Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame is a 1993 platformer game developed and published by Brøderbund Software. It is a direct sequel to the 1989 game, Prince of Persia. The game was originally released for MS-DOS, was ported to Mac and FM Towns in 1994. In 1996, Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame also came out on the SNES. In 2013, iOS and Android received updated versions of the game that went by Prince of Persia: The Shadow and the Flame. It just dropped the “2” from the title for the 2013 release.
Now, the DOS version of Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame is completely free to play on retrogames.cz. For anyone interested in playing this classic game from the comfort of their personal computer, please follow this link. There are other places to play and even download the game, but retrogames.cz allows players to experience the game right on their browser with no downloads necessary.
Prince of Persia 2 was released for fewer consoles and systems than the original game, but it still sold well. For the time, the sequel was considered a commercial success. At the time of release, reviews and critics claimed that the game was a step up from the original, as it improved on a lot of where Prince of Persia faltered. Many players praised the game for being the right level of challenging and some even claimed it was the best platforming game they’ve ever played. Today, reception to the classic game is still pretty high. My Abandonware rates Prince of Persia 2 a 4.5 out of 5 and Classic Games Online rates it a respectable 3.8 out of 5.
Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame Premise
As the name suggests, Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame is a direct sequel to Prince of Persia (1989). It is also the second game in the original Prince of Persia trilogy. The game starts 11 days after the conclusion of the original. The Prince defeats the evil sorcerer, Jaffar, and Persia celebrates his grand acts of heroism. Persia wants to lavish the Prince with jewels and riches beyond his wildest belief, but the Prince doesn’t want any of that. Instead, he wants to marry the Sultan of Persia’s daughter. Although the Sultan is displeased with this arrangement, he agrees to the wedding. The game opens with the Prince entering the palace and he’s on his way to speak with the Sultan’s daughter. Just before he enters the royal courts, his appearance shifts, going from handsome prince to rundown beggar.
At the same time, a man who looks exactly like the Prince appears to claim the Prince’s spot. This man is Jaffar in disguise, using his magic to make himself look like the Prince and the Prince to look like a street urchin. Jaffar orders the guards to throw the Prince out, leaving the Prince with no choice but to run. The Prince eventually finds himself on a ship to escape Persia, but the ship is struck by magical lightning sent by Jaffar. The Prince drifts ashore and finds himself trapped in a place he does not recognize. This foreign land seems to be alive with magic. The Prince comes across reanimated skeletons that attack him and even a magic carpet that helps him escape.
While the Prince is exiled, Jaffar continues to use the Prince’s visage to pull strings in Persia. He manages to take the throne and he casts a spell of gradual death on the Princess to deal with her. During the Prince’s journey in exile, he has visions of his late mother multiple times, revealing his background as a royal. She also helps him navigate the horrors he faces at every turn. These visions eventually lead him to a sword that once belonged to his father. With his father’s sword, the Prince continues on his journey, making preparations to return to Persia and confront Jaffar before it’s too late.
Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame is a single-player platformer game that takes the player through various dangerous environments. The sequel keeps the puzzle-solving, traps, and difficult movement from the original game, but it focuses more on heavy combat. In Prince of Persia, combat wasn’t common and only one enemy could show up at a time. Prince of Persia 2 has many combat encounters with up to four enemies at a time. The enemies can also flank the Prince from all sides, making the combat much more intense. Players have unlimited lives, but they need to beat the game in 75 real-time minutes.
Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame Main Characters
©World of Longplays / Broderbund – License
Since Prince of Persia 2 is a relatively short platformer game, it doesn’t feature many characters. While it has a solid plot and a few characters to fill out the cast, it mostly focuses on the gameplay itself. Still, Prince of Persia 2 does feature a few major characters to help move the plot along.
- The Prince: The Prince is the playable protagonist throughout the Prince of Persia games. In the first game, the Prince defeats Jaffar, earning the love and praise of the people of Persia. As a reward, the Prince decided to ask for the Princess of Persia’s hand in marriage. Her father, the Sultan, agrees and the pair are set to be wed. At the beginning of the second game, the Prince approaches the royal court to meet with his soon-to-be wife, but Jaffar transforms him into an unrecognizable beggar. Forced to flee from the guards, the prince finds himself stranded in a foreign land. During his adventures back to his beloved, he discovers the truth about his heritage. He is the last member of a royal family destroyed by the armies of darkness.
