Slice of life: the astonishing family epic of Prince of Persia

2023-12-29 16:00:10

Published on Dec 29 2023 at 5:00 p.m.

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He was only 18 years old when he created his first video game, in 1984: Karateka. It sold 500,000 copies at the time. A very good figure for the time. But it was another game that really made him known, a few years later, after a stint at Yale University: the game Prince of Persia, released in 1989. The story of a fugitive from a foreign country and who will save the kingdom and marry a princess… The adventure will be translated into six languages and will sell more than two million copies. Before discovering a destiny in the cinema a few years later.

Jordan Mechner, the Prince’s father, is American. In a comic strip, he recounts the creation of his video games which marked the history of this digital art. His arrival in France to work with Ubisoft on a new project. A cultural shock too, for him, but also for his children and his countryside.

Fleeing from the Nazis

But “Replay: Memories of a Family” is much more than a reflection on artistic creation and the evolution of a sector, which has gone from craft to industry in a few decades. It is also a family saga. Jordan Mechner recounts his family’s flight to Austria in the process of being Nazified in 1938. A flight that scattered the family between Paris, Cuba and New York. Francis, Jordan’s father, experienced exile, far from his parents, but survived the horror of war. A story documented by his grandfather, Adolf, a doctor in Vienna. A story of uprooting which finds particular resonance in the work of his grandson, game creator and comic book scriptwriter. But also in today’s world, like the many Ukrainians who have had to flee the advance of Russian thugs in their country for two years.

La Story is a podcast from “Echos” presented by Pierrick Fay. This episode was recorded in December 2023. Editor-in-chief: Clémence Lemaistre. Guest: Jordan Mechner (author of “Replay, Memoirs of a Family”). Director: Nicolas Jean. Music: Théo Boulenger. Graphic identity: Upian. Photo: Delcourt. Sounds: “Valse sad” by Oskar Nedbal, “Déracinés” by Les Barbeaux, INA, “Prince of Persia – les sables du temps” 2009, “Karateka” 1984, “Prince of Persia” 1989, Jordan Mechner, “The Last Express » 1997.