The great Jafar organizes a coup while the king of Persia is at war in a foreign land. His path to the throne passes through the king's charming daughter. Jafar kidnaps her and threatens to kill her if she refuses to marry him. Meanwhile, a man the princess loves is thrown into a dungeon. He escapes from prison, defeats guards along the way, and has only an hour to stop Jafar before the terrible wedding.

Prince of Persia is a 2D platform game often considered a pioneer of the cinematic platforming genre. Instead of following the more generic jumping and running mechanics, it focuses on careful progression to a fairly complex level, emphasizing the main character's weaknesses and survival aspects. Rotoscorp technology is used to make the animation of the character's movements more realistic.

The protagonist must avoid deadly traps, solve simple jumps and environmental puzzles (such as climbing on a pressure plate to raise the harbor bird) and fight the sentries with a sword. The life of the player character is infinite, but with each death you must start over from the beginning of the level and complete the game within an hour. The protagonist starts with 3 units of health and can be restored with a small health potion or permanently increased into a large potion.

The Game Boy Color and SNES versions of the game feature additional levels and new enemies. The Genesis Edition features a new introduction, revised graphics and four new levels.