Pre-release screenshots in magazines

[David]

(I moved these posts into a new thread.)

[Shauing]

The background seems to be exp0/81.bmp from snes_graphics.zip.

Aha! That solves that graphic mystery. I was wondering where it was used in the final game (personally thought it was somewhere in Level 19) but it looks like it was a background for an early iteration of the title screen. Nice to see more pre-release stuff of SNES Prince of Persia!

[Adolf]

One early screenshot was found in the French magazine Joystick 07-08/1991. The game was apparently shown at CES 1991 which took place on 01/06/1991. And this is a year before the release in Japan which was released on 03/07/1992, in the rest of the world the game was released on 01/11/1992.





https://archive.org/details/joystick018 ... 6/mode/1up

[David]

I have OCRed the text:

P.S.: Broderbund prépare une conversion de Prince of Persia sur la Super Famicom. Le jeu n'était pas assez avancé pour être présenté durant le CES, mais nous avons réussi à mettre la main sur les premières photos des décors qui semblent très prometteurs.

Translation:

P.S.: Broderbund is preparing a conversion of Prince of Persia on the Super Famicom. The game was not advanced enough to be presented during CES, but we managed to get our hands on the first photos of the settings which look very promising.

[Adolf]

Perhaps we can find even earlier screenshots in magazines covering CES 1991 and 1992.

[Adolf]

More screenshots were found in the Japanese magazine Famitsu 154 1991-11-29, there was no censorship and there were other differences

https://archive.org/details/famitsu-015 ... 5/mode/1up

[Adolf]

Famitsu 179 1992-05-22

https://archive.org/details/famitsu-017 ... 8/mode/1up




HD (4920x6081)

Spoiler: show

The magazine Famitsu 183 1992-06-19 also published a walkthrough
https://archive.org/details/famitsu-018 ... 2/mode/1up

[David]

It took me some hours to OCR and translate the articles from Famitsu 154 and 179.

Famitsu 154 and 179.zip

(14.94 KiB) Downloaded 109 times

Of interest is this sentence from the first page of the Famitsu 179 article, found under the screenshot of the six-armed boss:

上の写真の敵なんか、レイ・ハリー・ハウゼンのファンが狂喜しちゃいそうな動きをする。

The enemy in the photo above has movements that would make Ray Harryhausen fans go wild.

Ray Harryhausen was a writer of the film The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, from which a scene inspired said six-armed boss.

[Shauing]

One early screenshot was found in the French magazine Joystick 07-08/1991. The game was apparently shown at CES 1991 which took place on 01/06/1991. And this is a year before the release in Japan which was released on 03/07/1992, in the rest of the world the game was released on 01/11/1992.

That's a very nice find of very early screenshots of PoP SNES! I wonder how long the development for this port was and when did it start, given that by CES 1991, they couldn't showcase it except for some images (according to what David translated).
But even from this early screenshot, it seems that the six-armed boss (or at least the boss room) was already in place, so it well could mean that this port was always gonna be an expanded one (despite the January '92 screenshots showcasing what it looks to be the original level layout for Levels 1 and 5 (1 and 7 in PoP SNES).
Even by November 1991(as showcased in the Famitsu 154 screenshots) there are early versions of SNES Level 10 and what looks like SNES Level 4 (that room is almost a match to the starting room, but here it seems to be the exit judging by the open door)(also all the foreground and background graphics in both levels are different).

[Adolf]

Consoles Plus 04.1992 (French)

[David]

Consoles Plus 04.1992 (French)

I have OCRed the text:

Spoiler: show

Reportage

LE JAPON EN DIRECT

PRINCE OF PERSIA

SUPER FAMICOM

O rage! ô désespoir! ô programmeurs ennemis! N'ai-je donc tant attendu que pour cette infamie! En effet, à l'annonce du développement de Prince of Persia sur Super Famicom, tous les espoirs étaient permis et les cœurs des milliers de fanas de ce jeu se sont mis à battre! Puis, les premiers problèmes sont apparus. La préversion que m'avait montrée Broderbund était catastrophique. La version Apple II transcodée sur SFC! Le développement a alors été confié à une autre société américaine et de nouveau, l'espoir, tel le Phenix, renaquit. Hélas! trois fois hélas! ils ont bousillé le jeu!

