Demo Discs, do you collect them?

[PianoMan343]

I bought a PS1 off eBay a couple of years ago and it came with about a dozen demo discs and since then I have used them to add a few games to my collection. I was wondering if anyone still used demo discs for these mid 90's to mid 00's consoles to decide on buying a game or did anyone collect demo discs for a specific console or maybe even for a specific magazine?

[Classic Pac]

I collect demos, and I even trade

[CapitanClassic]

The PSX Underground discs have some pretty neat demos on them. They had Japanese import games on them, some cool downloads for your memory card (one in particular that I am still looking for ... a Carnage Heart memory save of CPUs from the designers).

 

I seem to remember that even one demo was actually a full game, but was set to display a lockup screen at the end of the first level. Unfortunately, the designers left in a level select code, so you actually had the full game.

[Eltigro]

I subscribed to the Playstation Underground discs bitd. There was a demo on one of them of an indy game called Funky Beans. It was a Tetris/Columns style dropping piece game that when you cleared a row or whatever it was you had to do it said, "Yahoo!" (Or "yeehaw" or something. Memory is a little fuzzy now.) Anyway, I thought it was super fun. Don't have any of those now, but have considered picking them up if I found them cheap. I think I still have some 3D glasses that came with them one time.

 

Only demo disc I have now is a Saturn one that I don't remember the name of.

Edited December 26, 2016 by Eltigro

[StopDrop&Retro]

I collected a complete run of PlayStation Underground discs for PS1. Volume 1 through 4. It was a really neat thing they were experimenting with. They were trying to make a quarterly magazine that was disc based instead of print based. That's why those discs include so much behind the scenes content and such that are pretty much video "articles." A lot of their discs/issues even have certain content that can on only be accessed by entering a cheat code so they were really having fun with this new format. My favorite might be when they had the Mystery Science Theater crew host the issue. I'm a big fan of MST3k and while some people say their appearance was kinda lame, I had a lot of fun watching them rip on those overly pretentious CGI PS1 intros.

 

However, I know it's not exactly a complete set because I'm missing Vol. 5.1, their last standalone issue. I've never been able to find it and there's very little information about it out there. I only found out it exists because of a Giant Bomb article. I'm guessing it was only given away at a special event or something because even with an ebay alert I've never been able to find one for sale. I'd buy one in a heartbeat.

 

I also have a nearly complete set of PS2 demo discs from OPM magazine. Those were pretty much a continuation of PS Underground content and they similarly had really neat exclusive content on those. My favorite from that is probably the Cribs style tour of Tommy Talarico's home.

 

Also, if you haven't already, buy a copy of the Titan A.E. PS1 demo. That game was never released so expect that demo to go up in price in the future.

 

 

Edit: Oh, and to answer OP's question. Yes, I know there have been several demos from the PS1/PS2 era that inspired me to buy the full game. Too many to list, but one of them really stands out. It was on a PS2 OPM magazine demo and in a rare special feature where they included a demo for a Japanese-only game. This time it was for a game called U-Oh where you play as a fish in a fishing game. I had a lot of fun with it but put the disc aside when it was over knowing I would never see the full game. Then one day I was at a used game store and I almost screamed when I found U-Oh!!! As it turns out, it was eventually localized and released here as Finny the Fish and the Seven Waters. The game is criminally underrated and pretty uncommon, I've never seen it priced higher than $3.

 

It inspired me to make a YouTube series about underrated cheap games and so Finny the Fish became the first episode on my channel. I've since moved on to other content but that story about U-Oh still stands out for me.

[xenomorpher]

I had a subscription to Official Playstation Magazine back in the day and discovered a lot of great and underrated games. During the later part of the PS2's life the demos stunk and I eventually didn't even bother trying them out. I still have mostly all my demo discs, including some from Pizza Hut and the one that came with my system. The Silent Hill demo from OPM was probably the most memorable experience. Playing that when I was only 11 or 12 with that unforgettable soundtrack terrified me even if I played it during the day. I bought the game the same year on my birthday in 1999 and took ten years to beat it. I'm actually still playing through the same copy to get the laser gun.

[PianoMan343]

I seem to remember that even one demo was actually a full game, but was set to display a lockup screen at the end of the first level. Unfortunately, the designers left in a level select code, so you actually had the full game.

Yeah I think it was one of the Spyro games on the PS1 that had that

 

Also, if you haven't already, buy a copy of the Titan A.E. PS1 demo. That game was never released so expect that demo to go up in price in the future.

 

Ooh I'll have a look for that, watched the move a couple of weeks ago and loved it! Hope it was released in PAL territories otherwise that will be a no-go

[omegadot]

I recall Blast Chamber and Tony Hawk demos basically being enough for me on their own. I eventually bought the full games but I rode out on just the demo for a looooooong while.

[jhd]

By the time I bought my PlayStation (2004) and then PlayStation 2 (2008), demo disks were getting harder to find. That said, I have amassed a modest collection.

http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/~ab443/demos.htm

 

I also have almost all of the JamPack disks for the PS 2 -- most were released in Teen and Mature Audience variations (with different games), and I am missing a few alternate versions.

