Stumbling through Prince of Persia 2 on Almost Everything

[@DaniboyBR2]

Prince of Persia must be king at grappling, dude has a grip, he falls from 30 meters and holds his body with only his fingers, what a beast.

[@kaczan3]

I think this comes from watching hentai.

[@Domarius64]

That fact was not lost on me, as a young kid. Must have done a lot of work at the rock climbing gym, building up that grip strength.

[@MamesoooR]

he is the ancestor of Nathan Drake

[@DavidHutchison-v5b]

@@Domarius64i mean he *did* climb the palace walls to meet the princess before they were wed.

[@somepixelynerd]

13:39 I am seriously super impressed by your determination to get things to work no matter how much ungodly hassle it takes.

[@DavidXNewton]

Fifteen Giraffes Having grown up trying to get DOS games to run on a 386, I’m used to it :)

[@somepixelynerd]

@@JohnnyNatrium Counterpoint: what if you stop being a ranty jerk and let me give the man a compliment

[@somepixelynerd]

@@JohnnyNatrium God, did you even watch the video? I'm baffled how you manage to have no idea what you're talking about while staring directly at the thing you're talking about. Just stop posting. I won't respond to you again.

[@DavidXNewton]

@@JohnnyNatrium Johnny, don't be a knob

[@mcz1945]

I always liked Prince of Persia 2 a whole lot more than the first one. The music is phenomenal, the graphics are amazing and I didn't have much trouble with the game except with the flying heads which scared the ever living hell out of me when I was a kid. The moment when you get on the flying carpet and fly through the clouds is one of the most memorable and rewarding experiences in any game I have witnessed since. The whole sacred flame thing is pretty cryptic but I think it is very cool. Lastly, the meeting with your mother never fails to run chills down my spine "This was your father's sword. Avenge us. Avenge us.". I think the purpose of this meeting was to show the main character's lineage. Absolutely amazing game. Thank you very much for the great amount of work you have put into this video.

[@DavidXNewton]

Hi, and thanks for your great comments :) It's definitely a spectacular game with a lot of memorable moments - just wish they'd rethought those medusa heads in particular :) I've been going back and forth on whether I think the flame at the end is too obscure since finishing this video - it's really clever and I was amazed when I got it to work the first time, but it would have been good if they'd made it clearer that you'd done it right, instead of giving you the chance to reset even after you've died on that screen!

[@srinitaaigaura]

The heads are not that hard when you realize exactly where they pause for a sec before attacking. Time it right and they can't do anything. But damn, this game was scary as a kid for me.

[@ActionPackedJack]

@@srinitaaigaura Yeah, me too. I remember being in elementary school and being terrified to be alone anywhere in my house because I felt like those damn shrieking heads could burst out of the closet at any moment.

[@struckersonic7903]

Hm the snes version is very fast but it's okay

[@amberslahlize7961]

I'm one of those people who like the second one better too, (although I didn't play the first one, I can still tell it doesn't have as much stuff as the second one). I feel like this is a good example of how to do sequels the right way, unlike how game developers and people in Hollywood think it should be done. Also about those heads, they really creeped me out as a child too, I thought they were clever and added to the whole idea of the old palace being cursed. There is something really ironic about them.

[@nikodem123asdf]

watched all the way from start to finish both this and the comparison of the original PoP. Very informative, professionally put together and very funny.

[@DavidXNewton]

Thanks so much! Glad to know you enjoyed it - comments like these have inspired me to keep going on my series on Epic Games :)

[@CZpersi]

This game influenced me so much. Its graphics and world was so fascinating and fantasy-provoking. This was also the first game I have ever played with a soundcard. Oh, the memories...

[@19Szabolcs91]

- Arsys and Konami make an amazing remake of Prince of Persia for SNES - PoP 2 gets released - SNES port gets greenlighted (greenlit?) - hmm, who shall we hire for porting it? - I know, how about the highly renowned geniuses at Titus?

[@seireasong]

And with that, I believe I have binged every single Prince Of Persia-related video on this channel, including the foray into the clones. Which means I’m already rewatching some of them! The DOS original truly looks like a delightfully solid, clean example of execution of ideas and a simple joy to control. Here I am suddenly seriously considering picking it up to speedrun. It sort of looks like it has everything I could want. Onto the Action 52 videos, because as they say with trainwrecks, I couldn’t tear my gaze away the moment I saw the thumbnails!

