Abandonware DOS title

Poko Memorial: 18 Hole Miniature Golf manual

   Prince of Persia

    Prince  of  Persia  is  a  quite nice action/adventure game which first
    appeared on the Apple II some months ago, and  got  rave  reveiws  from
    everyone  who  saw it.  It's got incredibly lifelike animation, and the
    IBM version also supports 256-color MCGA graphics, which look stunning.
    The music isn't half bad either, and it  supports  a  number  of  sound
    cards  as  well.   To  get it running on a hard drive, you just need to
    copy both disks into one directory, that'll work fine.   None  of  this
    install from floppy crap.

    Anyway,  your  object in Prince of Persia is to rescue the princess who
    is being held by your enemy, Jaffar.  To do this, all you've got to  do
    is  get  out of the dungeons in which you are being held.  The dungeons
    have a number of traps, and a few Persians  (ie:  Jaffar's  guards)  to
    prevent your escape, and you will fall prey to many of them.

    In  Prince  of  Persia,  you  do have hit points, and can die.  You are
    always resurrected, however, at the beginning of the level you died on,
    and you have unlimited lives.  It  can  be  frustrating  when  you  get
    pretty  far  and  manage  to  kill  yourself  by running off a ledge or
    something.  The only thing you CAN run out of is time - you've got only
    one hour to escape from the dungeon and rescue Ms. Princess.  Every  so
    often  a  message will appear saying how much time you've got left, and
    the space bar will also tell you.


    Movement
    ~~~~~~~~
    Although  you can play with a joystick, I find that keyboard control is
    a bit more responsive.  It may just be my joystick, however.  Play with
    it and  decide  which  you  prefer.   Control-K  switches  to  keyboard
    control.   I think Control-J will switch to your joystick and calibrate
    it.


    Movement  in  the  game  is  simple.  With a joystick, you just push in
    whichever direction you wish to move.  With the keyboard, you  use  the
    numeric keypad for movement.  The key layout is as follows:

                        7    8    9
                        4    5    6
         SHIFT               2

    Both  the  5  and  2 keys will move down.  4 and 6 are left/right, 8 is
    up.  7 and 9 are diagonal jumping keys,  and  the  SHIFT  key  is  your
    "action" button.

    Here are some of the moves you can do in Prince of Persia:

    Run
                  Push the stick/key  left  or  right  and  hold  it  down.
                  Release the stick/key to skid to a halt.

    Walk
                  Slowly  Hold  the  button  and  press  left/right to move
                  slowly in either direction.  Do this  to  move  up  on  a
                  ledge  cautiosly  to jump or drop down, or to make a leap
                  over a chasm.  Also useful when treading on spikes.

    Climb Up
                  Pushing straight up will cause  your  character  to  jump
                  up.   If  there is an overhanging ledge, he will catch on
                  and pull himself up if you continue to push up.

    Break Ceiling
                  If you jump and  the  ceiling  moves,  that  indicates  a
                  loose  stone.  Position  your  character  underneath  the
                  loose stone and jump up to try to dislodge  it.   If  you
                  do, be sure to get out of the way to avoid getting conked
                  on  the  head  and  loosing  a  hit  point. Once you have
                  dislodged a stone, you can pull yourself  up  to  another
                  section.

    Jump Sideways
                  Pushing  the stick/keypad in an upward diagonal direction
                  will cause you to attempt a jump to the  side.   This  is
                  essential  in  jumping over small chasms and holes in the
                  floor, and jumping over floor traps.

    Running Jump
                  If you are running and move to a diagonal position,  your
                  character  will  do  a running jump, which can cover more
                  area.  A running jump will take longer to stop,  however,
                  but it is neccessary often.

    Crouch
                  Pushing  down moves into a crouch position if you are not
                  near  any  ledges.   Crouching  also  moves  you  forward
                  slightly.

    Climb Down
                  To  climb  down  to  a  lower  section,  or to drop down,
                  simply position yourself at  the  edge  of  the  opening,
                  turn around (so your back is to the hole), and push down.
                  If  there  is  not a floor below you, you will hang for a
                  moment and drop.

