Battles of Prince of Persia is a turn-based strategy game and spin-off of the Prince of Persia series. It was released for the Nintendo DS in 2005 with Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones.
The story takes place between Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Prince of Persia: Warrior Within. The Prince, after his first encounter with the Dahaka, discovers the existence of the mythical Box of One Thousand Restraints in the land of Aresura which could seal the creature for good. Unfortunately, while searching for this he ends up causing a war between Persia and India and when he finally opens the Box he accidentally releases the demonic army of the Daevas while coming into conflict with Kalim, the Prince of India and brother of his long lost love Farah.
Battles of Prince of Persia contains examples of:
- Aborted Arc: After The Prince accidentally allows The Daevas out of The Box of One Thousand Restraints, the Dahaka plot line is completely dropped until its briefly mentioned at the very end of the game
- Ax-Crazy: Saurva, the main villain, has no real goals other than to burn down India and Persia. He wasn't always this way.
- Dark Is Not Evil: The Daevas are dark skinned demons but they are not all evil.
- Defiant to the End: Saurva is killed cursing and snarling at Sindra as she goes to execute him
- Driven to Madness: The Vizier cursed Saurva's sister Sindra with madness because she refused to marry him.
- Character Development: The game shows how the war between Persia and India, his battles with the Daevas and conflict with Kalim turn the Prince from the more humble and well intentioned man from the first game into the darker and more violent warrior from the second game.
- Fallen Hero: Saurva was once a good king that ruled over a peaceful kingdom before The Vizer killed his wife and imprisoned him and his army in The Box of One Thousand Restraints.
- Fight Like a Card Player: The battle system uses a limited set of cards.
- Foregone Conclusion: Considering that the Dahaka still haunts the Prince in Warrior Within, it's obvious that his attempt to seal it in the Box of Thousand Restraints is going to fail.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Even though he's dead, the Vizier influences the story as he was to one who drove Saundra into villainy.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Darius dies pushing The Prince away from the Dahaka.
- I Have Your Wife: The Vizier captures Saurva's wife to compel him into stealing the Box of Thousand Restraints. After his demands have been met, the Vizier murders the woman anyway.
- Interquel: Released alongside Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones but takes place between Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Prince of Persia: Warrior Within and presumably after the latter realeased Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands.
- Kill the Ones You Love: Sindra takes it upon herself to execute her brother, Saurva, for his crimes.
- Mentor Occupational Hazard: The Prince's mentor Darius is killed early in the game by the Dahaka.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Once again the Prince…
- By attempting to use the Box of One Thousand Restraints, he releases the Daevas army who them proceed to fight the Prince's army.
- He manipulates his father into invading India in order to get his own army. He then split his army from his father's which causes the Indians to be victorious and they retaliate by taking Babylon. The Prince's mother gets killed by a stray arrow during said invasion.
- Oddball in the Series: The Game is a Turn-Based Strategy where you command your army to fight other forces while every other games in the series are platformers. Story-wise, the narration doesn't stick with the Prince but switches between other characters.
- Promoted to Playable: King Sharaman and the Vizier are among your playable generals.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: The Prince attempts to use the Box of One Thousand Restraints to seal the Dahaka but unfortunately the Box was already used before, and he accidentally release the Daevas army. It turns out that the Daevas aren't truly evil but driven by revenge.
- Tactical Rock–Paper–Scissors: It has a size triangle. Large > Medium > Small > Large. It also featured triangles based on weapon types, much like Fire Emblem.
- What Ever Happened To The Mouse: The fates of The Daevas in the post-Warrior Within timeline is never mentioned.
