What happens when the titular Prince Of Persia is forced to navigate our reality? Naught but heartbreak, pain and isolation.
Created by Israeli filmmakers calling themselves “Karahat,” this clip transplants the protagonist from Jordan Mechner’s classic platformer Prince of Persia into what would be modern-day Persia, and as I alluded above the results are kinda depressing.
Not because the video’s Prince is unfaithful to his pixellated source material though. Actually, the actor portraying the Prince does a brilliant job of mimicking the character’s rotoscoped animation routines. Sadly, as much as they were impressive back in the 1989, they’re just jerky and awkward in 2012 — doubly so when contrasted against the fluid motion of people walking to work on a sunny day.
Actually, with that thought as a basis, this video makes an excellent metaphor for classic gaming as a whole. What was once seen as impressive is now clunky and obtuse, and only those with a special nostalgic eye can truly appreciate the value and history inherent in the pseudo-genre. The rest of the world scorns these relics; an unavoidable truth that’s perfectly embodied in the Prince being kicked in the groin while seeking affection through what most sane people would consider blatant sexual assault.
This Prince, as an avatar of all the games of his era, is simply not programmed to survive in our modern world, and much as the character in that video ends up locked away in jail, so too do the vast, vast majority of classic games end up stuffed in a drawer, or tucked into a closet somewhere.
The fact that he ends up sharing a cell with a certain famous plumber only supports my argument. How many copies of Super Mario Bros. do you imagine go unloved in the darkened crawlspaces of the world?
Many, my friends. Many.
Source: Kotaku
Published: Feb 17, 2012 08:48 pm