SDLPoP
Version: 1.18 Web: http://bit.ly/sdl-pop
“You’ll soon notice how gracefully the prince climbs and crouches”
This retro platformer is a modern SDL-based port of the legendary PrinceofPersia. The original game dates back to 1989; SDLPoP carefully recreates Princeof Persia from scratch (helped along by the disassembly of the old DOS game), and both are nearly identical in terms of gameplay.
PrinceofPersia featured realistic animations, which ensured the game stood out among other games from the late 80s. The secret lay in rotoscope technology, where fluid animation was constructed from single frames of video footage. This has been re-implemented in SDLPoP, and you’ll soon notice how gracefully the prince climbs up and crouches down during his dungeon adventures.
Another point to note is the game’s controls. If you didn’t play the old PrinceofPersia platformer, you may find it difficult to control the prince precisely. Pressing the left and right arrow keys without care will quickly lead to your protagonist falling from a large height to his death. To avoid this, hold down Shift and use the arrows keys to move ‘carefully’. The game starts in the palace’s dull grey and somewhat monotonous dungeons, and it takes some time for the prince to find a sword and later use it to fight enemy guards, the Grand Vizier himself and finally set free the imprisoned princess.
We’ve noticed that although the gameplay is limited due to the ancient hardware that PoP was designed to run on, it still features plenty of captivating moments when you can’t immediately find the right path. More than that, the intrigue keeps growing the further you advance through the game: there are more secrets, objects you can pick up and use, doors to open, more powerful enemies and so on.
You can save your progress by pressing the F6 key and resume from a saved point with the F9 key. This works even if you quit SDLPoP and return to your game later on.