Documentation (Prince of Persia 1 for SNES Regional Differences)

[David]

About the speed: The US version seems to be faster. I guess that's because the game's speed is synced to the framerate.

I figured out more about the game's speed and timing.

I found out that Snes9X has a frame-advance function.
On a US keyboard it's the "\" key. On other keyboards it's whatever key they have at the same place.

If you use this function while the prince is moving, you'll see that the prince moves in every fourth SNES frame.
So the game is indeed synced to the frame rate.
Which means that:
* In the NTSC (US/JP) versions, the prince is animated with 60/4=15 FPS.
* In the PAL (EU) versions, the prince is animated with 50/4=12,5 FPS.


The frame rate difference also has consquences regarding the countdown timer.
The elapsed time counter (found in RAM at 7E052D-7E052E) is increased in every eighth SNES frame, no matter what is the framerate.
But the timer display treats 1 minute as being 425 ticks.

In the US version:
1 minute = 60 seconds = 60*60=3600 SNES frames are 3600/8=450 PoP ticks.
Or the other way around: 1 PoP-minute takes 425 PoP ticks which is 425*8=3400 SNES frames which is 3400/60=56,66 real seconds.
So the 2 hours (120 minutes) that you get are 120*56,66=6799,2 real seconds or 6799,2/60=113,32 real minutes.

In the EU version:
1 minute = 60 seconds = 60*50=3000 SNES frames are 3000/8=375 PoP ticks.
Or the other way around: 1 PoP-minute takes 425 PoP ticks which is 425*8=3400 SNES frames which is 3400/50=68 real seconds.
So the 2 hours (120 minutes) that you get are 120*68=8160 real seconds or 8160/60=136 real minutes.

Time is relative indeed!


The frame rate difference also affects the synchronization of the intro animation and its music.
There is a part in the intro music when the music goes silent for a second.
This happens at different parts of the animation:
* US: When the hourglass appears.
* EU: When Jaffar enters the princess's room.
My guess is that the music plays with the same speed in both versions(*), but the animation uses different frame rates.

And then there is this:

The North American Super NES release was censored --- a scene found in the Japanese version's introduction sequence showing the hero being tortured is missing from the US version. As a result, the music loses sync with what is happening on-screen.

In the Japanese version, the aforementioned silence appears when the screen changes from the tortured Prince to Jaffar walking the corridors.
I suppose this is the correct timing?

(*) This is only approximately true.
Snes9X can show the current frame number when a movie is recorded or played. Press ".".
Using this, I measured the length of the music before the silence.
In the US version, the intro music starts at frame 710, and a noticeable sound before the silence is at frame 4648.
So this part lasts (4648-710)/60= 65,63 seconds.
In the EU version, these are at frame 678 and frame 3986.
This gives (3986-678)/50= 66,16 seconds.

[Norbert]

Late reply, but...

[...] the prince moves in every fourth SNES frame.
So the game is indeed synced to the frame rate.
Which means that:
* In the NTSC (US/JP) versions, the prince is animated with 60/4=15 FPS.
* In the PAL (EU) versions, the prince is animated with 50/4=12,5 FPS.
[...]
In the US version: [...] So the 2 hours (120 minutes) that you get are [...] 113,32 real minutes.
In the EU version: [...] So the 2 hours (120 minutes) that you get are [...] 136 real minutes.

That is interesting.
A substantial difference too; over 22 minutes.
Makes me wonder if maybe there have been speedrunners out there who didn't know this and used the EU version.

[Emiliano]

Hello, some time ago I asked the reason why there are three SNES versions for many games; Japan, USA and Europe but when I was playing with my SNES PoP Japan version In the game intro I watched a scene few player know, the guards hitting the Prince with some sticks, I think it makes them look more evil.
If you get the japanese version you can watch it too.
It is a gif, click on the picture.
What do you think about?
Do you think it was necessary to censore this scene?

[Amethyst]

I played the Japanese version before the European and US one so have seen the scene.

I don’t think it’s “too cruel” to justify being censored (I mean, is stabbing guards with a sword not considered cruel?) but what do I know?

Interestingly, the “green” guards torturing the prince aren’t very skilled when it comes to sword fighting — they don’t know how to block… It would have been better if the torture guard were unique (e.g. Blueface), giving the prince an opportunity to take revenge on him at the beginning of the tournament in Level 19.

I do consider having to kill Amazon to complete Level 6 cruel because I’m a gentleman!

[David]

[EDIT: Merged this thread into Regional Differences instead of just linking to it.]

I don’t think it’s “too cruel” to justify being censored (I mean, is stabbing guards with a sword not considered cruel?) but what do I know?

Perhaps they applied this rule:

Rule 3: “Nintendo will not approve games which … depict random, gratuitous, and/or excessive violence”
[...]
Essentially, violent acts had to be committed in a proper context against a proper opponent. Sword and knife play was allowed, but only against equally well-armed opponents.

Which means, the prince fighting with guards is allowed, because both of them have a sword.
But the guards beating the prince is not allowed, because he cannot defend himself (or run away).

(Yet, they had no problem with how the guards on level 1 can kill the prince with one hit, if he hasn't found the sword yet?...)

I do consider having to kill Amazon to complete Level 6 cruel because I’m a gentleman

There is a precedent for changing female opponents, but it wasn't done in PoP:

female enemy characters in violent games were even replaced by male substitutes, lest American gamers be subjected to the ultimate taboo of man-on-woman violence.