Prince or Pauper of Persia?
The Game Boy Color version of Prince of Persia has arrived on 3DS via the eShop’s Virtual Console. It’s a true port, which will no doubt please purists…but has this game aged gracefully?
Not quite, it’s exactly like the original where you get a 60 minute time limit to complete the game and the game is faithful to the other versions, but what lets it down are the controls. Even the training levels are ridiculously tough, running and jumping is pretty much impossible to pull off and I found myself repeatedly bashing into the walls I was trying to climb.
Death doesn’t stop the timer either, so be prepared to drive yourself insane as you try and rush to the end. Luckily, this version comes with the Restore option that lets you save your progress and bring the game back to your save at any moment you wish, it almost feels like cheating…but when the game gives you this much difficulty, it’s hard not to use it. It’s definitely one of the more challenging handheld games of its time, which probably makes it all the more memorable to those who played it back in the day, but I do think it’s priced slightly too high at £4.95.
Visually, Prince of Persia looks average for a Game Boy Color game. The animation of the Prince is nice, but the character models aren’t the best. The game lacks detail, and has no music other than the intro and when you die.
The Verdict
Prince of Persia is one challenging game, perhaps even more so than the likes of modern toughies like Dark Souls, but it’s more down to the unresponsive controls for running and jumping that make it that bit harder. I shouldn’t be bashing my head into a wall as I walk towards it, but it seems to do it nonetheless. It’s a nice trip down memory lane for those who had the original, but it’s perhaps not worth the price of admission.
