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I miss the days of game demo disc's. Share some of your favorite memories!

Pez

Pez

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,261
I have really strong memories of the PlayStation magazine demo discs back in the day -- particularly the one that had videos touring Naughty Dog's office during the development of Jak & Daxter.

Such fun memories watching those videos on loop prior to the game's release. Anyone else nostalgic for that era of gaming?
 
SilentEagle

SilentEagle

Banned
Jan 9, 2021
5,902
I remember when my uncle gave me the demo of Devil May Cry 4. He is not a gamer actually but I am surprised when he gaves me a game like that lol
 
signal

signal

Member
Oct 28, 2017
40,264
Shoutouts to the one that had Treasures of the Deep on it

t3lSBsj.gif
 
ascii42

ascii42

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,801
kcjowdcm6pa31.jpg

My friends and I once stayed up all night playing the demo for Metal Gear Solid.
 
Type VII

Type VII

Member
Oct 31, 2017
2,323
Demo 1 is the first one I remember. Always go back to the black case Tekken 3 demo that came with the UK Official PS magazine though for the one I have most fondest memories of. That or their November 97 one with Tomb Raider 2 on it.
 
Wrexis

Wrexis

Member
Nov 4, 2017
21,335

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPhFsdgI958

This music is embedded into my skull.

The trailer for Broken Sword also stuck with me. "Who were the Templar Knights? This is clandestine, this is arcane, this is...Broken Sword."

The Die Hard FPS game also is amazing. It's ridiculously action packed. Explosions every few seconds.
 
Skel1ingt0n

Skel1ingt0n

Member
Oct 28, 2017
8,886
Splinter Cell
Viewtiful Joe
Sonic DX
Billy Hatcher

With Wind Waker and MP videos?

Top shelf demo disc right there.
 
Starsunder

Starsunder

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,759
The one that came with PS1 at launch. It had tekken, jumping flash, loaded, Warhawk, and some others on it. All of those games blew me away when I tried them
 

Deleted member 17210

User-requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
11,569
I have great memories of various demo discs: CD-ROM Today (Sam & Max Hit the Road stands out), The 1995 PS1 pack in (Jumping Flash), getting Christmas NiGHTS for Christmas 1996, Half-Life Uplink, etc.
 
Astro Cat

Astro Cat

Member
Mar 29, 2019
7,745
Best part of the month was when a new OPM came out. First time I played Parappa and only time I played Fighting Force lol

Edit: forgot about Xmas NiGHTS. That was the ultimate.
 
Grettir_the_Swole

Grettir_the_Swole

Member
Nov 1, 2017
1,348
FL, United States
Some of my fondest early gaming memories started with those Pizza Hut demos for the PlayStation. Final Fantasy 8, Tomba, Tony Hawk, etc.; so many goat-tier franchises that I still play today started from those two demo discs. My cousin was the one who had a PlayStation at that time and she didn't game all that much so that was pretty much all I had when I would visit them. It was limited but holy hell those games were all fun.
 
Dogui

Dogui

Member
Oct 28, 2017
8,858
Brazil
I remember my cousin getting a PS1 with one of those demo discs that had like 5-10 games. It had Parappa the Rapper, Coolboarders, Jet Moto, Tekken 2?

Biggest memory was that first time as kids, we didn't understood the interface of the demo selection screen very well, so we only had access to half of the games at first. Then eventually some of us pressed a button or did something different and then the other half of games got available. It was such a "Whoa dude" moment, we suddenly had the double of games!
 
onpoint

onpoint

Neon Deity Games
Verified
Oct 26, 2017
15,039
716
They still exist to some degree

superraregames.com

SRG Mixtape Volume #4

**PRICE INCLUDES DISCOUNT** Super Rare Mixtape featuresđź“Ľ 30 games - a hand-curated selection of 30 games from grassroots indie developers, chosen for maximum variety of genres and art styles - there's something for everyone!Includes hardcore platformers, horror-shooters, arcade-like delights...
superraregames.com superraregames.com
 
Scarlett

Scarlett

Member
Dec 5, 2020
1,156
My favourite of all time is the PC Gamer demo disc with Daggerfall on it.