Les graphismes sont splendides et exploitent toutes les capacités de la machine. De même, l'environnement sonore est excellent. L'animation est fluide et très détaillée. "Qu'est-ce qui cloche?", me demanderez-vous. La maniabilité, mon bon, la maniabilité! Elle est... comment pourrais-je la caractériser sans me faire censurer par la rédaction? Elle est... définitivement nullissime. Pour s'arrêter, votre prince met dix minutes. Il doit d'abord terminer sa course, puis se retourner! Lorsqu'il saute, impossible de contrôler de façon fiable son point de chute, etc. Bref, c'est beau, c'est grand mais ce n'est pas amusant car le sprite refuse obstinément d'exécuter vos volontés! Frustrant...

Les décors ont été particulièrement soignés.

Ces lampes magiques restaureront vos forces.

Votre belle, prisonnière d'un sorcier félon, attend que vous voliez à son secours!

Tous les niveaux du château sont bourrés de pièges mortels!

Translation by Google:

Spoiler: show

Reporting

JAPAN LIVE

PRINCE OF PERSIA

SUPER FAMICOM

Thunderstorm! oh despair! O enemy programmers! Did I only wait so long for this infamy! Indeed, when the development of Prince of Persia on Super Famicom was announced, all hopes were high and the hearts of thousands of fans of this game began to beat! Then the first problems appeared. The preview that Broderbund showed me was catastrophic. The Apple II version transcoded on SFC! Development was then entrusted to another American company and once again, hope, like the Phoenix, was reborn. Alas! three times alas! They ruined the game!

The graphics are splendid and exploit all the capabilities of the machine. Likewise, the sound environment is excellent. The animation is fluid and very detailed. “What’s wrong?” you might ask. Handling, my good, handling! She is... how could I characterize her without being censored by the editorial staff? She's...definitely rubbish. It takes your prince ten minutes to stop. He must first finish his run, then turn around! When it jumps, it's impossible to reliably control where it falls, etc. In short, it's beautiful, it's big but it's not fun because the sprite stubbornly refuses to carry out your wishes! Frustrating...

The decorations were particularly careful.

These magic lamps will restore your strength.

Your beauty, prisoner of a treacherous sorcerer, is waiting for you to come to her aid!

All castle levels are full of deadly traps!

Their main point seems to be how the prince is hard to control because he has "weight".
This is a frequent complaint in reviews of PoP, but that's how the game was intended.
I'm not sure what they want to say about the Apple II version, though. Did they like it better?
EDIT: Or are they saying that the Apple II version was just like the SNES version, and they liked some other version (DOS?) better?

Also, they call the potion a "magic lamp"?

[David]

I just realized this:
In both Famitsu 154 and Consoles Plus 04.1992, PoP shares the page with the same game, Ultima VI.

[realXCV]

I'm not sure what they want to say about the Apple II version, though. Did they like it better?
EDIT: Or are they saying that the Apple II version was just like the SNES version, and they liked some other version (DOS?) better?

From what I understand, they didn't like first preview they've seen because it was based on the Apple II version.

And they didn't like the final version which I'm quite sure is also based on the Apple II version.

[Shauing]

From what I understand, they didn't like first preview they've seen because it was based on the Apple II version.

And they didn't like the final version which I'm quite sure is also based on the Apple II version.

Certainly SNES PoP is closer to the physics and feeling to the original Apple II and not the DOS port, and maybe up to the coding because seemingly they used the original Apple II source code (as noted by David in his disassembly notes about the SNES port) and there are also some Prince graphics that were ported from the Apple II to here and were left untouched (AKA, with the original Apple II design and palette).

[realXCV]

Mainly the coding. Some parts of the SNES port disassembly are way too similar to the Apple source code to be a simple coincidence. It also makes sense as the Ricoh 5A22 CPU on the SNES is based on the 65C816 which itself is an evolution of the 6502 used by the Apple II.