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Prince of Persia is a classic puzzle/platformer, ported to a dozen different systems and spawning several sequels. Originally released in 1989 for the Apple II by Jordan Mechner, ported out the wazoo by other people, and updated for the SNES in 1992 by Arsys Software, the game features an acrobatic Prince who must fight his way out of a dungeon within one hour (two hours for SNES) to save the Princess from the evil vizier Jaffar.

 

Timing note: The time is calculated by using the in-game time for levels one through nineteen, then manually timing the last level.

SNES individual-levels 0:35:25

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Level # Time Date Player
Level 1 0:00:27 2009-02-08 Benjamin 'UraniumAnchor' Cutler
Level 2 0:01:24 2010-06-17 Benjamin 'UraniumAnchor' Cutler
Level 3 0:01:39 2008-12-12 Benjamin 'UraniumAnchor' Cutler
Level 4 0:01:08 2010-06-10 Benjamin 'UraniumAnchor' Cutler
Level 5 0:01:48 2008-12-28 Benjamin 'UraniumAnchor' Cutler
Level 6 0:01:25 2008-12-28 Benjamin 'UraniumAnchor' Cutler
Level 7 0:01:38 2008-12-28 Benjamin 'UraniumAnchor' Cutler
Level 8 0:01:52 2008-12-28 Benjamin 'UraniumAnchor' Cutler
Level 9 0:01:11 2008-12-28 Benjamin 'UraniumAnchor' Cutler
Level 10 0:01:55 2009-01-10 Benjamin 'UraniumAnchor' Cutler
Level 11 0:01:19 2009-01-10 Benjamin 'UraniumAnchor' Cutler
Level 12 0:01:03 2009-01-11 Benjamin 'UraniumAnchor' Cutler
Level 13 0:03:07 2009-01-12 Benjamin 'UraniumAnchor' Cutler
Level 14 0:02:06 2009-01-13 Benjamin 'UraniumAnchor' Cutler
Level 15 0:02:38 2009-01-13 Benjamin 'UraniumAnchor' Cutler
Level 16 0:01:38 2009-01-14 Benjamin 'UraniumAnchor' Cutler
Level 17 0:00:57 2009-07-03 Benjamin 'UraniumAnchor' Cutler
Level 18 0:03:30 2009-01-15 Benjamin 'UraniumAnchor' Cutler
Level 19 0:03:39 2009-01-16 Benjamin 'UraniumAnchor' Cutler
Level 20 0:01:01 2009-01-16 Benjamin 'UraniumAnchor' Cutler

Author's comments:

I'd like to thank everybody at SDA who's submitted a run, and the guys who run the site. If not for you I'd never have taken the time to do this run. I'd especially like to thank Nate for helping me figure out how to get the best quality with my capture device that I used for levels 1 and 10-20. I'd also like to thank Gavin Ward (Sprint/SprintGod), whose TAS of this game I lifted most of my route and strategy from.
I picked the SNES version of this game for a few reasons:

In general, jumping everywhere instead of running is faster, but you have to make sure you have room for it. If you see me running instead of jumping, it's because there isn't enough room.

If you need to get down a ledge by turning around, it's faster to try to skate off the edge and grab it as you fall (first seen near the end of level 2), but the timing on this can be tricky.

Most damage taken in the run is intentional, either because avoiding it takes too long or it ends up being a damage boost. Level 13 and 17 are the two exceptions to this, 13 because it was a happy accident and ended up being a damage boost, and 17 because it doesn't slow you down so I didn't restart if the skulls hit me.

If you can pin an enemy up against the wall, you can continously stab them and kill them very quickly. I used this as often as I could against bosses, since they block far better than any regular guard.

Final Time: 35:25

SNES training individual-levels 0:03:03

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Level # Time Date Player
Training 1 0:00:26 2011-02-16 Benjamin 'UraniumAnchor' Cutler
Training 2 0:00:47 2011-02-16 Benjamin 'UraniumAnchor' Cutler
Training 3 0:00:29 2011-02-16 Benjamin 'UraniumAnchor' Cutler
Training 4 0:00:25 2011-02-16 Benjamin 'UraniumAnchor' Cutler
Training 5 0:00:56 2011-02-16 Benjamin 'UraniumAnchor' Cutler

Author's comments:

I've been meaning to do these for a while. At 2:30 in the morning on a school night, I decided to just go ahead and bang these out. An hour and fifteen minutes later I was finished. It wouldn't surprise me if the last stage could be improved with ridiculous guard manipulation but fuck that, leave that for the TAS people.

This is probably the silliest set of runs I'll do in the foreseeable future.

Level 1: My fingers hurt. :(

Level 2: This one actually took some effort. But not much.

Level 3: TP TP TP TP FWOO!

Level 4: ♫ I'm walking on snap traps, whooooaaaa! ♫

Level 5: Sorry, I'm too busy to fight you guys.

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