Mods with POP Bonus Levels from inferior ports?

[BlueBarracudas]

Hopefully this is the best place to post this. I've done of few searches and they haven't turned anything up, but I can't be the first person to have this idea.

Has anyone tried porting the bonus levels of the "inferior" ports of POP1 to one of the better ones, i.e. DOS or SNES?

From what I understand, if you've played through those two versions, what you've missed out on is:

• The Training level from the GameBoy Color port
• Levels 6, 7, 12, and 15 from the Mega Drive version (Europe only)
• The second/final battle with Jaffar outside the tower from the Japanese PC, Turbografx CD, and Sega CD versions
• The seven levels from the Java mobile phone game Prince of Persia: Harem Adventures, which isn't a "version" of POP1 but is still part of the pre-Sands of Time series and definitely has less-than-ideal controls

Did I miss anything? (I know there's also the Prince of Persia Special Edition Flash game with a new level and boss fight, but that one already has been turned into a mod)

I'd really like to check these out, but I'd rather not suffer through broken controls, physics, and other issues to do it. If they haven't been recreated already, would these even be feasible with current level editors? I know at least one Mega Drive level introduces a new potion that temporarily stops time - is this outside the scope of what a mod can do?

[David]

First of all, welcome to the forum!

Has anyone tried porting the bonus levels of the "inferior" ports of POP1 to one of the better ones, i.e. DOS or SNES?

There are some DOS mods that have levels converted from SNES. See here.
However, I see this is you are more interested in levels from other versions.

If they haven't been recreated already, would these even be feasible with current level editors?

Let's see them in order:

The Training level from the GameBoy Color port

I see two things that don't really work in the DOS version:
1. There is a checkpoint halfway, before the sword. (You could skip this, though.)
2. The prince exits through the same level door where he entered the level. In PoP DOS, you can open the door, but you can't exit through it.
A possible solution to both 1. and 2. is to divide the level into two, as the GBC port does. Kind of like how the original level 12 is done.

Levels 6, 7, 12, and 15 from the Mega Drive version (Europe only)
I know at least one Mega Drive level introduces a new potion that temporarily stops time - is this outside the scope of what a mod can do?

The Mega Drive version has some other new potions as well. See here: viewtopic.php?p=19925#p19925
These would be somewhat hard to add to PRINCE.EXE with hex-editing, especially the potion that stops time.
It would probably be easier to extend the free software clones of PoP, like SDLPoP or MININIM.

The second/final battle with Jaffar outside the tower from the Japanese PC, Turbografx CD, and Sega CD versions

(By "Japanese PC", do you mean the PC-98 and/or the FM Towns?)
It's possible to change the princess level to have Jaffar as guard type, with CusPoP or Apoplexy.
Then you can put Jaffar into a room on level 14. You can even put an empty room above that, to make the place look outside.
However, it's not really possible to make that part in DOS where Jaffar teleports himself and the prince outside.

The seven levels from the Java mobile phone game Prince of Persia: Harem Adventures, which isn't a "version" of POP1 but is still part of the pre-Sands of Time series and definitely has less-than-ideal controls

Well, that version is quite different from the PoP1 ports.
For example the levels are not divided into rooms, so the screen scrolls instead of switching rooms.
So you'd have to split the levels into rooms, but then I'm not sure how would this affect playability.
And then there are the checkpoints (which look like Aladdin's lamp). They don't exist in the DOS version, either.

Did I miss anything?

Level 3 is slightly different in the TurboGrafx version: viewtopic.php?p=19697#p19697
This is also in the PC-98 and FM Towns versions: viewtopic.php?p=20648#p20648
Those versions also have an extended demo level: viewtopic.php?p=19654#p19654

(I know there's also the Prince of Persia Special Edition Flash game with a new level and boss fight, but that one already has been turned into a mod)

Yes, here it is: https://www.popot.org/custom_levels.php?mod=0000061

[BlueBarracudas]

Thanks for your informative post, David! So I assume this means, as far as this community is concerned, this hasn't been attempted thus far?

