Prince of Persia

The original Prince of Persia

Jordan Mechner’s original Prince of Persia is a side-scrolling game about running, jumping and sword fighting. Its animation began with filmed human movement, giving the prince a particular sense of weight and commitment. Mechner first made it for the Apple II; PrinceJS follows the later MS-DOS version.

The appeal is in reading a room and executing the sequence it demands. A jump, a ledge grab and a sword exchange ask for different timing. It is a good fit for players who want a compact action puzzle rather than a platform game based only on constant forward speed.

Jordan Mechner · Prince of Persia · PrinceJS · controls, options and custom levels

A browser adaptation with adjustable starting conditions

PrinceJS rebuilds the game in HTML5 and JavaScript. It includes keyboard, controller and touch input, plus links to converted custom level sets. The normal level range is 1–14; custom sets use other numbered routes. Conversions do not support special events, so a custom level is not necessarily identical to its original release.

PrinceJS · controls, options and custom levels

Learn movement and sword actions together

Use the arrow keys for movement, jumping, climbing and combat positioning. Shift handles actions including grabbing an edge and striking with the sword; Up blocks in combat, and Down sheathes the weapon. On a phone, use landscape and the documented touch regions: dragging between regions lets you chain a running jump into a grab.

PrinceJS · controls, options and custom levels

Keep the URL to keep your starting state

The address stores the level, maximum health, remaining time and guard strength. Bookmark that address to retain those settings. It is a level-and-settings handoff, not a promise to preserve every mid-room movement. You can also edit these parameters deliberately; lower guard strength offers a gentler way to learn sword timing without changing the basic controls.

PrinceJS · controls, options and custom levels