site.
Hi, Jordan here, Prince of Persia's original creator. I'm incredibly excited for this long-anticipated new beginning for Prince of Persia, a franchise that's been close to my heart for almost four decades. (It started in 1985 with me videotaping my 15-year-old brother running and jumping in his pajamas in our high school parking lot, then figuring out a way to squeeze that animation into an Apple II.)
The Lost Crown is made by a wonderful, talented team of friends and colleagues in Montpellier, France, where I live. I've experienced their passion and dedication to Prince of Persia first-hand, and I can't wait for a new generation of gamers and loyal POP fans to discover their work.
You can explore The Lost Crown in depth on Ubisoft's Prince of Persia site. If you're interested in the franchise's 34-year legacy, or the behind-the-scenes story of my involvement with previous games (and movie), you're in the right place — read on!
Before the 2003 game, before the 2010 movie, was the original 1989 side-scrolling, running, jumping, sword-fighting game I spent three years creating and programming on the Apple II, back when a computer was something you could pop the hood off and tinker with.
Brøderbund published Prince of Persia on the Apple II in 1989. It was converted to nearly every video game and computer console in existence, selling 2 million copies worldwide.
I directed the first 2D sequel, The Shadow and the Flame (1993), then turned away from the prince to spend the next four years making a real-time adventure game, The Last Express.
Another decade would pass before Ubisoft Montreal and I took on the challenge of reviving the moribund franchise for a new generation of gamers with Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. That relaunch's success led to the Prince of Persia movie.
For purists who'd like to play the original Apple or DOS games just as you remember them... well, they're out there, but I can't tell you where.
Making Prince of Persia on an Apple II, when 1980s technology and I were young, was an adventure in itself. I've published my game-dev journals from that time as a book (in several languages), The Making of Prince of Persia (1985-1993).
Behind-the-scenes and archival materials from POP's development, including Apple II source code, documentation, and rotoscoped animation videos, can be found in this website's Library. (The archive is an ongoing project; I add new items to it periodically.)
In my new graphic memoir Replay: Memoir of an Uprooted Family (now available in French, coming in English in March 2024), I recount episodes of Prince of Persia's creation from a different, personal and family perspective.
REPLAY also addresses a question I'm often asked: Why don't I do a new 2D Prince of Persia game, using today's technology, to continue the story of POP 2: The Shadow and the Flame (which ended on a cliffhanger in 1993)? My POP2-inspired artwork "Cliffhanger" contains a clue. You'll find the fuller story told in Replay's "blue" and "yellow" timelines.
The newest game in the current Prince of Persia franchise, The Lost Crown, is now available. It's a spectacular modern 2D Metroidvania relaunch of Prince of Persia from Ubisoft's Montpellier studio. If you're curious about my involvement with the project, you'll find answers in my blog post announcement about The Lost Crown. The latest details and updates about the game, including links to pre-order, are on Ubisoft's official Prince of Persia site.
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The Making of
Prince of Persia
Replay
The Making of
Karateka
The Last Express
