The latest news from the creator of Prince of Persia, author and graphic novelist, Jordan Mechner.
I made a short documentary film in 2003. It gets less attention than my other project that wrapped that year (Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time), but it's close to my heart, and I think it holds up well. Chavez Ravine, site of Dodger Stadium, was once home to a closely-knit Mexican-American community overlooking downtown Los Angeles--until 1950, when its residents were evicted in what came to be…
As an American living in France, I'm doubly thrilled that my graphic novel "Liberty!" is being published in English by Magnetic Press. From the moment I learned about this incredible real-life 'black op' to save the American revolution in 1776 by shipping illicit arms from France across the ocean to a desperately outgunned rebel army, I knew I had to write it...
My first step in creating the animations for Prince of Persia in 1985 was to videotape my brother David running, jumping, and climbing. Step two posed a challenge: How to transfer the images from VHS cassette to the computer, since the Apple II had no video input?
The thing about writing for games is to remember that the story exists to serve the game design, not the other way around. As much as a game might look or sound like a movie (or graphic novel, or radio play), those surface similarities can be deceptive and a trap for a writer...
I'd hoped my first post of the new year would celebrate The Sands of Time's release, but alas, that's not in the cards. The remake's cancellation as part of Ubisoft's restructuring was disappointing news to all fans who'd been eagerly awaiting it, myself included. My sympathy goes to the development team in Montreal; I can only imagine how they must feel...
Happy holidays! I wish you much creative inspiration in the coming year. I hope 2026 lets you spend time with the people you love and share things that bring you happiness. Thanks for following my work and projects. If you're looking for a gift for a tech- or creatively-oriented person in your life this December...
As a kid in the 1970s, I was obsessed with MAD Magazine. I learned to draw by imitating artists like Mort Drucker, Angelo Torres, and Jack Davis, my idols. I set up a caricature booth at local fairs and charged a buck-fifty. I even drew and printed my own comic parody knockoffs of Mad and Wacky Packages (Kooky Magazine and Kooky Stickers) and sold them in the schoolyard. This was my world from age…
"Which is your favorite/definitive version of the original Prince of Persia game?" I get this question surprisingly often, considering it's been 35 years. I figured it deserves a blog post...
My 1997 adventure game The Last Express is 80% off at GOG.com this week (September 17-25) in their Historical Games sale. You can grab the original PC version for just over a buck. Eurogamer has a good behind-the-scenes retrospective article, "The Making of The Last Express"...
A prince who started his career by climbing a garden wall for unauthorized trysts with a princess must be a bit of a rogue, so it makes sense that Evil Empire (developer of Dead Cells) stealth-dropped The Rogue Prince of Persia on August 20 without alerting the palace guards...
For those already up to speed, I'll cut to the chase: Liberty! Book 3 lands in French comic bookstores tomorrow, August 27. And if you haven't yet discovered my newest graphic novel trilogy--read on! I hope fans of my previous adventures (books, video games, or both) will enjoy this one...
The internet evolves fast. For several reasons -- including the increasing tendency of mass-mailing platforms (and email providers) to track user data, which I don't want my website to do -- I've decided to retire my monthly email newsletter. If you're a subscriber, you should receive a farewell thank-you email from me tomorrow, then I'll leave you in peace. Going forward, I'll post announcements…
Last spring, I received an unexpected invitation. Jules Maeght, a printer and gallerist in Paris, had seen my sketchbooks online, and wondered if I'd ever tried copperplate etching? I hadn't. For my 60th birthday, I blocked off four days in the calendar, and took up Jules' kind offer to experiment in his family's printing shop on the Left Bank, at 13 rue Daguerre. Looking up the metro route to get…
Next week marks the 35th anniversary of Prince of Persia's release in 1989. PoP players have a lot to celebrate this year: two brand-new games released (The Lost Crown and The Rogue Prince of Persia), The Sands of Time remake confirmed and announced for 2026, and a new DLC for The Lost Crown that dropped last week. Today, I have something personal to share with old-school PoP fans. 35 years ago,…
I'm excited to announce that my graphic novel MONTE CRISTO -- a modern update of Alexandre Dumas' classic novel transposed to post-9/11 America, brilliantly illustrated by Mario Alberti -- will be published in English by Magnetic Press later this year. Our Kickstarter begins today and will run through April 12. You can preorder the English edition (hardcover or digital, 224 pages), comprising the…
Four years ago, I embarked on the greatest creative adventure of my life -- writing and drawing all 320 pages of my graphic novel memoir, REPLAY. Today, I'm thrilled to announce REPLAY's arrival in U.S. bookstores, in a beautiful hardcover English edition from First Second. I'll be celebrating the book launch tonight (Tuesday 3/19, 5:30 pm) at Book Passage in San Francisco. You can order Replay…
I'm excited to announce that my graphic novel memoir Replay will make its U.S. debut on Tuesday, March 19, at Book Passage in the San Francisco Ferry Building. I'll be there at 5:30 pm for a talk and book signing. If you're near the neighborhood, please stop by! For those attending the Game Developers Conference that week, I'll be giving a retrospective talk about the making of my first game,…
Today, I'm releasing a new artwork, "Saturday 1979," depicting the living room of my childhood home and a very special computer -- the Apple II, where my earliest gaming memories were created. This is the machine on which I learned to program in BASIC, then went on to develop my first games, Karateka and Prince of Persia. I drew this scene remembering the endless weekends and after-school hours I…
At last, it's here! Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown releases this Thursday, January 18 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, PC, and Xbox. I started playing the early-access Deluxe edition when it dropped 48 hours ago, and I'm already hooked and irrevocably immersed. I've been eagerly looking forward to this adventure for many reasons...
