The Apple II version of Prince of Persia is the original, released by Brøderbund in 1989.

The game wasn’t a big hit initially, but word of how good it was grew when the game was converted to other systems and was also released in Asia and Europe. Prince of Persia gradually built into a phenomenon.

Even this early Apple II version contains all the Prince of Persia gameplay elements that make it so good: the precise controls and the devious level designs. Not to mention the rotoscoped animation, which creator Jordan Mechner claims came from “what was practical” rather than a desire to innovate. But it certainly did innovate.

Playing it now, the original Apple II version of Prince of Persia is just as much fun to play as the day it was released (3rd October 1989 apparently). There may be better versions of Prince of Persia around, but this original still shines very brightly.

See also: The 10 Best Prince of Persia Conversions

More: Prince of Persia on Wikipedia