Prince of Persia 3D is a 1999 action-adventure game developed by Mindscape and published by Red Orb Entertainment for Microsoft Windows.

A port for the Dreamcast was developed by Avalanche Software and published by Mattel Interactive in North America the following year under the title Prince of Persia: Arabian Nights.

Taking the role of the titular unnamed character rescuing his bride from a monstrous suitor's schemes, gameplay follows the Prince as he explores environments, platforming and solving puzzles while engaging in combat scenarios.

[2][4] Many puzzles found during levels, which must be solved to progress, involve activating levers and triggering pressure plates and switches.

[5] Potions can be found through the environments, with effects ranging from replenishing and increasing health to turning invisible or curing poison.

[1][4] While exploring, the Prince can engage individual enemies in close-range combat with three weapon types; the sword, the spear or staff, a bow and twin blades.

[1] Combat is initiated when drawing a weapon with an enemy nearby, with the camera switching to a side perspective which adjusts with the Prince's movements.

[5] If a character's blow is blocked, then the attacker is stunned for a short time and the opponent can launch a faster counterattack.

When the Princess refuses to yield to Rugnor, going as far as cutting off his hand with a sword, he decides to kill her by tying her to a large gear machine in his lair to crush her to death.

[9] The game was published under the Red Orb Entertainment brand, which was split away from Broderbund during the buyout and continued to support Mindscape.

[6][10] Series creator Jordan Mechner was brought in as a creative consultant, and co-authored the scenario; the cutscene dialogue was written by John Morgan.

[17][16] The game's characters and enemies were worked on by artist Chris Grun, who was described by Mechner as someone who was "not Disney, not realistic, just Prince of Persia".

[28] A port was also being developed for the PlayStation, based on the PC version and featuring gameplay alterations to appeal to fans of action games.

[13][14][42][43] IGN praised the PC version's unique score, fluid animations and well made graphics, and the jumping mechanics.

[5] GameSpot criticised the same version's rough character models, difficult camera effects, and unresponsive controls, but praised the action.

[2] John Lee of NextGen gave a positive review to the PC version of the game, but noted the controls as "sluggish" and the occasional problems with the camera.

[45][c] Following the poor performance of Prince of Persia 3D, Mechner distanced himself from the video game industry, feeling burned out and disconnected from the series.

[14][46] In 2001, Mattel sold off The Learning Company's entertainment division, which included rights to the Prince of Persia series catalogue, to Ubisoft.