[StopDrop&Retro]

It's funny to look back at those Jampacks today and see that people actually paid for a demo disc back then!! But it was a different time, when you couldn't download a free demo on your console. Plus, a lot of the demos were really substantial, if you only had a couple games for your console then that demo disc was worth its weight in gold. There were some demos that I got more play time out of than actual games. I remember the Jak & Daxter demo had the complete Misty Island area and that had tons of stuff to do in it.

[PianoMan343]

What are the Jampacks? I've never heard of them before

[StopDrop&Retro]

 

 

 

They would sell them seasonally like this one which is Summer of 2002. In stores they would be sold right alongside regular games or at the checkout counter. They had tons of game demos and previews.

 

Speaking of which, did the GameCube ever have something similar? Like a mini disc with demos on it? I ask because the demo disc thing was definitely something that separated the new disc based consoles from Nintendo's hardware. It was an immense value to the consumer to get a demo disc (very cheaply or for free) with several different games to try out instead of having to go to the rental store and pay to try each game. A lot of people don't talk about that, but I know as a kid that grew up with the N64 when I finally got a PS2 and realized demo discs were a thing it was a revelation. I'm sure it was a selling point some people took into consideration.

 

 

edit: holy crap, I just realized I had this disc and it's bringing back memories. That TimeSplitters 2 demo was incredible! It was the dam mission and since the game came from the same team that did GoldenEye 64 it had tons of obvious nods to that game. It was surreal.

[PianoMan343]

They look cool! Don't remember ever seeing anything like that being sold on its own here in the UK, only remember disc being given with the magazines. From what I remember at the time the PS2 and XBOX both got demo discs with their magazines but don't remember ever seeing anything for the gamecube, though I never really paid any attention to the gamecube until I got my wii and got Time Splitters Future Perfect and Enter The Matrix for it. Wouldn't surprise me if it didn't get demo discs seeing as the Wii never got any with the magazine when I was subscribed to it.

[CapitanClassic]

Speaking of which' date=' did the GameCube ever have something similar? Like a mini disc with demos on it? I ask because the demo disc thing was definitely something that separated the new disc based consoles from Nintendo's hardware. [/q']

Nintendo released demo discs for store kiosks. I think they had reps that would swap new ones in every couple of months, or maybe the store employees did it. So, they exist, but in limited quantities (probably only a couple of thousand/10 thousand.

[0078265317]

I have some dreamcast demos somewhere.

[Classic Pac]

Since everyone is talking about their collection...I been collecting demos before I even owned a PS1. I have all the original Playstation Jampacks from Volume 1 to the Summer 2001 issue. I also have all the Playstation Undergrounds all 15 volumes. In addition I have Sony's Interactive CD Sampler Volume 1, and 9 other early demos one is red the other is green Playstation Picks CD and CD Interactive volume 9. Square Soft, Nuclear Strike, Legend of Legaia, Medieval, Tomba!, Ascii, OPM discs 1 to 33

 

As for the PS2 Playstation Underground Holiday 2001, Syphon Filter The Mega Strain, as well as PS2 Jampacks 7,11,14

 

If anyone like to trade, just message me

[PianoMan343]

Wow there's a lot more to the demo disc scene than I was expecting!

[Classic Pac]

They even made one for the PSP

[high voltage]

They look cool! Don't remember ever seeing anything like that being sold on its own here in the UK, only remember disc being given with the magazines. From what I remember at the time the PS2 and XBOX both got demo discs with their magazines but don't remember ever seeing anything for the gamecube, though I never really paid any attention to the gamecube until I got my wii and got Time Splitters Future Perfect and Enter The Matrix for it. Wouldn't surprise me if it didn't get demo discs seeing as the Wii never got any with the magazine when I was subscribed to it.

Here's some UK Game Cube demo disks:

 

G Force magazine

 

 

 

 

Future Publishing Game Cube magazine.

 

 

I think both didn't last long.

 

 

 

Here's some USA Underground Jampack for PS

 

 

 

 

Here's some UK shop demo CDs for PS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's UK Sony pro/PSX pro magazine disks:

 

 

 

 

UK Station magazine cover disks

 

Edited December 28, 2016 by high voltage

[xenomorpher]

Wow, I had no idea there was a demo disc of Alien Trilogy! Is it PAL or NTSC? That was my second game I owned for the Playstation, and I still have it. Now I'll have to hunt one down.

[PianoMan343]

Oh yeah I remember some of those! Aren't the gamecube ones just DVD Videos?

[high voltage]

Wow, I had no idea there was a demo disc of Alien Trilogy! Is it PAL or NTSC? That was my second game I owned for the Playstation, and I still have it. Now I'll have to hunt one down.

PAL

 

 

Oh yeah I remember some of those! Aren't the gamecube ones just DVD Videos?

I think you're right, never even checked them out.

[Eltigro]

Found those 3D glasses...

[Yakumo1975]

I was obsessed with collecting Japanese Saturn demo discs, so much so that I own every Japanese Saturn magazine demo disc as well as the complete set of Japanese Saturn Flash discs. There's about 30 or so in total. Some of the discs contain beta code of games too which is nice to see. There's even footage of unreleased games.

[Nesha]

On 12/25/2016 at 5:56 PM, Classic Pac said:

I collect demos, and I even trade

Do you buy them? I have a lot of them still in plastic with the magazines never use