[@nixneato]

Just watched both videos, and well... thank you for this incredible piece of research. Back then, without the internet, it was hard to make sure you had the full picture. You're contributing to how great the internet can be :)

[@OrangeOwl1000]

10:07 'You are worthy of the power of Jeffar who was the Vizier of 'Jeff'sear in the year 300 and Jeffty Jeff BC' XD Hilarious and a wonderful follow up to Jaffa from the Sega CD port.

[@mariogirl8100]

Jaffa Cakes.

[@lionocyborg6030]

Will you do a video on Prince of Persia 3D & its Dreamcast port Arabian Nights, one for PC Vs console & region difference bollocks (including PSP) in the Sands of Time games, every single version of Forgotten Sands (counting the ports of the HD game for PC, 360 & PS3 as one version) and PC Vs Console of Prince of Persia 2008 (mainly the Epilogue DLC the former lacks)?

[@andersdenkend]

Good lord almighty, I did not know that the Mac version is actually highres?! And it looks glorious! What a beauty. I was always a fan of PoP2's graphics (and the game in general). Time to replay it on Mac!

[@nicolashrv]

You dont need to die to get the flame. You can transform into a shadow and then evade all the dudes and pick it directly

[@DavidXNewton]

That's interesting! I never knew about that - I'll have to check.

[@nicolashrv]

I actually never knew you have to get killed. In fact, I always used the shadow.

[@llSuperSnivyll]

Well, technically you die upon splitting with the shadow. Considering the extreme lack of reasons to use the shadow throughout the game, the automatic shadow rising moment might have been added so that you don't have to restart the level (instead of expecting you to turn into a shadow before approaching the flame).

[@AFSkull]

You die burnt if you do that

[@ChibiKami]

You don't need either actually, at least in the SNES version. You can jump across so that you hang from the edge instead of landing on the platform. This will open the door and you can pull yourself up, turn around, and jump back.

[@gamer2617]

" but unlike the american political system, they're functional." Bahah got me XD

[@MurrayTheMac]

Why on earth do you not have more subscribers?

[@DavidXNewton]

No idea, but thank you for being one more :D

[@meggi8048]

isnt it obvious? because he thinks prince1 was the better game ;D

[@HypherNet]

@@DavidXNewton Seriously, your vids are great. I especially love your narration style. Call youtube and demand better placement in the algorithm!

[@strouze]

The algoryth, sometimes is a mistress mostly cruel.

[@pesto12601]

Cause I feel like I took a shot of speed every time I listen to him?

[@Mimerneos]

These prince of persia videos are incredibly entertaining!

[@niwm]

Dude, bravo. I've always thought there's a distinct lack of discussion about PoP2 compared to its better known predecessor, which is a shame because the sequel is actually pretty good. So thank you for doing such a detailed analysis! That being said, the game is not without its problems. But it does feel like an actual step forward rather than a complete rehash of the original.

[@DavidXNewton]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! That's right - the game isn't as smooth as the first, but it's impressive in how many new ideas it had (even if a couple of those ideas like the medusa heads were bad ones :) )

[@bouncingbluesoul5270]

You should do a 'Stumbling through' for POP3D.

[@TheBreakingBenny]

Aw no, that's like if Gal Shemesh had to do POP 3D animated.

[@TheBlobik]

"bow before your lateral thinking skills" as the guy bows and falls into the abyss xD this commentary is just awesome

[@JamieBainbridge]

I haven't laughed this much at anything in ages. This is like Monty Python meets retro games. Thank you so much!

[@andrewgrace2830]

Good job DavidXNewton! fantastic analysis. Be proud of this two-parter.

[@celebrategout1008]

i cant stop coming back to these prince videos of yours

[@silentdebugger]

6:08 Wait, WHAT? I missed out on that whole awesome scene since I would always just jump across, jump back, and then leave.

[@DavidXNewton]

Me too! I was amazed years later when I read how you were meant to do it - I would never have worked it out myself.

[@morningprince3626]

I am a fan of the Prince of Persia series on the DOS. I love the games, but control is such a huge factor in a game's enjoyability. If the Prince in POP2 had the controls of the POP1 Prince it would have been a much better game. Does anyone feel the same way that I do?

[@DavidXNewton]

Definitely! The original game on DOS really got the controls for a lifelike character perfect, and Prince 2 didn't quite have that satisfying precision.

[@morningprince3626]

I consider myself as an intermediate player of POP1, cuz I can do some harder tricks and I can fight well, but POP2 I for the life of me can't do the last palace level especially the first part. The controls of movement and fighting can burn in HELL with Hong Kong 97 and others...

