Interesting stuff on covers

[David]

Here you can find covers of various versions of PoP:
http://www.mobygames.com/game/prince-of ... /cover-art (PoP1)
http://www.mobygames.com/game/prince-of ... /cover-art (PoP2)
http://www.mobygames.com/game/prince-of ... /cover-art (Collection)
http://www.mobygames.com/game/prince-of ... /cover-art (CD Collection)

Many of them show screenshots, but sometimes they are not from the actual game:

http://www.mobygames.com/game/prince-of ... Id,313705/ (Apple II)
http://www.mobygames.com/game/prince-of ... verId,384/ (DOS)
The bottom screenshot shows a room that is not in the game.
I think this one was already mentioned.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/prince-of ... rId,46440/ (SEGA Master System)
All screenshots seem to be from rooms that are not in the game.
Event the exit door looks different!

The third image looks like the shadow's room from level 5 of the DOS version, but it's different in this version of the actual game. See map.
The last image looks like the first room of DOS level 5, but again it's different.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/prince-of ... Id,316490/ (SNES)
The bottom left image shows an existing room from level 9, but with a different (less repetitive) wall pattern. See map.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/prince-of ... Id,108788/ (TurboGrafx CD)
The second image is labeled "LEVEL 03", but I don't think it has such a room.
Think of it: There is no way you could get out of there!

http://www.mobygames.com/game/prince-of ... rId,34383/ (NES)
These seem to be existing rooms, but with different colors.
For example, the first one is from level 5. See map.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/prince-of ... Id,252931/ (PoP2)
The bottom part seems to show a shortened version of level 9. See map.


http://www.mobygames.com/game/prince-of ... Id,227485/ (CD Collection)
Did they accidentally swap the descriptions of PoP1 and PoP2?


And now, something completely different...
http://www.mobygames.com/game/prince-of ... Id,187799/ (Atari ST)
http://www.mobygames.com/game/prince-of ... rId,46206/ (Amiga)
The Vizier is a WHAT?

[Norbert]

Think of it: There is no way you could get out of there!

Unless maybe it has fake walls, then it could be like SNES' room 24 (23) of level 8.

Did they accidentally swap the descriptions of PoP1 and PoP2?

You are right.

The Vizier is a WHAT?

Heh, "sexually deviant" and he's about to "pounce on" the princess. Maybe they ran out of space for text; that they didn't want to decrease the font size or remove decorations. Although something like "[...] an evil man, is about to marry her against her will to take the throne." would have fit, if they'd moved some of the text to the next line. Nice find.

[Norbert]

Decided it was strange enough to tweet:

[Falcury]

Think of it: There is no way you could get out of there!

Unless maybe it has fake walls, then it could be like SNES' room 24 (23) of level 8.

Perhaps they created some extra rooms specifically designed to look good on promotional screenshots? Or maybe they didn't want to spoil the actual game too much?

Yeah, the last one is hilarious!

[Andrew]

The Vizier is a WHAT?

Great find, that's hilarious!



On second thought though, how does wanting to pounce on the Princess make the Vizier "sexually deviant"? Wouldn't that make the Prince "sexually deviant" too? After all, let's be honest, he's going to all this trouble so he can eventually get into her pants.

[David]

Or maybe they didn't want to spoil the actual game too much?

Maybe.
For example, if it showed the actual skeleton fight, then the player could recognize the room in advance, and the skeleton would not be a surprise.
However the SEGA Genesis cover does just that.

On second thought though, how does wanting to pounce on the Princess make the Vizier "sexually deviant"? Wouldn't that make the Prince "sexually deviant" too? After all, let's be honest, he's going to all this trouble so he can eventually get into her pants.

Maybe because the Vizier is so much older? (He could be her father, as they say. See also Mechner's notes about their ages.)
And maybe take a look at the NES cover.

----
Game Boy Color, European version:
Look at languages on the cover.
Compare it with the the language selection screen.
We lost Nederlands but got Español instead.
I think the last sentence warns about exactly this.

[Kaslghnoon]

Maybe because the Vizier is so much older? (He could be her father, as they say.

