Skip to main content

Ubisoft goes back in time again with a remake of ‘Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame’

Prince of Persia
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Ubisoft is loving the 1990s these days. Between its upcoming downloadable spinoff Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, what with its abundance of neon lasers and cyborg sharks, and its backing Paul Cuisset’s remake of Flashback, the French publisher is positively glowing with Clinton-era warmth. In reporting on that Flashback remake, I lamented the fact that Ubisoft has stepped away from the Prince of Persia series in recent years. I spoke too soon. Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner and Ubisoft are teaming up for a remastered version of Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame for smartphones and tablets. 

“The mobile Prince of Persia: The Shadow and the Flame will feature updated graphics, sound, and touch controls in the spirit of Prince of Persia Classic, rather than a direct port of the original like 2010’s Prince of Persia Retro,” wrote Mechner, “For myself, I’m looking forward to trying to beat the game again, twenty years later.” 

Recommended Videos

For those that may not remember, Prince of Persia Classic was the HD remake of Mechner’s 1989 original that overhauled the game with polygonal graphics, using the version of the prince that first appeared in 2003’s classic Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.

While it’s nice to see The Shadow and the Flame get a new audience, Ubisoft is giving it the polygonal overhaul may prove to be a missed oportunity. Unlike the original rotoscoped Prince of Persia, whose groundbreaking visuals were nonetheless pretty bland, its sequel was one of the most vibrantly colored early ‘90s PC games. Making a two-dimensional cartoon style remake of The Shadow and the Flame wouldn’t be too much of a trial for Ubisoft either as the company already owns a spectacular engine for hand drawn 2D games. The Ubi-art Framework, used to make Rayman Legends and Rayman Origins, is a perfect match for the series.

At least the original version of Prince of Persia 2 is still readily available.

As for a modern 3D version on the horizon, Ubisoft said in January that it’s taking time off from the Prince. “Brand management is a tricky thing,” said Ubisoft Montreal CEO Yannis Mallat, “It needs people’s attention a lot. I think it is fair to say that, right now, Prince of Persia is being paused.”

Anthony John Agnello
Anthony John Agnello is a writer living in New York. He works as the Community Manager of Joystiq.com and his writing has…
Topics
Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner spills details on the series’ two lost games
An illustration from Replay shows a princess next to an hourglass.

Jordan Mechner can’t stop looking backward -- and that’s not entirely by choice.

The Prince of Persia creator has found himself at the center of an accidental renaissance in the past year thanks to three separate projects lining up at once, some of which he had no hand in. First came Digital Eclipse’s The Making of Karateka, a playable documentary about Mechner’s first hit Apple II game that paved the way for Prince of Persia. That project was followed by Ubisoft’s Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown this January, a new installment to the series that pays homage to Mechner’s original 2D games. That past-facing stretch now caps off with Replay: Memoir of an Uprooted Family, a new graphic novel by Mechner that looks back on both his career and family history.

Read more
The best Prince of Persia games, ranked
The immortals in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

There are few game series still going today that have a history that goes back as far as the Prince of Persia series (outside of Nintendo, that is). Starting in 1989, the series has had many ups and downs in terms of popularity as the games have taken on new forms and styles. It has even gone dormant for multiple years at a time. Here' we'll turn back the sands of time to review the series as a whole and determine which Prince of Persia games are the best and which are better left in the past.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

Read more
You can thank Photo Modes for Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown’s best feature
Sargon leaping with his blades and with blue streaks behind him.

So, you’ve unlocked a new ability in a Metroidvania. You know that it could help you get to a previously inaccessible area, but you don’t quite remember exactly where that area was on the game’s expansive map. It’s a common feeling when playing the genre and an issue that games have been trying to solve for years. That frustration is what inspired the creation of the Memory Shards system in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, which provided a salve to this problem by enabling players to pin screenshots of certain obstacles on their map.

At any time while walking around Mount Qaf, players can press down on the D-pad to leave behind a Memory Shard that pins a screenshot to the map. Later, after gaining a new ability or just increasing or mastering a platforming skill, Memory Shards quickly remind players where they can use the skill they just learned. There is a finite number of Memory Shards that players can pin, but more can be found via exploration. It’s the kind of engaging Ouroboros-style game design that provides a sturdy backbone to an engrossing Metroidvania.

Read more