[@symboss953]

Nah, you have to press shift for pop1 and then stick key problem pops up, no the pop2 control is better than the 1st one cuz you can use ctrl to turn on and swipe prince's sword instead of shift

[@morningprince3626]

@@symboss953 It's only a problem until you deactivate sticky keys. Once that problem is out of the way you can enjoy POP1 to the fullest.

[@AmayirotAkago]

Hooray, you're back! Always had a soft spot for this game even with its ridiculous difficulty, but the presentation was dazzling for its time. The last level especially was a beautiful mindfuck. Also I remember being scared so bad as a kid by a damn crushing wall after I fell into a hole one time that I didn't want to keep playing after that xD

[@DavidXNewton]

These were definitely scary games - you never knew what was around the corner! For me, it was the mirror on level 4 of the original game that made me afraid to play for a while...

[@AmayirotAkago]

Heh, oddly I didn't have any problem with the other stuff in these games like the spikes or getting cut in half. I was a messed up kid :P

[@HomeGunMaker]

Dang now I really want to play it again. For some nostalgic reason I prefer pixelized old Dos games over 4K Ultra HD modern ones. And out of all those, PoP 2 was the best looking one!

[@babitashuckin5831]

Your yt channel is going to blow up. You deserve more views than these goofy "(gone wrong) " or "story time" videos. Great research great analysis great voice production. Excellent.

[@DavidXNewton]

Thanks so much - I think I'm in mid-blowup at the moment because KZbin suddenly decided to start promoting the Prince 1 video, we'll see how long it lasts :)

[@UdanaWijesuriya]

On the Mac version, the Healing Potion is actually red if using a recent IPS type monitor. But on other monitors (LED) it looks blue. And the purple potion on the same IPS monitor is blue.I wonder how it looks on a CRT.

[@indoshakermaker]

When I first played POP2, I couldn't time my jump properly as the tiles are not marked like in POP1

[@Kazuo1G]

I lost it at 4:18. XD

[@suryakumars]

I've been jumping for years, not having once got on to the damn boat.

[@QuintusCunctator]

Thank you for this great retrospective! The blue flame puzzle was incredibly innovative for the time, even if the button prompt to restart was deviously misleading; however, in a sense, it harkens back to an era where getting stuck on a single puzzle and having to solve it practically reading the author's mind was way more common than today (e.g. text adventures). On a side note: if you haven't yet, I suggest you having a look at Nosferatu, a SNES game obviously inspired by Prince of Persia, but with a stronger accent on fighting mechanics. It's neat to see the same genre approached with a different sensibility.

[@DavidXNewton]

Yes, I found myself thinking the flame puzzle was less impossible as I went on! I remember with the first game, I had to have a friend tell me how to beat the shadow at the end... this would have been the same kind of thing, someone discovers it and it spreads in rumour, and it sounds stupid but it really works. (But for years I thought that the strange workaround/bug was the right way to do it and I only found out the intended way to do it once I had the Internet years later). I haven't heard of Nosferatu - I took a look at some Prince knockoffs in an earlier video ( kzbin.info/www/bejne/i6qmfmyOoLZnrM0 ) and know about Flashback and Blackthorne, but that's a new name for me :) I'll take a look!

[@DaPootisJedi]

"Giving you an easy escape as the temple guards bow before your lateral thinking skills" I found this about ten times funnier than I should have.

[@AgentAsh]

I'd like to point out that PoP2 had at least two distinctly different versions on PC. The version that I played on IBM 486 had a pretty problematic tile detection which made the ruins and the temple excruciating; notably, the horse jump in the ruins was almost impossible to pull off and often required several attempts. Several years later I was playing it in DosBOX and whatever version I got then had that problem fixed: tile detection was very precise and on point, I never failed a long jump there. There were some other differences too, although I can't say precisely which version had what. For example, in one of them temple guards would line up and wait while you were fighting the one closest to you, while in another version they would all attack together and sometimes their sprites would line up and even sync movements - in those moments it was possible to fence and even block hits from 3-4 guards simulatenously, although it was very dangerous. Another difference was the first ruins level. After arriving on the magic carpet and entering the level, the door behind you wouldn't close in the earlier version; instead you could enter it like any level end door, and it would actually transport you to the next level. I believe both versions retained some glitches that were very useful in speedruns. The second ruins level allows you to run straight towards the locked door (where you would see the vision of your mother later), and by turning right and taking out your sword you'd be teleported behind that door, skipping a chunk of the level. Also, not a bug, but in the temple you can avoid almost every guard by abusing their logic: they can't do a standing jump, and if you alert one and jump over a pit leaving the guard close to the edge of the pit, they would advance and fall to their death eventually. I demonstrated some of that in my own playthrough here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bavQfmupl7pqq9E And one more thing: you can easily get one-shotted by the enemy if instead of taking our your sword you press up to jump up. Useful in saving time before the blue flame cutscene. Thanks for the vid!