"He could be her father" is a Western idea and has been a non-issue in the Middle East (ie: Ancient Persia). However, marrying a girl against her will has always been nefarious regardless of age difference.

[Norbert]

Maybe because the Vizier is so much older? (He could be her father, as they say.

"He could be her father" is a Western idea and has been a non-issue in the Middle East (ie: Ancient Persia). However, marrying a girl against her will has always been nefarious regardless of age difference.

Given that first sentence, I think where you write "has always been" you mean "has always been considered", and where you write "nefarious" you basically mean "an issue", because you compare it with the "non-issue" in certain cultures/times/regions in the previous sentence.

(Using info from Wikipedia.) Your assumption does not seem to be entirely correct. Most notably, in certain societies, women's rights have been ignored or suppressed. Women haven't always had bodily integrity and autonomy, nor marital rights. An example is ancient Athens, where women had no legal personhood: until marriage they were under the guardianship of their father or other male relative, once married under that of the husband. Also, slavery has been normal in various parts of the world, which included forced marriage by proxy. I also think that before the Qur'an, women were no legal party to the marriage contract, and Arabian pre-Islamic law (and orthodox Shari'a; Hanafi school of Sharia Law) allow(ed) forced/non-consensual marriage in certain circumstances (by the father or paternal grandfather). Also, the line between arranged and forced marriage is often difficult to draw, because of implied familial and social pressure (think of, for example, non-fully-informed choices by children in child marriages). Forced marriage has been accepted as a way to increase population (Khmer Rouge regime) and to integrate captives (slaves, prisoners) with host communities. I'm guessing that either bride kidnapping or "raptio" was probably also a common practice since anthropological antiquity. Then there's "vani", a cultural custom wherein women are forcibly married as part of punishment for a crime committed by her male relatives. Forced marriage is probably still being practiced in some cultures, like in parts of South Asia and Africa.

[Andrew]

Maybe because the Vizier is so much older? ... See also Mechner's notes about their ages.

Regarding the first point, a May-December relationship/marriage is considered unconventional (leading to terms like "robbing the cradle"), although not equally so in all societies. There's also the question of the time period the game is set in. As per DSM-5 I would say the problem lies not so much in the age difference per se as in the fact that the sexual deviancy or paraphilia involves the Princess as a non-consequal partner for the Vizier. The Princess' age in itself does not classify this as a case of pedophilia or even hebephilia, and the DSM-5 doesn't classify ephebophilia as a paraphilic disorder.

Ok, I'm done psychoanalyzing the Vizier.

[Kaslghnoon]

Norbert, I believe your argument is that if the Sultan had pre-approved of the Vizier to marry his daughter, then the only villain in the story would have been the kid. I agree with that argument.

My original statement should have read as: ...making advances on a girl against her family's will had always been considered an issue regardless of age difference.

There are a few corny dialogues in sound tracks 13 and 14 of the Sega CD port which contain the following lines:

Vizier: Sweet princess, how are you feeling?
Princess: ...
Vizier: How do you feel about my proposition? You will marry me, yes?
Princess: Never. Who would want to marry you?
Vizier: I shall ascend to the throne of this kingdom. Your destiny is by my side.
Princess: Father will never approve of that.
Vizier: Your father has no place here anymore. I shall rule...
Vizier: Come to me...
Princess: Don't touch me.

[David]

On second thought though, how does wanting to pounce on the Princess make the Vizier "sexually deviant"?

I have re-read the sentence from the cover.

The Grand Vizier, an evil and sexually deviant man, is about to pounce on her.

Note that it does not say "because" or "therefore".

Decided it was strange enough to tweet:

Maybe it could have a link? Either to here or to the original image.

By the way, I found this: https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comment ... viant_man/
Click on the small image and wait for the animation...

[Andrew]

Ah, that explains it! Embedding the hilarious animation here directly:

[David]

One of your earlier sentences fits here nicely:

Do some people really think he's going through all those trials because he likes Jaffar instead of the Princess?

[Andrew]

One of your earlier sentences fits here nicely

That was written in another context but is apropos indeed.

[David]

http://i.imgur.com/fN03twK.jpg

I just realized that Jaffar wears just as much pink as the princess...
But only in the DOS (and the Amiga) version.