Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame

From Sega Retro

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Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Psygnosis, Titus
Developer: Brøderbund Software
Sega Mega Drive
Microïds
Planned release date(s): 1996-08[1], 1996-09[2], 1996-11[3]
State before cancellation: Late in development
Status of prototype(s): Prototype dumped

Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame is the sequel to the 1989 game Prince of Persia. It was released for the IBM PC in 1993, with ports to Apple Macintosh in 1994, Japanese home computers in 1995 and the Super NES in 1996. The sequel is more action-based than the original, with less emphasis on dungeon mazes and puzzle solving.

A port to the Sega Mega Drive was planned for a 1996 release, but ultimately cancelled. Development of this port was handled by Microïds, and the game was produced and set to be published at first by Psygnosis, and then by Titus, which managed to release their self-developed SNES version in late 1996 (coincidentially, this version was also produced by Psygnosis). The series wouldn't return to Sega consoles until the release of Prince of Persia: Arabian Nights.

Prototype

A mostly finished prototype, with a 1995-02-20 build date, has been dumped and released[4]. This version of Prince of Persia 2 is relatively faithful to the original IBM PC, although is not entirely optimised for the system and cannot be completed through normal means.

Audio only plays through the left speaker, and does not take full advantage of the hardware. There are a number of layout changes and graphical differences (as well as a different-coloured HUD) alongside simplified cutscenes and an ever-present "minutes remaining" counter, despite the game only requiring it mid-way through the adventure.

Despite its unfinished state, the prototype is said to compare favourably to the released Super NES port, which makes significantly more changes and is generally less responsive than all other versions. Curiously the opposite is true of the first Prince of Persia game, where it is the Mega Drive version that is less controllable.

Magazine articles

Main article: Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame/Magazine articles.
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
{{{{{icon}}}|L}} Division by zero.
Based on
0 review
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
Computer & Video Games (UK)
25
[5]
Mean Machines Sega (UK)
75
[1]
Sega Power (UK)
27
[6]
Sega Mega Drive
42
Based on
3 reviews

Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame


ROM dump status

System Hash Size Build Date Source Comments
Sega Mega Drive
CRC32
MD5
SHA-1 ba63dc1e521bee68b4121b626061ebb203ac63c6
2MB 1995-02-20 Download.svg (1.1 MB) (info) Page

References

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Prince of Persia games for Sega systems
Sega Master System
Prince of Persia (1992)
Sega Game Gear
Prince of Persia (1992)
Sega Mega-CD
Prince of Persia (1992)
Sega Mega Drive
Prince of Persia (1993) | Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame (Cancelled)
Sega Dreamcast
Prince of Persia: Arabian Nights (2000)