[@skumbino]

Back in the day I played the problematic tile detection version.... That horse jump required me a LOT of patience!

[@AgentAsh]

@@skumbino I remember Prince just pitifully falling down over and over instead of performing the long jump, it drove us insane back in the day (the whole family played PoP). This game gave me a lot of PTSD :)

[@tylerfranzpetersmithisson8909]

Thanks for the comparison video! It's very interesting to see again the differences between platforms... Thanks for taking the time and effort to put all of this together for us! I wanted to try them myself after watching this, but I couldn't get the Mac version to run like I did with Prince 1, and I don't know a single word of Japanese so I don't think I'd be up to the task of finding out how to run the FM Towns version (even though I did spend a week or two trying to run the BK-0011M version of Prince 1, which is all in Russian, another language I don't know, before I gave up because it crashed on level 5... But that just lets me further realize how much of an effort you put into this, having even worked on translating Japanese from the ground up, an experience I'm somewhat familiar with because of the BK...) although I'd still like a copy of it... But I'm still looking forward to trying out the Genesis prototype, as I didn't have a chance to yet...... Sadly the first time I ever played The Shadow and The Flame was on a SNES emulator, and I do remember using savestates every three seconds to make that even remotely playable... And that was the one version, besides the DOS, that I was able to try again after watching this, and I can't really say I had the patience to go anywhere past level 3... Even if the speed problem turns out to be an emulator thing rather than something from the actual game, this version is still so weird and glitched that I couldn't really keep playing... I did take the time to play the DOS version now, I think for the first time, and I have to say it made me not hate this game anymore. Even though it still doesn't give me the same atmosphere feeling as the originals do, it was still quite fun to play. And while I still can't say it was as good as, say, the SNES version of the original, I have to give it credit, it got really close... And about the end of the game, I feel like it would've been more fun to have found out about becoming a shadow and stealing the flame myself, but as you point out it's also possible to just jump to it and then jump back to the exit, which's what I ended up doing on the SNES version when I played it the first time, and would have done again if it weren't for this video. It just shows how such a good idea like this can be easily overlooked, aslmost wasted, if not done right... But it still is overall an impressively good game, with all its changes and uniqueness compared to the first one, and I am once again thrilled to find someone who likes these games this much too, and who took the time to put together a video about all of it like this one. Thank you!

[@dadjr.3351]

Is it possible the SNES version was designed to run at 50hz ala PAL regions, and running it under an NTSC emulator causes the weird speed stuff?

[@Spaztron64]

Nah, even that one is a bit too fast (but equally as rubbish).

[@ghostoflaurapalmer]

I think, the engine timer was originally designed for 30 fps on DOS, and Titus did not bother to make adustments for NTSC 60 fps. Hence 2x speed.

[@Crazy_Borg]

I have a PAL SNES and also at one point had a PAL copy of Prince of Persia 2 for it. It still ran way to fast to be enjoyable, so yeah: Really bad programming. But then it's TITUS, so what did you expect?

[@VicViper]

At the very least, Titus made it PAL optimised; as in the speed is lowered, but they increased the timer specifically to that version to 90 minutes. The game was released first in America btw, 3 months before Europe. So the lowered speed seems to be an intentional decision rather than a poor 60hz => 50hz conversion. Still pretty bad and buggy, but more bearable.

[@therevenger259]

Someone made a Remastered Edition rom hack of the Sega Genesis beta of Prince of Persia 2.

[@TangoBunnie]

I am so ready to mosquitoes. All the little extras in the options menu does seem like a cool addition! The sound test in particular is interesting to me. More games need sound tests.

[@DavidXNewton]

Yes, it really made me appreciate the sound design of the game - even though earlier I thought the music wasn't very memorable, the way that it adapts to what's going on on-screen is really impressive for the time.

[@Aldrius]

It's weird that I knew this intrinsically but never thought about it.

