Prince of Persia - Original video shot for rotoscoping character animation

[DrumAnBass]

Interesting little tidbit of gaming history - Jordan Mechner filming his brother for the original Prince of Persia character animation, 1985:

[Ginsu Victim]

I love it when stuff like this turns up online. That's awesome!

[massive88]

He posted a long journal of his life during the creation of Prince of Persia that I found insanely interesting, even though I admittedly have never played through the original.

Little events pop up in the journal like, the NES release, the demise of the Apple IIe, and all sorts of other interesting things.  Seriously, I cant get enough of reading this.  In addition to the video linked above, the journal has original development sketches, some early animation work and other stuff.

http://jordanmechner.com/old-journals/

[ahofle]

That's awesome.  The first standing broad jump where his feet stumble a bit on landing looks exactly like the game!

[OverRide]

Wow. I'd read how the animation was done, but seeing this footage is freaky. Playing this as a kid it took me years before I could get past the first level.

[Ginsu Victim]

Wow. I'd read how the animation was done, but seeing this footage is freaky. Playing this as a kid it took me years before I could get past the first level.

I never could beat the first level.   

Me either. That game was HARD.

[Epyx]

Wow, that is awesome footage!

[Ryglore]

Wow. I'd read how the animation was done, but seeing this footage is freaky. Playing this as a kid it took me years before I could get past the first level.

I never could beat the first level.   

Me either. That game was HARD.

Same, though I am tempted to get the Xbox Live Arcade version and see how I do 20 years later. 

[protokatie]

I had heard about this, but seeing the vids is cool.

BTW I got all the way to the third level on my Amiga, but it was a cracked version that had no time limit. I could never see how anyone in their right mind could be able to complete the game in 60 minutes.