History VideoGame / PrinceOfPersia1

* NoobBridge: See the BossInMookClothing example for a combat example. For platforming examples, the early levels especially introduce elements that require learning particular mechanics to overcome.

* NoobBridge: See the BossInMookClothing example for a combat example. For a platforming example, on the way back from getting the sword in Level 1, you must climb up onto the pressure plate, ''walk'' to the edge and then do a standing jump across, instead of a running jump like in most other cases.

* NothingIsScarier: If the time runs out in the original version, the final cutscene is of the empty room where Princess was imprisoned. Did she die? Was she forced to marry Jaffar? It's never revealed.

* AWinnerIsYou: Inverted. Run out of time in the Game Boy, NES, or Genesis versions, and you're treated to a wall of text detailing your failure. While the Game Boy and NES detail the Prince hoping for another chance and readying himself for a rematch, the Genesis version details the Princess having no choice but to marry Jaffar, and Persia falling into an age of fear and tyrrany.

* ItsAWonderfulFailure: The GameOver screen in at least one version of the game (most notably the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis port) describes what happens when you run out of time, complete with depressing music:
-->''Final hope destroyed, the Princess has no choice but to submit to the Vizier. Jaffar takes the crown, and Persia is plunged into an age of tyranny and fear.''

* ControllableHelplessness: The SNES version has a particularly cruel example. If you run out of time, then the game doesn't end immediately. In fact, you can still complete levels and respawn after death as normal. But not only is Jaffar absent from the final level, but upon reaching the Princess' room, which would normally end the game in triumph, her room will be empty, and the player will be met with a game over. Time could run out very early in the game, but no matter how many levels the player completes from then on, or how many times they die, the game ends in failure either way.

* NothingIsScarier: if the time runs out in the original version, the final cutscene is of the empty room where Princess was imprisoned. Did she die? Was she forced to marry Jaffar? It's never revealed.

%%* PressurePlate

Originally created by Jordan Mechner for the UsefulNotes/{{Apple II}}e and released by Creator/BroderbundSoftware in 1989, it was ported to more systems than any ''Prince of Persia'' game since. Versions of the game were released for just about anything that was Turing-complete, including the UsefulNotes/AtariST, UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}}, UsefulNotes/AmstradCPC, Sam Coupé, UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer, UsefulNotes/PC98, UsefulNotes/SharpX68000, UsefulNotes/FMTowns, UsefulNotes/AppleMacintosh, UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem, UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem, UsefulNotes/SegaMasterSystem, UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis, UsefulNotes/SegaCD, UsefulNotes/TurboGrafxCD, UsefulNotes/GameBoy, UsefulNotes/GameGear and UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor. This is not counting the unofficial ports to the UsefulNotes/ZXSpectrum and UsefulNotes/{{Commodore 64}}, the VideoGameRemake ''Prince of Persia Classic'', or the numerous appearances of the game as an EmbeddedPrecursor in later ''Prince of Persia'' games.

* EnemyWithout: When the Prince must bypass a magic mirror by jumping through it, a LivingShadow version of himself emerges from the other side of it and proceeds causing you mischief for the rest of the game. [[spoiler:It can be defeated only by [[SheatheYourSword putting away your weapon]] and re-emerging with it.]]

* FatBastard: Level six has [[UniqueEnemy one enemy]] who is this. He becomes a proper bossfight in the SNES version.

* Knockback: Any hits on the player and the enemies result in some them being knocked back. This makes it easier to defeat enemies by pushing them over ledge.

The first ''Franchise/PrinceOfPersia'' game follows the story of an [[EvilChancellor evil vizier]] who, in the absence of the sultan, threatens to kill the princess within an hour unless she agrees to marry him. The princess's one true love, the eponymous Prince, has been thrown into the dungeons, and must run, jump, climb and fight his way through a series of passageways filled with [[DeathCourse traps]], guards and other surprises to [[SaveThePrincess rescue the princess]] [[RaceAgainstTheClock all the while the minutes tick by at the bottom of the screen]].

The first ''Franchise/PrinceOfPersia'' game follows the story of an [[EvilChancellor evil vizier]] who, in the absence of the sultan, threatens to kill the princess within an hour unless she agrees to marry him. The princess's one true love, the eponymous Prince, has been thrown into the dungeons, and must run, jump, climb and fight his way through a series of passageways filled with [[DeathCourse traps]], guards and other surprises, [[RaceAgainstTheClock while the minutes tick by at the bottom of the screen]].

* GiantMook: The fat guard from Level 6 since he's noticeably thicker and only somewhat tougher than the regular guards.

&&** Level 12 is contiguous with Level 13.

The first ''Franchise/PrinceOfPersia'' game follows the story of an [[EvilChancellor evil vizier]] who, in the absence of the sultan, threatens to kill the princess within an hour unless she agrees to marry him. The princess's one true love, the eponymous Prince, has been thrown into the dungeons, and must run, jump, climb and fight his way through a series of passageways filled with [[DeathCourse traps]], guards and other surprises, while the minutes tick by at the bottom of the screen.

* LeapOfFaith: The game required quite a few, most notably early in level 3 and at the end of level 7 (where you have to guess that the strange-coloured potion you just found would cause you to float down what would otherwise be a fatal drop, rather than just being a poison potion). Not to mention the infamous part in level 12 where you have to [[spoiler:run out over an empty abyss, revealing invisible tiles that appear under your feet]].

* PoisonMushroom: The healing potions that restore one unit of your LifeMeter look nearly identical to the poison potions that take off one unit instead. The SNES version also has two large potions placed together, one of which will kill you instantly instead of increasing your life.
&&* PressurePlate

* MirrorMatch: You have to face a literal mirror copy of yourself, released from a magic mirror you had leaped through earlier. He shares your health bar, mirrors every attack identically. The only way to defeat him is to [[spoiler:sheathe your sword]].

* {{Acrofatic}}: The fat guard in the sixth level (possibly the Captain of the Guard) is an incredibly skilled swordfighter and the hardest opponent you'll face until you face Jaffar himself.

* FatBastard: Level six has [[UniqueEnemy one enemy]] who is this.

''Locked in her room high in the palace tower, the Princess rests all her hopes on you. For when the last sands drain from the hourglass, her choice can bring only a throne for the Grand Vizier...a new reign of terror for his long-suffering subjeects...and death for the brave youth who might have been...''\\

* BeardOfEvil: Jaffar, the [[EvilChancellor evil vizier]], has a beard.

* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: The saw-toothed traps will slice the Prince in half if he's not careful, resulting in his death.

** The Princess is also barefoot in some versions; she's sequestrated in her bedroom.

* NoobBridge: See the BossInMookClothing example.

* TimedMission: You have unlimited continues, but you have only an hour to save the princess. Two in the SNES version.