[@reyvgm]

And know it's too late now, but the reason why the SNES version runs so fast is because the "base" game is the European version, which as you know runs at 50hz. So what the dev did, was program the game to run at a "normal" speed at 50hz, but when it was time for the NTSC version (which runs at 60hz), they didn't lock the speed so the game will of course run much faster. This is something that, in contrast, happened with NTSC games that were ported to PAL, in which ran a bit slower. If you run the Euro PoP2 version you'll notice it runs at a normal playable speed. Not too slow like regular converted PAL games, and not too fast like the NTSC version.

[@VicViper]

For having played the PAL version, it's still too fast and doesn't change the glitches and shittier controls. Still not close to the computer versions, at best it's slightly more bearable.

[@ecchi12]

@@VicViper Thanks. So what version do you recommend, Dos or Mac?

[@ActionPackedJack]

Wow, this video (and the previous one) were amazing, thanks for all the effort. I grew up with a Mac and wanted to share a glitch I found with that version of PoP2. If you open the load-game menu and try to load an incompatible save file (I used a save file for Wolfenstein 3D), it'll take you to the ending cutscene featuring the fake prince burning to death. If you do it from the first few levels you can even type in a high score with 75 minutes left. Consider it the ultimate speed running any% strat. However, after doing this a few times, I started encountering a glitch where, at seemingly random intervals, my health would start draining one bottle at a time, accompanied by the Prince shouting an "ow!" that I had never heard anywhere else in the game. I can't prove a causal relationship between these two bugs, but it only stopped happening after I reinstalled the game.

[@dragoneye6229]

It could be because I just got done playing the SNES port, but I feel like you took too long too say words. First video I've seen from this channel but not the last this is awesome stuff!

[@onceandfuturetech]

Thanks for the time and effort put into both this and the original PoP video. They were labours of love (and frustration!). I'd always defaulted to a preference for the Mac versions of PoP 1&2 due to the higher resolution and polished models. However, I gained a new respect for the DOS and SNES versions of PoP 1 after watching your videos. My big gripe with PoP 2 in general is what I'd refer to as a 'floaty' combat style. You definitely touched on it - the feeling that you're never QUITE certain if you've blocked or attacked. The timings and hit detection just seem slightly 'off'. Anyway... Thanks again. So, I guess next up is PoP 3D for Windows versus PoP: Arabian Nights for Dreamcast! 😜

[@DavidXNewton]

Thanks so much, great to know you appreciate it :) During the course of this video I definitely realized more about why Prince 2 didn't quite feel right, too - the combat controls are definitely a big part of it, it just doesn't feel quite as perfect as the original.

[@DinJerr]

Isn't it amazing how the Mac was like the master race for computer gaming, but nowadays is a running joke?

[@ajax700]

-- I don't agree at all: macos PoP2 version music: horrible for this game cost: very expensive -- MACs were much more expensive than x86-DOS PCs: Why pay more to play almost the same game? Game consoles?: Even cheaper! graphics: better -- SVGA resolution graphics were impressive at the moment At the time apple/macs were on life support: they mainly sold few units for desktop publishing + printing press professional users. The platform was mainly bought as a tool for work. operating system: macOS up to version 9 was badly suited for games (and poor OS overall), it had a huge overhead comparing with lightweight DOS. So no, mac was not even close to "master race" for gaming nor computer gaming. "master race" what a horrible, innaccurate expression. If it was similar to something, it was similar to playing games on a sharp x68000: using a very expensive (and powerful) "work" platform, not gaming oriented at all, to play games.

[@dosnostalgic]

This is the BEST.

[@JohnnyUndaunted]

If I'm not mistaken, Psygnosis was purchased by Sony around the time they were working on Genesis port so they could become a PlayStation-exclusive developer. A similar thing happened with Spawn for the SNES, which was supposed to be published by Sony Imagesoft, but Acclaim managed to snatch that one up.

[@deeiks12]

I definitely remember the sand blocks being the copy protection. Maybe it was different on boxed vs shareware versions?

[@bookoflists]

I also recall this on the first version that I played. Later versions, not so.

[@Saver310]

20:42 What is this, a demo scene intro?

[@darkridearts]

I’ve never played POP2, other than a demo disc I had when I was younger. I really need to get it and play it now.

[@ufoguy]

Actually the solution on the flame level that I found as a child is to become the shadow and then go in the flames, also the moving snake is in PC version too. Or at least in the one that I have

[@DavidXNewton]

That's interesting, someone else said that below as well but I never tried it out myself - I'll have to see if it works! I always just jumped across as normal Prince and then jumped back, which for some reason opens the exit... possibly an oversight in the game.