May as well have been an entire game.
 
QisTopTier

QisTopTier

Community Resettler
Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,726
demo disc were amazing and always a fun suprise to find something really good on one. On another note "it takes two" feels like the video game based on a demo disc caues it just changes so god damn much LOL
 
Kemiko

Kemiko

Member
Oct 5, 2018
627
- The PS1 disk that had the Net Yaroze collection on it
- MGS Demo
- MGS 2 Demo
- Tomba also got a ton of play from me
 
Ruruja

Ruruja

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,720
Most of my gaming on PS1 was with demo discs. We were too poor to buy full games except maybe one at Christmas, so I just used to borrow games or demos off my mates.
 
ZeroX

ZeroX

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
21,266
Speed Force
I bought Dark Cloud, Grim Fandango and Broken Sword 2 because they had impressive demos on random demo discs I had acquired

I remember Klonoa 2 was also on the PS2 demo disc - which I believe came with my PS2 - and I always wanted to play it fully, will get that collection at some point
 
Anustart

Anustart

9 Million Scovilles
Avenger
Nov 12, 2017
9,069
I played the hell out of intelligent qube on a demo disk then never got the full game lol.
 
Revoltoftheunique

Revoltoftheunique

Member
Jan 23, 2022
1,619
The playstation magazine demo discs. It let me try out games I wouldn't have tried.

Btw did anyone ever have issues with the playstation discs? Some of them came with scratches and sticky stuff lmao.
 
Jokerman

Jokerman

Member
May 16, 2020
6,990
Sensible Software released a standalone game that crossed Sensible Soccer with Cannon Fodder back in the day. Germany Vs England and a hand-grenade instead of a football. Just genius. Can't remember which magazine it came with though. Maybe Amiga Power?
 
Grunty

Grunty

Member
Oct 28, 2017
7,477
Gruntilda’s Lair
I have some kind of Metroid Prime 1 or 2 demo disc that I seem to recall even has the official Metroid Timeline to view (up to that point). I think I from signing up to something on Nintendo's website at the time? I can't quite recall.
 
Zonic

Zonic

Member
Oct 25, 2017
33,588
As someone who only really had a GameCube & didn't have any PS magazines, the main demo disc I has was the preview one that was like $10.

s-l500.jpg


Also had Soul Calibur 2, which was strangely not mentioned on the front, but oh man, I replayed the Viewtiful Joe & Billy Hatcher demos a ton, plus a bit of Sonic despite having it on Dreamcast.
 
Zera Bloodwinter

Zera Bloodwinter

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,951
FF7 demo disc. I played so many hours back in the day. It was such a huge step up from previous FF games, it had me in awe.
 
Piggus

Piggus

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,716
Oregon
I had pretty much every OPM demo disc from vol. 18 up, and managed to find roms of most of them to put on my PS1 Classic. The demos I probably played the most are Syphon Filter and Sled Storm, which was kind of amazing looking at the time.

signal said:
Shoutouts to the one that had Treasures of the Deep on it

t3lSBsj.gif
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Yesss, this came with my PS1 and is the only physical PS1 demo disc I still have. You could reveal a code on the back of the Crash and Star Wars tiles to reveal secret demos for Colony Wars and Fighting Force.
 
PinkSpider

PinkSpider

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,961
Rush 2049 Dreamcast 20 minutes arena points or whatever mode. We played that to death 4 player. A mate bought the game and it was the best level and racing was so so and we just did the same as the demo disk.
 
Kinsei

Kinsei

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
20,626
I distinctly remember having Interactive Sampler Disc Volume 5. Have some great memories of Crash 2 and PaRappa.
 
Fisnasu

Fisnasu

Member
Feb 10, 2023
102
Shout-out to whichever Playstation magazine demo disc had the Sheep, Dog 'n' Wolf demo on it. Game never gets enough credit for being the fun platformer/problem-solving hybrid that it is.
 

