Convincing demos

[celerystalker]

I remember when I got my Saturn and Playstation, I played the heck out of the pack-in demo discs. The Interactive Sampler 8 with my PS1 easily convinced my that I needed to own Metal Gear Solid, but oddly enough caught me on NFL Xtreme as well. The Bootleg Sampler that came with my Saturn piqued my interest in The Mansion of Hidden Souls. Later, the Metal Gear Solid 2 demo with Zone of the Enders hooked me for that game, and the Santa mission of Toy Commander with an Official Dreamcast Magazine disc got me on that one.

Any good stories of when a demo did its job on you?

[Niku-Sama]

PlayStation underground demos usually had some killer game to play plus often times had demos of import games on them. I remember a Macross game that i played the shit out of that i wish i could remember so i could buy a copy

[celerystalker]

PlayStation underground demos usually had some killer game to play plus often times had demos of import games on them. I remember a Macross game that i played the shit out of that i wish i could remember so i could buy a copy

It was probably Macross VF-X2. Cool game.

[mailman187666]

I used to play the 3DO demo discs all the time. They were cheap enough where I could afford them using my allowance, and the gameplay was satisfying enough to keep me entertained during my middle school years. Not to mention they had the memory manager software, and I also ended up getting certain games for Christmas because I loved the demos.

[Tanooki]

Hate to admit it but I can't think of anything recent or in much of a long time other than maybe Metroid Prime Hunters. That demo sold me on the DS potential big time and having thought a game of that was coming sooner than it did I was hooked, shame the made the game a lame run and gun FPS with weird AI and other odd quirks but it still was fairly solid (prefer MP Pinball instead.) If you blow that off though, I never was 'in' the racket as Nintendo did that stuff, ever, other than maybe whoring up stuff in print or giving away Dragon Warrior. I got into Sony in the PS2 era around 02, so those demo discs were too late to care too. What it really amounts to and I know this group has the age to it, PC, DOS in particular all the way -- aka: SHAREWARE or FREEWARE that was bait for a sequel. I remember my first 2 PC games were both a DEMO DISC (3.5") and a big box game -- Wolfenstein-3D and Konami's screwy Simpsons Arcade Game conversion. I played the hell out of Wolfie for years, eventually I did grab the other episodes, and iD knew their shit just like Apogee. It sold me on buying up stuff like the 2 DOOM games, Spear of Destiny, Duke Nukem (1-2 and 3D), Solar Winds and Silverball from Epic and various others I'm sure I'll probably remember later.

The PC is where I was only really ever convinced to buy something, they did it the RIGHT way with shareware. The console industry never really did it right. Often the M.O. was to slap some beta demo together and in the end not much handled, played like, or at times even ended up in the final product which to me when I saw it amounted to bait and switch seeing others gripe online or moan about it around me as you were stuck once stores decided to take up the Gamestop/Babbages new motto of fuck the consumer, no returns, claim everyone has a copier device or a CD burner as an excuse to trap people. The PC didn't have to deal with that crap per-say, sure warez was rampant, but so many of the games even in the BBS era ended up with shareware downloads or discs at old computer shops so you really had to sell yourself or die as a game maker.

[YoshiM]

I played a lot of Dreamcast demos followed by Original Xbox demos. I rarely ever bought the full games because either the game was entertaining enough just as a demo or I got burned too many times where the game sucked compared to the demo. This happened more with the Xbox than the Dreamcast.

[SpaceHarrier]

It was probably Macross VF-X2. Cool game.

I've only played the demo, and thought it was fun, good looking, and the music was fantastic. Magazine reviews crapped all over it though, so I never gave it a proper chance..

Games I had to own after playing or watching a demo disc:

Battle Arena Toshinden (PS1) - playable demo -store kiosk-
Loaded (PS1) - playable demo
Warhawk (PS1) - playable demo --I think?--
MTV Music Generator (PS1) - playable demo
Rally Cross (PS1) - playable demo
San Francisco Rush 2049 - playable demo -store kiosk-
Phantasy Star Online (Dreamcast) - video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcLXOMNIsqE
Dead or Alive 2 (Dreamcast) - playable demo
Sonic Adventure 2 (Dreamcast) - playable demo --though I was likely sold on this already, having loved the original--
Rogue Squadron II (Gamecube) - playable demo -store kiosk-
Castlevania: Lament of Innocence - playable demo
Panzer Dragoon Orta (Xbox) - playable demo -store kiosk-
Devil May Cry 3 (PS2) - video
Tomodachi Life (3ds) - playable demo

Not sure if the store kiosks should all count, some might have just been the full game that got put in to show off the system.