[@WhamDieMoe]

30:01 Dude, What's Exactly With Medusa Heads Getting Sad All Of A Sudden?

[@jukka5648]

Good pun at 22:40 ;D

[@MuhammadWaheed88]

Love all of your POP videos

[@DavidXNewton]

Thanks so much :) That's great to know!

[@robinanwaldt]

Man, watching videos on PoP 2 really makes me wish there would have been a sequel in the same gameplay style which continued the story properly... unlike Prince of Persia 3D...

[@eFeXuy]

13:50 ha, I went thru the same process to play Densha de Go on pc

[@bookoflists]

I don't think you mentioned it here, but having just watched your POP vids, I want to point out the strong connection between the Japanese versions of POP1, especially the cut scenes, and POP2. In the PC98 version, amongst others, Jafar looks through a crystal ball in the cut scenes - as we see the witch doing at the end of POP2. There are other features such as this which may have inspired Mechner when he tried to flesh out and add different plot elements to the story of POP2. In retrospect, the story in POP 2 feels a rather arbitrary cobbling together of different elements - the ruins, the chessboard, the eagle head soldiers etc. however, it left a strong impression on my childhood self.

[@AnonEMus-cp2mn]

I am glad to have grown up with the Mac versions, the PC may be ranked better but it just feels like an inferior port when the graphics, speed, and audio are at a lower quality.

[@l30S3UX]

7:00 amazing setpiece actually!

[@mithrilsk]

You are fun to listen to and I loved both your videos on PoP, thanks for that. Also I need to say that even though I hated those flying heads in the ruins just as much as anybody here (obviously), after seeing the speedrun of this game I must admit that similarly to the shadow and the flame catch they are just another clever twist in the design of the sequel as you actually don't need to kill the most of them. So I'd just guess you were never meant to. Like in real life, some enemies you just run away from. To me it especially makes sense in this case. Oh and it really felt gratifying to hear that the controls are really worse as compared to the first installment. I always thought there something wrong with me not being to able to fight like I used to :D

[@DavidXNewton]

Thanks! Yes, the controls on the PC are definitely more sluggish in POP2 compared to 1 - you have to get used to a different rhythm, it's not terrible but it's noticeable. And that's interesting about the floating heads... I'll have to check the speedrun - I was sure that most of them were right in your path and unavoidable but there must be tricks that I haven't learned :)

[@ZenoPopo]

Have you thought about making a similar video on prince of persia 3d maybe? This one has only two versions, but they are vastly different, which would make for an interesting video

[@runeanonymous9760]

I am interested in all your solo stumbling through stuff.

[@wiiu42]

“...the eagle suiters at the temple hosting AnthroCon 334 B.C.”

[@matteobuf6880]

When does he say that in the video? I totally missed it

[@wiiu42]

@@matteobuf6880 It’s at 19:36. KZbin tip: to find the timestamp of a quote in a video, click the three dots next to the share and save buttons, then click “open transcript.” You can then use ctrl-f (cmd-f on Mac) to search for things in the video.

[@matteobuf6880]

@@wiiu42 thanks for the tip!

[@zaazaa3663]

Good work! A review of the game on Abandonia perfectly matches my thoughts on the game.

[@MasterLinkuei]

Here's the link of my Music, Sound, Graphic and Color Improvement patch for the Unreleased version of Prince of Persia 2 The Shadow and the Flame for the SEGA Mega Drive: SEGA Mega Drive - Prince of Persia 2 Remastered Edition: www.romhacking.net/hacks/4805/

[@DavidXNewton]

Thanks so much for your work on this! You've put a lot of love into this to take the game the rest of the way to completion :)

[@GamingKeenBeaner]

When I first found these videos I thought that you were going to play through the original on a wide variety of drugs. That would have been pretty funny, but the videos you actually did make were good too :)

[@Terestrasz]

Haha. I remember Psychedelliceyeball's letsplay where he did left and right... then made the prince fall to his death. So he said "The moral to this story is... don't ever dance!" ...then during the temple level, he got hurt again, and then he went and gave the prince a speech saying "You must DANCE!" to become the Shadow Prince. ...and then he fell to his death.