- The Princess: The Princess of Persia is the Sultan’s daughter and the Prince’s fiance. The Princess is an important figure throughout the games because she’s the Prince’s love interest. That said, she’s not active throughout most of Prince of Persia 2. After Jaffar drives the Prince out of Persia and assumes his identity, Jaffar puts the Princess under a spell of gradual death. Throughout the game, the Princess is unconscious and slowly dying. She doesn’t awaken until the Prince defeats Jaffar.
- Jaffar: Jaffar is an evil sorcerer who acts as the main antagonist of the Prince of Persia and its sequel. Jaffar is power-hungry and will stop at nothing to claim the Persian throne. At the beginning of the game, Jaffar uses magic to disguise himself as the Prince. He also disguises the prince as a common beggar. Posing as the Prince, Jaffar has the real Prince hunted down by the guards. Jaffar also attempts to sink the Prince’s escape ship with magical lightning. While the Prince is in exile, Jaffar takes over Persia while still pretending to be the Prince. He also puts a death spell on the Princess and leaves her to slowly die in isolation.
Prince of Persia Titles in the Series
The Prince of Persia series started with the original game in 1989. The first two games were platformers, but the third game switched up the gameplay to a fixed third-person action-adventure game. Since the original trilogy, there have been many reboots and new games in the series. There have also been many mobile games based on the franchise and even a 2010 feature-length film based on the games.
The Original Trilogy:
- Prince of Persia (1989)
- Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame (1993)
- Prince of Persia 3D: Arabian Nights (1999) – Prince of Persia 3D is the first 3D game in the Prince of Persia series.
The Rest of the Main Games:
- Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2003) – Mechner’s reboot of the Prince of Persia.
- Prince of Persia: Warrior Within (2004)
- Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones (2005)
- Battles of Prince of Persia (2005)
- Prince of Persia: Rival Swords (2005)
- Prince of Persia Classic (2007) – A remake of the original Prince of Persia with modern (at the time) graphics and technology.
- Prince of Persia (2008) – Prince of Persia’s second reboot.
- Prince of Persia: The Fallen King (2008)
- Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands (2010) – The Forgotten Sands is a group of games made for different platforms. Each game plays differently depending on the console, so each iteration is considered a different game. The main version came out for the PS3, Xbox 360, and Windows. There is a Wii exclusive, a PSP exclusive, and a DS exclusive.
- Prince of Persia: The Dagger of Time (2020)
- Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown (2024) – The newest game in the series is slotted for release later this year.
In addition to the upcoming Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, a remake of The Sands of Time is also in the works at Ubisoft.
Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame Cheats & Cheat Codes
©World of Longplays / Broderbund – License
Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame is a difficult game to master due to the limited mechanics, multiple enemies flanking at once, and a 75-minute time limit. Players have infinite lives, but they need to beat the game from start to finish within 75 real-world minutes or they lose. All of these factors add up to a challenging platformer. Fortunately, there are several cheats that players can take advantage of. These cheats seem to work for every playable version of the game. The way the player needs to input the commands may vary depending on what version of the game they’re using, though.
The most common method of enabling cheats
- Start the game
- Hold down 1, 2, and 3 while starting the game
- If the cheats are enabled, the player will see “You are worthy of the powers of Jaffar” appear on the screen
Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame Cheat Codes
- Add Energy: Shift + T
- Add Time: +
- Extra Potion: Command-T
- Kill All Enemies Onscreen: K
- Player On/Off: F3
- Return from Dead: R
- Ruler: F6
- Show Position: F1
- Show Prince Only: Shift + B
- Show Room Number and Jump Left: Shift + W
- Show Room Number and Jump Right: Shift + R
- Skip to Next Level: Alt + N
- Subtract Energy: Shift + K
- Subtract Time: –
- Turn Screen Upside Down: Shift + I
Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame Cheats FAQ
Unfortunately, when Googling “Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame” or “Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame cheats”, most of the FAQs that pop up have nothing to do with the right game. Many of these questions refer to the original 1989 Prince of Persia or games from the reboots. A few of the questions even pertain to the movie and why it never got a sequel. Only one question of relevance pops up, so let’s take a look at it.
How to hack Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame?
If the method listed above doesn’t enable cheats for Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame, try this instead: Start the game with the command line parameter YIPPEEYAHOO. After the game boots up, players should be able to input any valid cheat code for an immediate effect in game.
The image featured at the top of this post is ©World of Longplays / Broderbund.