About Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame
Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame is a cinematic platform game that Broderbund released for MS-DOS in North America in May 1993. It is the second game in the Prince of Persia series and a direct sequel to the 1989 original. Jordan Mechner designed both games, but unlike the first, he did not program the sequel himself. Jonelle Adkisson composed the music.
You control the Prince as he tries to return to medieval Persia and defeat the evil wizard Jaffar once and for all. Jaffar has taken on the Prince’s appearance, seized the throne and put the Princess, the Prince’s love interest, under a death spell. It is a single-player game.
After the MS-DOS release, the game was ported to several other systems. An FM Towns version came out in Japan in 1994, as did a Mac OS version in North America, and a PC-98 version followed in Japan in 1995. Interprog published the two Japanese versions. The Super NES version, developed by Titus France and published by Titus Software, arrived in North America in October 1996. Ubisoft holds the rights to the series today.
How it runs in your browser
Hit Play and a new tab opens on DOS.Zone’s page for the game, which it lists as Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow & The Flame. The original MS-DOS release runs there in js-dos, DOS.Zone’s open-source port of DOSBox, which recreates an IBM PC inside the browser tab. Because the site hosts the files, you skip the installer, don’t need a copy of your own and don’t make an account. There are no ads on DOS.Zone.
The listing is tagged action and platformer, and players have given it a 5-star average across 116 reviews. Its notes don’t cover saving, so check the page if you want to know whether a run can be picked up later.
Controls and devices
The game was designed for a keyboard. DOS.Zone’s page doesn’t list the key layout, so look at the game’s own options or the host’s page before you set off.
According to DOS.Zone’s description, you can play on a phone with its virtual on-screen controls. Physical keys suit it better, though, so reach for a desktop or laptop if you can. Chromebooks haven’t been confirmed.
Who it’s for
It is for players who finished the first Prince of Persia and want to see what happened next, and for anyone who wants the series in its early MS-DOS form. The story picks up from the first game, with Jaffar on the throne this time, so playing the original first gives you the background. For another cinematic platformer from the same years, Out of This World, released elsewhere as Another World, also runs on DOS.Zone.
Is Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame Free, Safe and Official?
Can I play Prince of Persia 2 online for free?
Yes. DOS.Zone runs the MS-DOS version free in a browser tab, with nothing to download and no registration.
Is Prince of Persia 2 a sequel to the first game?
Yes. It’s the second game in the series and a direct sequel to 1989’s Prince of Persia, with Jaffar back as the villain. Jordan Mechner designed both games.
Can I play Prince of Persia 2 on a phone?
DOS.Zone offers virtual on-screen controls and says the game can be played on mobile that way, but it was made for a keyboard, and a computer suits it better.
