Game Demos - A retrospective

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DrPepperMan
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PostGame Demos - A retrospective
by DrPepperMan » Thu Dec 03, 2009 12:15 pm

I've been meaning to write this for some time, and seeing how I'm waiting for something to compile I though I'll write it now.

I wanted to take a look back and discuss with you guys the topic of game demos. I say this from a nostalgic point, in terms of what game demos meant back then and how we view them now.

Case in point: I use to get OPM every month and one of the joys of the magazine was the demo disc. This of course was before the days that consoles could download them. As a result I feel that game demos were more cherished than today, for a number of reasons. Partly because these days if I want a game and have the money I just go out and buy it, back then as a kid I would have to wait till Christmas/Birthdays etc to get a game. Thanks to that I must have played demos like MGS on PS1 and MGS 2 on PS2 hundreds of times, squeezing what I could out of the demo until I got the game sometimes a year after release. Not knowing when these demos were going to end whilst playing them for the first time you hoped that it would last just that little bit longer. To make your mind up on which game you wanted you either had to play the demo or read a magazine, generally the former so in that case the demo really had to sell it to you even more than today.

What was going to be on the demo disc was also something that I always looked forward too, lineups would change and new stuff added in. The best demo disc from OPM was the MGS1 edition demo disc with 22 demos. The joys of the Net Yaroze games released on the OPM disc also gets a big mention, with the MGS OPM disc having a large number of Net Yaroze games available. Anyone remember Psychon or Total Soccer? They use to keep be entertained for hours.

Now demos are common place and IMO taken for granted, usually released just before or in some cases just after a games release. You don't really get the joy of loading up a disc after ripping it out the magazine straight away and finding whats on the disc. The one thing I do love about modern game demos is that thanks to the internet here the the UK we can download Japanese/US demos with ease giving us the chance to sample even more games.

I would point out that this post is being written from mainly a PS1/PS2 view point but I also use to pick up PC Gamer/Zone for many years too going back to PC Format with the floppy disc demos too.

So what was your favourite demo? And do you remember Net Yaroze as I did? What's your views on game demos past and present?

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SEP
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PostRe: Game Demos - A retrospective
by SEP » Thu Dec 03, 2009 12:16 pm

Grand Theft Auto demo. Changed my game-playing life.

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Christopher
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PostRe: Game Demos - A retrospective
by Christopher » Thu Dec 03, 2009 12:16 pm

Favourite demo of all time is either the Parappa the Rappa or Metal Gear Solid demos :wub:

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PostRe: Game Demos - A retrospective
by Tafdolphin » Thu Dec 03, 2009 12:18 pm

First Crackdown mention here. Went from being a game I'd only ever heard of but never seen, let alone wanted to buy, to my most wanted. Perfectly executed.

Special mention goes to the DOOM shareware. Actively turned me away from consoles to PC gaming.

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PostRe: Game Demos - A retrospective
by Mafro » Thu Dec 03, 2009 12:22 pm

The amount of time I spent with the Battlefield: Bad Company demo was ridiculous.

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PostRe: Game Demos - A retrospective
by Tafdolphin » Thu Dec 03, 2009 12:24 pm

Oh yeah, that was great! I had more fun online with that demo than the entirety of Modern Warfare. Cannae wait for BC2!

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PostRe: Game Demos - A retrospective
by Hulohot » Thu Dec 03, 2009 12:52 pm

Played the mercenaries demo oncre, called my friend about it and we played it for hours on end. But my favourite will always be demo 1 with tombi, kula world, tomb raider. The underwater style music was amazing

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PostRe: Game Demos - A retrospective
by more heat than light » Thu Dec 03, 2009 12:54 pm

I don't really play demos. Usually it's just the first level of the game, and then when you actually do buy it you just have to play it again anyway. I make my purchases based on reviews and my own personal interest.

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PostRe: Game Demos - A retrospective
by NickSCFC » Thu Dec 03, 2009 12:58 pm

Always looked forward to the old PES demos, pre-ordering the game itself if needed.

MGS (ISS Pro 98) and MGS2 (ZOE) demos were by far the most played, both miles ahead of anything else at their time.

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PostRe: Game Demos - A retrospective
by Rubix » Thu Dec 03, 2009 1:17 pm

suzzopher wrote:Favourite demo of all time is either the Parappa the Rappa or Metal Gear Solid demos :wub:


Oh hell yeah

Also Tomb Raider 2 which made it look much better then when the game came out.

