The Citizen Soapbox is an area where we throw out topics to the users of Citizen Game. When we record the podcast on Sunday night we take the previous week’s Soapbox answers and use them in our own discussions. We think it’s a great way of involving you guys in our stupid arguments!
The Setup:
You can only imagine the damage digital distribution has done to the games magazine industry. Surely the reason any of us bought that Official Playstation Magazine all those years ago was to get access to demo versions of the latest games. They used to cost you a huge chunk of pocket-money, but nowadays a net connection is all you need to play the latest demos for free. Over the years you’ve played hundreds of demos across a wide range of genres and platforms. So let us know which ones left the biggest impression.
The Questions
What are your favourite game demos of all time?
Konami know how to make a good demo
Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2 is probably my most favourite.
Kept playing the same stage over and over again. Definitely must be my most played demo.
It was awesome fun!
Honourable mentions go to MGS1 and MGS3.
Especially MGS3. The beginning cutscene blown me away!
Also, remember those Net yaroze games that came on OPM1 magazine demos?
There was a Space Invaders clone, which was amazing.
Also, I hate demos that have stupid timers!
Oh for me it’s gotta be the original GTA demo on PC and the first TOCA for some reason. Loved that MGS2 demo too, poor old Z.O.E was thrown aside and hardly played. whoops.
RogRodge says:
The ‘Demo 1′ disk that came with the PS1. I played Parappa, Crash Bandicoot, and Ridge Racer on it for hours and hours. Still got the disk too.
Same thing with me and a demo disc I got from a friend when we were 9.It has twisted metal 1,wipeout,original warhawk,
mortal kombat 3 and loaded.It also has fmv,s of destruction derby,descent,NFL gameday and NHL face-off.ONe great disc to bad I stepped on it.
haha, cheers Dan.
Interested to see the mention of demo’s being bundles with consoles. Do you remember the anger when the PS3 was being launched with a demo disk. Seems sort of weird – maybe they just wanted people to experience the PSN Store. XBox360 was bundled with a few arcade games at least.
Not even a question: Crash Time 3.
Saw the article and couldn’t resist so I signed up… Hello Citizen Game Citizen’s!
Showing my age now, demo’s for me will always be the cassette’s on the front of Commodore Format.
The hours lost on loading times alone probably prevent me from being a rocket scientist. Well worth it though.
Think the stand out title’s would have been Terror from the Deep where you hunt Nessie in some weird submersible, and also those bloody mutant camels.
Happy days =D
The ‘Demo 1′ disk that came with the PS1. I played Parappa, Crash Bandicoot, and Ridge Racer on it for hours and hours. Still got the disk too.
well, only 1 demo I played as if it was a full game. Epic Pinball. There was only 1 table and I used to stay up playing this game til dawn with mates. so many times I wished I could play the other tables but there was no Internet back then and it just wan’t possible for a young teenager like it is to get hold of things now.
Still get the urge to make that android live to this day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHRtyuupxy8&feature=related
Most notable is the Marathon (MAC) demo which was my first step into the FPS genre.
I imported a copy of Zone of the Enders just to get the Metal Gear Solid 2 demo. Loved it.
Playstation 2 demo disk, i think it came with the playstation itself.
It included the demo for Dark Cloud that i still long to play ( it was never released in my country)
I remember playing the demo over and over to make more out of it because of the time limit it had
Descent II is by far the best for me, so many hours spend in Filton College playing Descent 2 matches. But if we’re talking about what games could be considered for second…
Shadow Complex – for it’s horrible bug that allowed the full game to be played through using only the demo.
Duke3d/Doom/Quake – for all having crazy fun multiplayer.
If we were to talk about favorite non game demo then I’d have to say WinZip
Two Amiga format demos come to mind:- Total Wormage (Worms) and Sensible Soccer. I played both of these demos to such an extent that i managed to burn out both floppy disks.
The Sensible soccer demo was only a 90 second half between England and Germany. The demo itself took around 3 minutes to load.
I still have a weird PS1 VHS tape with loads of promo footage. I used to watch it every day. Found it on Youtube too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOZr6HXSYKQ
As for demos, I think playing Unreal Tournament for the first time (via PC Gamer coverdisk) was the biggest games related epiphany of my life. I remember shaking with the idea of all the doors this multiplayer focused game would open. Quake 3 was similar (and about the same time) – a demo I bought a graphics card for!
Half Life 1′s “Uplink” demo was fantastic too. May think of some more soon 
The Demo 1 disc that came with the original PlayStation was awesome. Full of game demos and weird tech demos. The best tech demo had a T. Rex walking against a blank background with a list of animations you could trigger. It really showed off the console’s 3D capabilities which were incredible at the time.