[@Tricob1974]

The floating heads have an interesting combat quirk, but you won't reveal it except through trial and error (though this speaks only from experience with the DOS version). You've demonstrated how the Prince will appear in areas where the sword flat-out misses the heads no matter when you swish your weapon at them. Well, that solely depends on the position of the screen the Prince is on. If you appear on the attack screen in the wrong place, you can slow-walk (or move forward by ducking) your way a fraction of a square, and your sword will always hit the head as long as you time it right. You may have to slow-walk your way forward every now and then in-between enemies. It's all trial-and-error. Moving left or right when fighting the heads is *not* recommended; it's best to just stand in once place and swash away. The catch to all this? If you're in the wrong position of the screen when you try to jump onto the horse, it's possible to trigger a glitch where the horse remains a statue, and you're forced to restart the level. I think I remember literally jumping my way past the danger and jumping onto the horse so the glitch wouldn't be triggered. You can probably inch your way to the proper position after combat and land on the horse properly, but the game doesn't award you extra points for killing your enemies, so I never bothered.

[@DavidXNewton]

Amazing comment - thanks for that additional information! Now that you mention it I seem to remember reading something a long time ago that suggested there were certain dead spots on the screen where you couldn't hit the heads, but I can't remember exactly... what an awkward enemy :)

[@DavidHutchison-v5b]

I played this on an emulation site and honestly I feel you on the impute delay. I do think, however, it does help to really stamp on the key you wanna press. Other than that, great video.

[@aliendrone]

I remember my brothers reaching the flame part and not knowing what the hell they were supposed to do..

[@TeaAndFloppyDisks]

Uh, as a kid I didn't even manage to get on the ship. But this game has a great story and the atmosphere draws you in even more than the first one. Since you mentioned that cliffhanger, Jordan Mechner has recently posted that cutscene on his channel. I'm sure I'm not the only one who started dreaming of a sequel 2D game... Nevermind, Ubisoft are making some 2.5D something and personally I don't see the spirit of PoP in there at all.

[@DemomanX614]

That SNES version bothered me so much. I just got through the original for snes and loading up PoP2 it was running so fast I'm thinking "is the rom bad???"

[@indask8]

Titus was a French developer, I guess just like they didn't finish the game, they just slapped the PAL 50hz rom onto the US cartridge thus running too fast.

[@segaalltimer4143]

I love this one.

[@tk80]

Titus sure knew how to make great games. Wow what a piece of..

[@BlackJack-di7ym]

What is the place in right hand corner in the first stage, can we reach there?

[@DavidXNewton]

Not as far as I know! It's just a bit of decoration that was added for people who jumped off to the right.

[@BlackJack-di7ym]

Ok.

[@Fulgore-j5]

I think you missed the copy protection level

[@yusukeelric]

A friend of mine had PoP 2 on SNES... It's not the emulator. The game runs like that. And it's physics are incredibly broken

[@DavidXNewton]

Thanks for backing me up :) It's... incredible that they released it like that!

[@avocatdelamusique9778]

Oh those flying heads scared the shit out of me when I was a child. It is way more difficult when compared to first installment, enemies are way more intelligent but sometimes they lose their mind and kill themselves in a very funny fashion. Those flying heads were the only thing that put me off considerably. They were unneccesarily difficult to deal with, especially with a short sword. Dealing only half of the possible damage got real old and tedious. And controls... It was pretty difficult to time key combinations in regards to jumping and fighting. First installment had the upper hand with it's controls, it was hard to miss when to take a jump, it was rock solid. But for gameplay and story alone, second one wins for me, if you can get over some frustrations.

[@deanthegreat]

absolutely love this game for pc I have not played in a very long time. I also have the orginal for SNES and 3D for pc and sands of time, warrior within, and two thrones for the game cube

[@boriskondratev1704]

To restore justice: "Titus" made racing-arcade "Fire & Forget" 1&2 and platformer "Prehistorik" 1&2 for DOS in 1991-92, and "Prehistorik Man" for SNES in 1995. This games were good.

[@DavidXNewton]

Oh yes - I had a collection of DOS games by them, but I think I was too young to really appreciate them much! Perhaps that's another video, to go through their back catalogue and examine the point where it all started going wrong :)

[@helmetluigi]

"You ready to mosquitoes?" lol

[@brendoncliff9485]

Dude, you're the Crestfallen Warrior's voice actor from Dark Souls?

[@gwishart]

You mean other than having a completely different accent and sounding nothing like him?

[@BrandonBlume]

4x larger?? Was the original in a resolution less than 320x200?