And the Final Fantasy VII Trailer :wub:


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PostRe: Game Demos - A retrospective
by cooldawn » Thu Dec 03, 2009 1:32 pm

Back in the day demo's really were exciting to play but recently that's all changed. Demos these days are more likely to put me off games. This year the Batman and PES demos, for instance, didn't do anything for me but after playing the retail versions they are much better. The value of demos have dwindled rapidly this generation.

As for best demo ever...it has to be MGS for me. That demo changed the way I think about videogames. It was the first game I had ever seen that pushed the PlayStation in so many area's...in a way is was the first proper mature videogame, away from the colourful, humourous and fun* videogames that ruled earlier generations...and it's the demo that to this day has made the biggest impact on me.

*as in not about jumping about, spitting out fireballs or slapstick gameplay.

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PostRe: Game Demos - A retrospective
by Alpha eX » Thu Dec 03, 2009 1:41 pm

Tombi, Klonoa, Bust-A-Grove, Mr Domino, Future Cop LAPD, Tomb Raider, Oddworld, Parappa The Rappa and GTA.

All demos that really had an impact, really miss the PS1 style demo disc. The Net Yazoree games were damn good too.

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Christopher
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PostRe: Game Demos - A retrospective
by Christopher » Thu Dec 03, 2009 1:44 pm

The PlayStation demo discs were epic. I actually used to get really excited each month waiting a the next issue of OPM for the disc and what would be on them :wub:

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PostRe: Game Demos - A retrospective
by KK » Thu Dec 03, 2009 2:23 pm

The Resident Evil 2 10 minute demo was quite good. There was a clock at the top of the screen counting down & you had to try & get as far as possible before it hit zero. I wouldn't mind knowing where the theoretical stopping point of the demo was.

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PostRe: Game Demos - A retrospective
by Agent47 » Thu Dec 03, 2009 2:27 pm

KKLEIN wrote:The Resident Evil 2 10 minute demo was quite good. There was a clock at the top of the screen counting down & you had to try & get as far as possible before it hit zero. I wouldn't mind knowing where the theoretical stopping point of the demo was.

I was going to post the exact same thing! :shock: That demo had me playing it over and over, seeing if I could get that little bit further than last time. Amazing stuff. :mrgreen:

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PostRe: Game Demos - A retrospective
by Mafro » Thu Dec 03, 2009 2:28 pm

suzzopher wrote:The PlayStation demo discs were epic. I actually used to get really excited each month waiting a the next issue of OPM for the disc and what would be on them :wub:


The Net Yaroze demos :wub:

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PostRe: Game Demos - A retrospective
by BID0 » Thu Dec 03, 2009 2:31 pm

I prefer demos these days. 99% of the time it decides whether I'm going to buy it, and has allowed me to spend money on games I actually enjoy and not what some magazine review has been payed to sell me.

Although I did love the discs back in the day :wub: MGS was the best demo I ever played. I was waiting for the PC release before it got canned which meant the PSX was the only way to play it. I spent hours in the tank bay on the demo :oops: infact I probably spent more time reading previews than playing both the demo and actual game.

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PostRe: Game Demos - A retrospective
by Photek » Thu Dec 03, 2009 2:35 pm

The Crackdown Demo was ridiculously good! :wub:

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PostRe: Game Demos - A retrospective
by Neo Cortex » Thu Dec 03, 2009 2:46 pm

KKLEIN wrote:The Resident Evil 2 10 minute demo was quite good. There was a clock at the top of the screen counting down & you had to try & get as far as possible before it hit zero. I wouldn't mind knowing where the theoretical stopping point of the demo was.


The RE2 demo that came with RE: Directors Cut was better for me, it actually differed from the main game. For instance in the demo you meet Ada in the STARS office, and there were even different keys to use.

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PostRe: Game Demos - A retrospective
by KK » Thu Dec 03, 2009 2:47 pm

Some demos had a horrible habit of timing out far too quickly though. The first Driver demo was completely redundant (they ran an improved one a few months later). Or on an early edition of OPM, there was some pinball game that lasted all of 30 seconds. Compared to now, where you get 2 full races (DiRT) or both halves of a football match, things have certainly improved for the better.

Talking of the Resident Evil 2 demo, OPM seemed to think the game had been given a toned down 15 rating specially for the disc, & that the retail copy was an 18. When readers wrote in to explain that, actually, Resident Evil 2 was a 15, OPM calimed that those writing in were wrong! They then did the exact same thing with Resident Evil 3 in the magazine two years later! It boggles the mind, really. Did they never venture in to a shop?

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