Deleted member 34949

Account closed at user request
Banned
Nov 30, 2017
19,101
I had a bunch of demo discs back in the day, but Dreamcast Generator Vol 2 is the one I think I played the most. Had the first level or so of Rayman 2, Emerald Coast in Sonic Adventure, Warehouse in THPS1, a handful of fighters to try out in DoA2, and a few other games. Played the living shit out of that thing.
 
Fleck0

Fleck0

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,448
This one

diRnlxM.jpg


Must have spent hundreds upon hundreds of hours with these games. They're all the full games too, still counts as a demo disc because of Daikatana.
 
Ostron

Ostron

Member
Mar 23, 2019
1,968
The PS1 disc with Terra Incognita!

PC demo discs were the shit though, especially the ones loaded with mods for Half-Life, Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament when you had crap internet

One PC demo disc I had was called 56 games or something, with a mix of demos and freeware. A real treasure trove of games remembered and long forgotten. I remember playing the shit out of a version of Critical Mass:


View: https://youtu.be/6KpC0Fsm1vk

I was so happy when demos ran from the disc with no need to install. Oh and I had a DOS demo disc with Tyrian that had the whole first campaign.
 
Loxley

Loxley

Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,652
I remember that Viewtiful Joe PS2 demo that would literally wipe your memory card XD
 
Jimnymebob

Jimnymebob

Member
Oct 26, 2017
19,699
I had a PS1 mag demo disc with CTR, and it was probably my 3rd most played game on the console lol, even though I never bought the full game until it came out on PSN.

It had Jade Cocoon on it as well, which I did actually end up buying.
 
slider

slider

Member
Nov 10, 2020
2,747
The only one I remember, and probably want to remember, is the one that came with the PS2... SSX and some off roader type game. Both were amazing.
 

Kurekure Takora

Member
Oct 25, 2017
734
final-fantasy-vii-demo-disc-button-1653007535861.jpg


FFVII needs no explanation. Saga Frontier was very interesting even if flawed. A totally outside the box 3D fighter. An SRPG set in the FF universe. A shmup with arguably the greatest music and graphics yet seen on the PS1. Peak Square.
 
Eoin

Eoin

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,107
The first proper demo disc that I got was (I am nearly sure) the fourth version of Demo 1 for the PlayStation in Europe.

That had these playable:
  • Crash Bandicoot
  • Wipeout 2097
  • Monster Trucks
  • Formula 1
  • Tekken 2
  • Ridge Racer Revolution
  • adidas Power Soccer
  • Battle Arena Toshinden 2
  • Die Hard Trilogy
  • Descent
  • Actua Golf
The ones that got the most play were Tekken 2 and Die Hard Trilogy which was I think the first level from Die Hard 2 (the rail shooter game).

Before that though, I had a huge pile of demo cassette tapes from C64 magazines. Usually they had a mix of full games and demos of newer releases. As was typical for those days, quality was wildly variable but a discovered plenty of good games that way.

Jokerman said:
Sensible Software released a standalone game that crossed Sensible Soccer with Cannon Fodder back in the day. Germany Vs England and a hand-grenade instead of a football. Just genius. Can't remember which magazine it came with though. Maybe Amiga Power?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Amiga Power for sure. Pretty sure this is what you're talking about:


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5VO6yOvIx0
 
Jerm

Jerm

The Fallen
Oct 31, 2017
5,802
I loved that one demo disc with Viewtiful Joe that wiped your memory card after playing it.

There are a ton of games I never completed because I lost so much progress in them from that god damn demo. As a kid, I was heartbroken over that, and to learn they were just straight up lost was so disheartening.
 
Silvergun-Blue

Silvergun-Blue

Member
Oct 26, 2017
9,962
The PS2 one with Mercenaries on it. One of the best demo's ever, it was a fantastic vertical slice that showed exactly what the game had to offer. I played it over and over.
then there was the UK Saga Saturn Magazine demo disc that was the entire first disc of Panzer Dragoon Saga. I played it so much I was stupidly overleveled when I got the full game/
 
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