[@MosoKaiser]

Yes, actually _over_ 4 times the size. 640x480=307,200 vs. 320x200=64,000 pixels.

[@gwishart]

The *original* used the Apple II 'high-res' mode: 280×192

[@wesleybcrowen]

Awwwww, after patiently waiting for this video I am disappointed there's no obscure Japanese version with amazingly bad anime-ish cutscenes and hilarious voice acting to attempt to murder me once again by the means of triggering uncontrollable hysterical laughter. Still, great job! I can most likely guess the mega drive version was scrapped as it was coming kinda late into the console's life cycle and didn't seem viable for desired income by the publisher.

[@DavidXNewton]

Hah, yes, the Sega CD version of the first game is incredible in its own way :) "Jaffa!" You're probably right about the Megadrive version - 1996 was reaching well into the Playstation era. It's a shame that they never got to release it, because even what they had so far was better than what Titus has put together as a complete game.

[@Homemade-Blurb]

How we can get Mac POP2??

[@SmartIndianDude]

Do you believe that there should be a digital distribution service to help people get their old favorite games which most of the digital distributors like Steam removed from their library along with one more thing which will benefit both gaming companies and modders in a way that modders will be able to earn from their mods along with company's support to do changes by putting those content as downloadable mods (dlms) and companies will earn a small percentage from the mods sold while modders earn the rest of the large percentage of income gained from selling their mods?

[@ufoguy]

The videos that you are making a re great !

[@brendoncliff9485]

Nice video! Thank you so much! Now I now wich is the best version to play. I've only played the SNES version and i though that sorta weird. That must be the worst.

[@josuesanchez7758]

When will you play it?

[@ReytheMovies]

Can anyone explain 14:48? Who is that guard, what was the point in putting him there.

[@DavidXNewton]

I think he's there in all versions (except the very first one on the PC, he was added in a later update if I remember correctly) - no way to get there, just some flavour for people who jumped right off the first screen!

[@ReytheMovies]

I see, great video. Real shame the mac versions have music problems. I've been searching for years for the 'temple mural theme' song that plays when you first see the "He who would steal the flame must die". The PC version wasn't as good as the macintosh version I remember playing as a kid.

[@phillbaska]

Just FYI the mobile google translate app lets you use your phones camera to live translate.

[@SimonWackerle]

Great work^^

[@erkascazuchi8443]

must be tiring to work as cleaning service and waiter in any palace in the game

Loving your videos! Will you talk about PS2 POP?

[@godking]

Mechner should have made a prince of persia 3 2d version in the same vein as pop 2. pop is still one of the most interesting and difficult games to play even today.

[@DavidXNewton]

I'd love that :) I wonder if we might still see one (even if it has to be under a different name, now that the Prince is tied up with Ubisoft) if he ever gets the itch to write another game independently...

[@wjr4700]

30:29 cracked me up

[@Emi19ish]

6 years later the 20:40 mark still makes me laugh my ass off

[@troyus111]

could never get past that first guy in the game at 7:16. So i couldnt play it :(

[@Veevek1000]

At 24:30 you said that the password is 'THQBV', but you typed 'TQHBV'. Anyways, great video like the first one.!!

[@Azfar90]

Those Medusas are actually goblins..

[@jonathanplooij3666]

thanks for the video

[@TheAxelay]

Interesting via the Sega Megadrive version?! I actually wanted to get that version to be honest but I remember that via a UK magazine called SEGA POWER claimed that they reviewed the game and gave it a really poor rating for now I find out an unfinished product?! I think it was a late 1996 early 1997 issue that I remember that had a preview on Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 on the Sega Megadrive/Genesis etc. Damn that Dean Mortlock(?!).

[@GerkIIDX]

I remember playing through PoP2 on the school's Macs and right upon reaching the ruins I'd always encounter a weird bug where the Prince would spontaneously lose 1 health every 30~60 seconds or so. Still to this day don't know what the deal was and no one else online seems to have had this experience. Anyone know what the heck happened?

[@ActionPackedJack]

DAMN IT I had that glitch too! Did he shout an "OW!" sound that you never heard anywhere else in the game, that incidentally scared the crap out of you? I didn't get that bug upon reaching the ruins though, and in fact never experienced it my first time through the game. It started happening sometime after I realized I could make the game's ending play by trying to load a save file from Wolfenstein 3D and messing with that a bunch of times. Though now that you mention it, I only remember it happening in ruins levels. Either way, it went away after I reinstalled the game.