    Grab Ledge
                  If you fall, and in this game you certainly  will  -  and
                  often,  you  can  attempt to grab onto a passing ledge as
                  you fall by.  To do this, simply hold down the button  as
                  you fall past, and you'll try to grab on.  You can either
                  hold the button for a moment and drop, thus breaking your
                  fall  (and  limiting  damage),  or  you  can  push up and
                  attempt to climb out.

    Get Item
                  When you are near an item, such as  a  potion  or  sword,
                  push the button to pick it up.

    Suicide
                  Sometimes  you'll  manage to get yourself into a position
                  where you can't escape.  Control-A will put  you  out  of
                  your misery.



    Combat
    ~~~~~~
    To win the game, you will need to fight.  Once you get a sword, you can
    start  killing some Persian guards.  As a fencer, I am dissappointed in
    the swordplay's lack of realism, but it DOES beat what most games do. I
    have  not  found  a  game  yet  which  meets  true  swordplay  in   any
    satisfactory  manner.   Anyway,  enough  of  my  diatribe.   Return the
    joystick to the center, or press the shift key on the  keyboard  (while
    not moving) to draw your sword...

    Advance
                  Use the direction keys to  advance  slowly  towards  your
                  opponent.

    Retreat
                  Use the direction keys to move away from the guard.

    Lunge
                  To  make  a  lunge (ie: attack), don't push any direction
                  keys, and hit the shift key/space bar.

    Parry
                  To parry a blow, hit the up direction key  or  push  your
                  joystick  up.   It's  a  good strategy to wait for him to
                  attack, parry the blow, and hit him with a riposte.

    Run Away
                  Push  down,  and  you'll   sheathe   your   blade.    You
                  automatically  put  it  away after killing someone, so be
                  careful not to do this in battle unless you want  to  run
                  for it.

    Notes
    ~~~~~
    A few things which you may find which afford further discussion include
    the following:


    Potions
                  Potions  come in two flavors, red and blue.  A red potion
                  will heal one hit point, and a blue one will hurt you.

    Swords
                  When you find the sword, grab  it.   You'll  need  it  to
                  fight.

    Floor Switch
                  A  raised floor stone is a switch which is activated when
                  you step on it.  These  usually  raise  a  portcullis  or
                  reset a trap.

    Floor Switch
                  A  floor  stone which is level with the other stones, but
                  has a dark depression  beneath  it  is  another  kind  of
                  switch.  These  usually  lower  a  portcullis or spring a
                  trap.  Often these should be jumped over.

    Loose Stones
                  When you jump, you may see some  of  the  stones  on  the
                  ceiling  or  floor rattle a little.  These are loose, and
                  can be broken to open new areas, or trap you.  Jumping up
                  underneath loose stones will cause them to crumble (avoid
                  being beneath them when they do) and running  over  loose
                  stones  will  cause them to collapse (don't stand on them
                  as they  crumble  -  they  don't  make  good  elevators).
                  Sometimes  you  may  need  to return over areas that have
                  loose  floor  stones,  so  use  your   judgement   before
                  collapsing them.

    Portcullis
                  A  portcullis  simply  keeps  you  from passing through a
                  doorway.  Hit a floor  switch  to  raise  one  of  these.
                  They  are  often  on  a  timer,  and you will need to hit
                  another  floor  switch  to  return  through  them.    The
                  switches  can  be up to a few rooms away.  There are also
                  sometimes other floor switches which will slam them shut.

    Drill
                  Some type of drill or  spear  or  something  which  falls
                  from  the  ceiling,  like  a  portcullis.  They, too, are
                  operated by floor switches.

    Spikes
                  There are often nice beds of spikes for you to  fall  on.
                  Don't  run  over  these  or fall on them, as they'll kill
                  you.

    There are also other traps and the like to find  and  kill.   Be  wary,
    and  remember  that time is counting down.  To jump across wide chasms,
    try to make a running jump, and keep your hand near the  action  button
    to try to catch a ledge if you miss.

    A couple other miscellaneous commands include:

    Escape        Pause the game.  Hit another key to resume.
    Space         Display your time left.
    Control G     Saves the game, if you're on the third level or above.
    Control L     Load a saved game from disk at title screen.
    Control A     Suicide.  Kill yourself.
    Control S     Toggle sound on/off.
    Control R     Restart the game.
    Control J/K   Toggle Keyboard/Joystick.
    Control Q     Quit to DOS.