Previous entries can be found HERE, but today's random selection is...
Prince of Persia on the Mega Drive
Before I downloaded Transpose yesterday (it was free on SteamVR at the weekend and looks ace) this was actually the game that had been in my backlog for the shortest amount of time.
It was a thank you gift I received just earlier this week, and with this undertaking every day and playing Pyre and Ape Out quite a lot, poor PoP hadn't got a look in.
This is a game I played a lot back in the day. Although I have neither in my collection today I'm almost certain I played and completed both the Gameboy and SNES versions. Interestingly I discovered whilst researching the game that every version of it after the Apple II original had to be re-written from the ground up. Jordan Mechner was only involved in the original, the sequel, and the 1999 masterpiece 'The Sands of Time'. Every other port, sequel, and spin-off (of which there are literally dozens) was handled in isolation by third parties.
By the time the Mega Drive version arrived in 1993 it was pretty late to the party. This was 4 years after the Apple II original and a year after every other port to 4th and 5th generation hardware (including the Sega's own Master System and Game Gear). 1993 was the same year that the sequel arrived on other systems, a year after Flashback had arrived a knocked this concept into space, and only 3 years before Tomb Raider came along re-wrote the book on this kind of thing entirely. As a result this version was yesterday's news and it did not review or sell particularly well.
Anyone who plays a lot of retro games will know that you never continue on the first level of a game. You're basically wasting that 'continue' because you're starting from the beginning away. So, whatever the game, don't continue, go back to the main menu and start again.
With PoP you have a 60 minute countdown timer running so it's time you'd be wasting rather than continues - but it's still relevant, and on the Mega Drive there's extra step to this process.
After you've died on the first level for the first time, head back to main menu and, before you start a new game, change the sounds option from 'Music and SFX' to 'SFX Only' - because it seems the developers used their extra time incubating this version to compose the most irritating music ever conceived! I think I'd rather have Baby Mario screeching in my ear for an hour.
Other than that this is Prince of Persia as I know and love it. I've seen the Domark ports (they handled all Sega machines and the Amiga version) criticised around the internet but I'm struggling to see why. Maybe I'd feel differently if I had this running side-by-side with the SNES version but I didn't, and neither will the vast majority of other people who play it.
I have to say though, and this is very much a matter of personal taste, but I think the earlier versions of game have aged with more style. The Apple II version may have limited detail but this somehow makes the rotoscoped art look even more fluid in action.
The weird thing now is that I find myself in exactly the same position as the original reviewers of this game back in '93. The overwhelming consensus back then was that Prince of Persia on the Mega Drive was only really worth your time if you hadn't already played it on other systems - and it's as much true now as it was then.
If you only have a Mega Drive/Genesis, or maybe the Mini Classic version thereof, then absolutely you should have Prince of Persia in your library. Other than that, this version's appeal will rest on how keen you are to play different versions of this classic title.
Anyone who plays a lot of retro games will know that you never continue on the first level of a game. You're basically wasting that 'continue' because you're starting from the beginning away. So, whatever the game, don't continue, go back to the main menu and start again.
With PoP you have a 60 minute countdown timer running so it's time you'd be wasting rather than continues - but it's still relevant, and on the Mega Drive there's extra step to this process.
After you've died on the first level for the first time, head back to main menu and, before you start a new game, change the sounds option from 'Music and SFX' to 'SFX Only' - because it seems the developers used their extra time incubating this version to compose the most irritating music ever conceived! I think I'd rather have Baby Mario screeching in my ear for an hour.
Other than that this is Prince of Persia as I know and love it. I've seen the Domark ports (they handled all Sega machines and the Amiga version) criticised around the internet but I'm struggling to see why. Maybe I'd feel differently if I had this running side-by-side with the SNES version but I didn't, and neither will the vast majority of other people who play it.
I have to say though, and this is very much a matter of personal taste, but I think the earlier versions of game have aged with more style. The Apple II version may have limited detail but this somehow makes the rotoscoped art look even more fluid in action.
The weird thing now is that I find myself in exactly the same position as the original reviewers of this game back in '93. The overwhelming consensus back then was that Prince of Persia on the Mega Drive was only really worth your time if you hadn't already played it on other systems - and it's as much true now as it was then.
If you only have a Mega Drive/Genesis, or maybe the Mini Classic version thereof, then absolutely you should have Prince of Persia in your library. Other than that, this version's appeal will rest on how keen you are to play different versions of this classic title.
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