From: chil@fraser.sfu.ca (Keith Lim)
Subject: Re: Prince of Persia High Scores
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1993 11:43:36 GMT

sang@mcnealy.sbi.com (Sang Yi) writes:

>I just finished PoP with 4 minutes 39 seconds to spare.

>I was wondering how other people have fared in finishing
>the game.

My best time is 1:41, but I started Level 1 with only 30 minutes, so that
should be taken as 31:41 minutes remaining. 

Yes, the game *can* be completed in less than half the time (i.e. less than
30 minutes.) As you might have guessed, I did it the hard way; put myself
through the test of fire, as it were. I deliberately allowed 30 minutes to
tick away on Level 1 while I (as the Prince) did absolutely nothing but just
stand there. I kept an eye on the clock while I (as myself) did other things;
as soon as it hit "30 minutes left", I saved the game, then started playing,
saving the game at every level.

Naturally, you have to not only know the shortest way through every level by
heart, but you must also have the timing for the various toothed doors down
pat. You have to be able to run or jump through any and all off the toothed
metal doors without any waiting time. Getting in sync with the doors to run
or jump through them without breaking stride may require some combination of
run/jump/pause; however, in many cases, you will find that if you just run
continuously, you'll get through the doors just fine--the game's apparently
been pre-"tuned" to let you do so.

Oh, and of course, there's no time for niceties like the "extra strength"
potions, nor even the "recover strength" potions. (The only possible
exception is the "extra strength" potion on level 4, which takes only a
few extra seconds to get, unlike those on other levels, which are in very
out-of-the-way places.) It goes without saying that any mistakes like
stepping on a "close gate" floor tile, or getting killed means that you
might as well start the level over by restoring a game. (Save game after
every level.) Getting killed isn't too difficult; you only have a strength
of 3 (maybe 4) potions throughout the game. Naturally, being good at
fighting is an asset.

Some shortcuts can also help to cut down your time. For example, you can
get through level 1 without getting your sword. (At level 2, you've
somehow magically acquired a sword anyway.) Similarly, pushing enemy guards
off ledges, into toothed doors, or avoiding fighting them altogether saves
time that would otherwise be spent fighting. Being able to switch positions
with a guard helps with the above.

Also, jumping is faster than running, so do running jumps as often as
possible. As I mentioned above, you should have the path through each level
memorised, so you should know the locations of spikes or "close gate" floor
tiles, and you can time you jumps so that you simply do a running jump over
them instead of a standing jump, or careful step (through spikes).

Anyway, I put it to any players of PoP that the game *can* be completed
in less than 30 minutes, and my own record of 1:41 (= 31:41), I offer as
the challenge to be beat. (BTW, I am quite *sick* of playing the game :),
so it's unlikely that I'll ever break my own record.)

                                                               _         __
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Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games