A huge thanks to everyone who has followed my creative projects and supported me in 2023. It's been a rare delight and privilege to share so many new releases in a single year. As an author and game developer, I'm used to spending most of my working life behind the scenes on not-yet-announced projects. When the time comes to unveil the results, and meet and talk with the people I make things for,…
Today, I'm releasing a new print: "Cliffhanger" -- which is where "Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame" ended in 1993. For those who remember the game, here's a short refresher video of the ending...
I'm thrilled to announce the launch of my new graphic novel trilogy LIBERTY - an epic historical adventure, spectacularly drawn by Étienne LeRoux and Loïc Chevallier. It's the true story of an unlikely friendship that changed history in 1776, when a Parisian playwright teamed up with a Yankee merchant from Connecticut to smuggle desperately-needed arms to the American rebel army.
For everyone who's asked if it will be possible to order a signed copy of REPLAY in English: I have good news, and thank you for the idea! It took a bit of organizing, but we've solved the logistics. Starting now, you can order signed books from the Replay page, via the "Signed Edition" button.The signed edition package will include the Macmillan hardcover English edition of "Replay: Memoir of an…
When the Digital Eclipse team told me they wanted to give my early game Karateka "the Criterion treatment" and re-release it in a deluxe remastered edition, I couldn't quite picture exactly what they had in mind. Their enthusiasm and evident passion for video game history inspired confidence, so I said yes. I never in my wildest dreams imagined how far they'd take it...
I've been eagerly awaiting this moment for so long, I can't believe it's here at last. The first trailer for Ubisoft's new Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown was unveiled today at Summer Game Fest. After over a decade since the last major game release, Prince of Persia fans once again have a wondrous universe to discover and embark on an exciting new adventure...
A big thank you to everyone who purchased limited-edition prints of my first three Prince of Persia-inspired game tribute artworks, "A Faithful Friend," "Bones," and "Dagger." Today, I'm releasing a fourth: "Departure." As the title hints, this one isn't Prince of Persia. Players of a certain 1997 point-and-click adventure game may recognize the characters (and even the time on the station clock).…
30 years ago today in 1993, Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame went gold master. My journal reminds me that the Broderbund team and I celebrated the completion of two years of work at Pasha's, our Persian restaurant in San Francisco (and I suffered the aftereffects of my overindulgence the next morning, on a long flight to Paris). Thirty years later almost to the day, I find myself once…
I'm happy to share the newly-completed artwork for the English cover of my new graphic novel memoir Replay -- slated for release by First Second Books/Macmillan on March 19, 2024. You can pre-order it now from your favorite bookseller (links are on the Replay book page). The English edition has a different cover design from the French edition (released by Delcourt last week, April 26), and will be…
I'm excited to finally share the project I've been deeply immersed in for the past two years. It's an adventure that will have special meaning for game fans who've enjoyed Prince of Persia or The Last Express, yet it's very different from anything I've done before. It unites in a new way three crafts and lifelong passions that have animated my work: storytelling, visual art, and history. Replay is…
Today, I'm releasing the third in a series of Prince of Persia tribute artworks -- my homage to the fans and teams that shaped the prince's destiny (and mine). This one is dedicated to the incredibly talented Ubisoft team I had the privilege to work with to make The Sands of Time, and to the fans whose loyalty has kept the flame alive these past 20 years.
I'm excited to announce that the second volume of my new graphic-novel trilogy Monte-Cristo arrives in bookstores tomorrow (March 22) in France. It's the story of Sam Castillo, an innocent young man unjustly accused and imprisoned for 17 years, who returns as mysterious mega-billionaire Victor Sirin to take his revenge on the three men who stole his youth. In 2005, post-9/11 America (Book One),…
When I launched this website in 2008, I began transcribing and posting daily entries from my old handwritten journals as a "blog from the past," documenting my game-development odyssey making the first version of Prince of Persia in 1985-1993. Later, I released the collected journals as a book, The Making of Prince of Persia, followed by a prequel, The Making of Karateka (my even older journals…
So many video games, films, and music albums I “own” now live in the cloud, and I’m nostalgic for the days when they existed as physical objects on a bookshelf. The tactile quality, size and shape, and cover art of every game box was linked to memories of how I’d acquired it--new, second-hand, or as a gift?--and of hours spent playing. For a game developer, a shrink-wrapped box that holds the…
A huge thank you to everyone who bought a print of "A Faithful Friend" last month! I was really touched by the warm response from Prince of Persia players who remembered the princess's brave little companion. I hoped my drawing would evoke fond memories; I didn't expect the entire edition of 40 prints to sell out in less than 24 hours. A number of people wrote to say they wished they'd heard about…
To start off January, I want to share a nostalgic artwork that I was recently inspired to create. It's a tribute to a delightful moment Prince of Persia fans may remember from the original 2D game. I've titled it "A Faithful Friend." The following video clip (from Level 8) shows why the little white mouse -- sent by the princess to help the prince in a dark dungeon moment -- is one of my favorite…