Harem Adventures

[Norbert]

By the way, I feel that J2ME mobile games are seriously underrepresented on various game info, download, and emulation sites.

Maybe because, in addition to an emulator, Java is required and sometimes also brand-specific (Nokia, Siemens) classes.
And even then the game may crash or playing may be non-optimal.
Reminds me of the situation with PoP for Macintosh emulators.

[David]

I guess we need some Siemens-specific emulator.
I found this: http://www.siemens-club.ru/soft-emul.php and: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/syste ... 56845.html
I haven't tried them yet.

I could make it work with the emulators from here: http://www.siemens-club.ru/soft-emul.php
You need to install "SMTK Core Pack v. 2.00.3b" and then "S55 SMTK Emulator Pack".
It seems that these are official emulators by Siemens.

After installing, start the emulator with Start -> All Programs -> Siemens Mobility Toolkit 2.00.3b -> SMTK Emulator Launcher, or with the Emulator icon on the desktop.
Select Siemens S55 from the list, and click OK.
Then in the Commands window, double-click "Start Java Application" and open the JAR file.
From my archive, both "www.popuw.com_hass55" (color) and "www.popuw.com_harem103" (black and white) will work.
(The other JAR files will show an error message, but then we have other emulators for those.)

Beware: If you already started a JAR then you should not start another one without restarting the emulator first, because then the emulator will lock up and the game won't start.

Alternatively, you can pass the path to the JAR file in the command line to C:\siemens\SMTK\bin\Emulator.exe , but then it still asks you to select the model.
Or you can start pass the JAR file to C:\siemens\SMTK\emulators\S55\bin\Emulator.exe , but then the current directory must be C:\siemens\SMTK\bin\ , because a required DLL is there.

Screenshots:

www.popuw.com_harem103\PrinceOfPersiaHA.jar (black and white, for the C55)
The first level starts like this:

emul_C55_crop.png (1.5 KiB) Viewed 4253 times

Compare with the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEAPAitbs&t=945

video_C55_crop.jpg (13 KiB) Viewed 4253 times

It's identical, except the emulator has a somewhat taller screen.

www.popuw.com_hass55\Prince_S55.jar (color, for the S55)
The first level starts like this:

emul_S55_crop.png (4.56 KiB) Viewed 4253 times

It looks very much like the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nwl9ExWSr4

video_S55_crop.jpg (5.66 KiB) Viewed 4253 times

Although I think the video shows a later level.

[David]

I played through both the S55 and the C55 versions.


I figured out that the video about the S55 (color) version shows the last level. (It's in the description...)
I made a screenshot that matches the picture that I clipped from the video.

emul_S55_level_7b_crop.png (5.1 KiB) Viewed 4250 times

The levels of this S55 (color) version are very much like the levels of the version whose maps you posted here: viewtopic.php?p=24043#p24043
The biggest difference is that there are no loose floors. They are replaced with regular floors or empty space. Some traps are missing as well.

Other differences from the already known version:
* The spikes are bright blue. This reminds me of PoP1 for the Game Boy Color, where they are bright green. Maybe the goal of both is to make the spikes easy to see.
* If you fall two rows then you lose only one HP. BlueBarracudas mentioned that this kills the prince in the other version: viewtopic.php?p=24046#p24046
* It seems that there is no sound. The JAR does contain MIDI files, so this might be a problem with the emulator.



The C55 (black and white) version is very different from the other versions.
* The levels are completely different.
* It plays quite slowly in the emulator.
* The hit points appear in the top right corner.
* Just like in the S55 version, if you fall two rows then you lose only one HP.
* You can't walk through spikes, you must jump over them. If you even touch a spike, you die.
* There are no guards, and therefore you can't draw your sword.
* Potions seem to be rarer than in the other versions. (The first is on level 3.)
* Potions give full HP, if I recall correctly.
* The prince automatically drinks potions when he touches them.
* There are no extra HP potions. (Those that give you 5 HP.)
* There are no checkpoints.
* Some or all of the harem women at the end of the levels look different from the other versions.
* Either there are only 6 levels instead of 7, or I miscounted them. The JAR file contains 7 levels, so it's probably the latter.
* After the last level there is no real ending, you just get back to the title screen.
* I found a chandelier on one of the later levels.

level_5_chandelier.png (1.37 KiB) Viewed 4250 times

[Norbert]

* I found a chandelier on one of the later levels.
level_5_chandelier.png

Interesting.

[David]

I recently found a Siemens C55 brochure, which mentions PoP Harem Adventures:

Siemens_brochure.jpg (38.04 KiB) Viewed 3744 times

While I was searching if this brochure can be found online, I found something I didn't know: This game was pre-installed on Siemens C55 phones.

Pre-installed games Yes (2 - The Prince of Persia, Galaxy Hero)

Le jeu “Prince of Persia : Harem Adventures” sera pré-installé sur le nouveau téléphone Siemens C55.

‘Prince of Persia: Harem Adventures’, pre-installato sul nuovo Siemens C55.

The reviews also note that this is the first Java game with polyphonic sound.
How ironic is that the emulator didn't play any sound at all...

[GMP]

Seems like J2ME loader is able to play most of these versions just fine. The main inconvenience is that it's only for Android, but with Windows Subsystem for Android, I am able to play them just fine.