The second/final battle with Jaffar outside the tower from the Japanese PC, Turbografx CD, and Sega CD versions

(By "Japanese PC", do you mean the PC-98 and/or the FM Towns?)
It's possible to change the princess level to have Jaffar as guard type, with CusPoP or Apoplexy.
Then you can put Jaffar into a room on level 14. You can even put an empty room above that, to make the place look outside.
However, it's not really possible to make that part in DOS where Jaffar teleports himself and the prince outside.

Could it be recreated in the SNES version, then? The final level is similar in that the Prince runs down a hall to the Princess, only to be interrupted by Jaffar and teleported to the final boss battle area. The SNES version already has a "outside bridge" area too. But I would want Jaffar's behavior to be more like what it is in the other ports, since his moveset and behavior were significantly changed in the SNES version. Is it possible to use Jaffar's sprite but give him the behavior of the fat guy/Politician or the Knight?
(And yes, by "Japanese PC" I was referring to those two computers.)

[Norbert]

The seven levels from the Java mobile phone game Prince of Persia: Harem Adventures, which isn't a "version" of POP1 but is still part of the pre-Sands of Time series and definitely has less-than-ideal controls

Well, that version is quite different from the PoP1 ports.
For example the levels are not divided into rooms, so the screen scrolls instead of switching rooms.
So you'd have to split the levels into rooms, but then I'm not sure how would this affect playability.
And then there are the checkpoints (which look like Aladdin's lamp). They don't exist in the DOS version, either.

Most Harem Adventures (HA) levels (maps downloadable here) are too large to fit in the DOS format, but these could be spread across multiple DOS levels. Level exit doors could replace the HA save points. HA has torches without floors, but these could be replaced by (more) wall shadows. The amount of time gates in HA stay open differs, with some staying open minutes. However, the latter shouldn't be a problem, because wherever this happens, guards can be used as deadweight to keep gates open. Guards are already in all such locations.

[BlueBarracudas]

The seven levels from the Java mobile phone game Prince of Persia: Harem Adventures, which isn't a "version" of POP1 but is still part of the pre-Sands of Time series and definitely has less-than-ideal controls

Well, that version is quite different from the PoP1 ports.
For example the levels are not divided into rooms, so the screen scrolls instead of switching rooms.
So you'd have to split the levels into rooms, but then I'm not sure how would this affect playability.
And then there are the checkpoints (which look like Aladdin's lamp). They don't exist in the DOS version, either.

Most Harem Adventures (HA) levels (maps downloadable here) are too large to fit in the DOS format, but these could be spread across multiple DOS levels. Level exit doors could replace the HA save points. HA has torches without floors, but these could be replaced by (more) wall shadows. The amount of time gates in HA stay open differs, with some staying open minutes. However, the latter shouldn't be a problem, because wherever this happens, guards can be used as deadweight to keep gates open. Guards are already in all such locations.

There are some other systemic differences, but I think they can be mostly ignored while keeping the spirit of the levels. Instead of big Life Extension potions, there are red potions that overfill your health to 5 points (two above what you start with and what regular potions can heal up to). You could argue for either replacing them with big potions or excising them entirely - it's not like having extra health changes the difficulty of the levels all that much. There's also the fact that there's no fall damage - any drop greater than one grid-length is an instant death. Ignoring this would make the levels a bit easier (and in a couple cases less annoying), but is it possible to modify fall damage with current tools?

Of course, to really keep the spirit of the game, you would need to figure out a way to import or redraw the cheesecake images of the Sultan's wives/daughters, and show them in between levels. There's a total of eight, if you really want to be a completionist about it. Of course, this is entirely unnecessary if all you care about is the gameplay.

[Norbert]

There's also the fact that there's no fall damage - any drop greater than one grid-length is an instant death.

This should be relatively easily fixable with a hex modification of the DOS version's executable.

[...], you would need to figure out a way to import or redraw the cheesecake images of the Sultan's wives/daughters, and show them in between levels.

These images are already available, as the mid_and_png/9/png/Harem* files in this ZIP.
And with PR they can be added to the DOS cut scene.
With CusPop, it's possible to show the cut scene only after the levels that 'really finish' the HA levels.
Of course, roughly speaking - animations aside - there's only a single cut scene in the DOS version.
Another path would be to use SDLPoP or MININIM and then create multiple cut scenes.