The Prince of Persia brand has become synonymous with parkour and time travel, but it wasn’t always so. Once upon a time it was a devious sprite-based platformer where the hero was limited to merely human abilities, but set against supernatural obstacles on a strict timer.

Beyond the bitter taste of reality, the game was also known and praised for its extraordinarily high animation standards, and it boasted hand-crafted sprites that were outright human in both proportions and motion. Prince of Persia set the gold standard for realism in video games for years and is still remembered as seminal for it.

It’s long been said that developer Jordan Mechner actually videotaped his little brother to model his sprite work, and that this was the reason the animation worked so well. For the curious, 1up has actually found a copy of this footage, so go take a look and be surprised when you instantly recognize a kid you’ve never seen in your life.

If you haven’t ever played the original, this is as good an excuse to check it out as any. Just remember that some guy hacked it all together with a video camera and a 1980s computer.

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Tags:   1up · history · motion capture · Prince of PersiaNo Comments

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