In a Destructoid interview yesterday, Prince of Persia producer Ben Mattes had nothing but praise for his Prince’s moves on Wii.
“When I (produced Wii Prince of Persia title) Rival Swords, I really liked the way the Prince’s movement translated to the Wii controls,” said Mattes. “I think that it’s really kind of a natural fit.”
But the fit wasn’t it. At least, not for the new Prince of Persia.
“The Wii version (of the new Prince of Persia) is non-existent,” said Mattes. “It’s just not a platform we developed this game for.”
Though the Prince is skipping Wii this time around, Nintendo platforms aren’t getting the cold shoulder entirely. Ubisoft has created a spin-off, The Fallen King, exclusively for Nintendo DS.
“We knew we could do justice to a DS version that wouldn’t feel like some sort of watered-down, lame excuse of a port. It would really feel like its own standalone Prince of Persia property. And that was really important to us. We didn’t want to do a port on the DS — we wanted to do a standalone, unique experience that continued the overall story that this new Prince of Persia game is trying to setup.”
Giving his praise of Rival Swords’ controls a sense of genuineness, though, Mattes won’t rule out a future Prince appearance on Wii.
“I hope we will see another Prince of Persia game on the Wii.”
The highly anticipated new Prince of Persia title is a “relaunch” of the popular series, reinvented with a slick new style, one-on-one combat system and non-linear gameplay. It also introduces Elika, a new ally who accompanies and helps the Prince throughout the game.
Prince of Persia releases Dec. 2 for all next-gen consoles except Wii. Nintendo DS counterpart The Fallen King releases the same day.