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[IbizaPocholo]

12 hours of recorded PS1 demo footage later, and here Caddy is, making a ridiculous 33 minute epic about the history and majesty of PlayStation demo discs.

Who remembers the magic of a PlayStation Demo Disc? I do. The UK never had access to PlayStation Underground, which was a virtual magazine series in the US that shipped a brand new PS1 demo to you every quarter of the year from a subscription - but we DID have access to the monthly Official UK PlayStation Magazine - or OPM.

This series of magazines bundled in an exclusive UK PS1 demo disc every month with the latest games, trailers and exclusive behind-the-scenes video footage at a low price. You also got some brilliant examples of a ps1 demo disc menu and even the best ever ps1 demo disc music - seriously, the soundtrack for these demos was insane. So much nostalgia. I even take a brief look at the XBOX Exhibition discs and even the OPS2M demo discs - or more accurately, the Official UK PlayStation 2 demo discs. Yeah, it eventually transitioned into a official PS2 magazine demo disc and then eventually onto an official UK PS3 demo disc, but we’re getting way ahead of ourselves. I miss demos.

Did anyone check out the MediEvil PS4 demo? From the MediEvil PS4 trailer? I even did a MediEvil remake review that you can see on the card in the video. You know, it you really want to see a slightly older MediEvil PS4 review. Anyway, as I said at the start of this demo disc video description, this video took me a LONG time to make. 12 hours of footage and over 200 individual trailer/gameplay demos I recorded, and here we are with a MASSIVE 32 minute review about the brilliance of PS Demo Discs. Hope you enjoy it, it surely was a journey for me. Get ready for my video about the disgusting world of video game magazines from PlayStation very soon!

 

[EctoPrime]

The demo for Motorhead was annoying to play. I think you needed to hold down certain buttons while in the loading screen otherwise it would launch into a rolling demo.
The demo discs for the Xbox 360 had far more effort put into them than the Ps3 discs in comparison.

 

[Mattyp]

Still have 40+ PS1 demo discs easily, remember loving when you got the Yaroze? home brew on them.

 

[Gavin Stevens]

Oh man, I used to love those demos disks you got with offices PlayStation mag. They were incredible. Old builds of the game, and sometimes you could even use action replay to cheat and get the full game.

Man, that’s an experience I miss... I hate how demos just died off Same as cheat codes...

 

[Meowzers]

I have a bad memory with PS1 demo disks.

I once put one on my PS1..then sat down and accidentally sat on my 8 week old puppy.

I was 12. Forgive me.

 

[captainraincoat]

fond memories of buying a UK official ps2 magazine and putting in the demo disc and someone had a mixup at the printing factory as the disc was a porno called Bi and Beyond
i sent a letter and the disc off to the UK to ask wtf and i never heard back

DId anyone else get this educational disc in their official PlayStation UK magazine?

 

[EightBit Man]

I have fond memories of the Official UK PlayStation Magazine, but others as well, like PlayStation Power and Play.

So many demos.

 

[EightBit Man]

The demo for Motorhead was annoying to play. I think you needed to hold down certain buttons while in the loading screen otherwise it would launch into a rolling demo.

Surely brings back memories...



Never got the game, but I was quite impressed by the smooth demo at the time.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

I think the proliferation of demo discs played a big role in the PS1's success. Renting was still around, but being able to try out several games for the price of a magazine was truly revolutionary (considering the limitations at the time).

 

[StreetsofBeige]

My PS1 was actually a used system that came in a crumbled box. Whomever owned it kept the system in good shape, but the box was a trainwreck???

It still had the demo disc. Tons of demos and the MGS trailer. Played Tekken 2 demo and F1 the most. I never knew there were so many demo discs.



I think it had this on it too? I remember seeing it somewhere.

 

[Grinchy]

I only had the one that came with my PS1. I remember it having Warhawk and Assault Rigs demos on it. I played every single demo on that disc like 5+ times easily.

 

[Benjamin_MFF]

Such a fan of this type of discovery. I collected the Official Playstation Magazine demo discs and had a blast!

 

[HolyTruth]

Where is the demo with the dinosaur?

 

[GymWolf]

I loved demo disk back in the day.

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

The demos were gold back in the day, because that how I found out about most new games. There was no Reddit, google or 10.000 gaming forums. Today tho, I barely ever download a demo. The concept just doesnt work for me anymore, I cant tell if the game is gonna be fun after only 1 level. So I always buy based on my expectation and reviews.

 

[EctoPrime]

Some PlayStation games even included hidden demos. The Crash Bandicoot titles starting with the third game include Spyro demos and Spyro the Dragon games include Crash demos all of which are activated with button codes. Tony Hawk 2 includes a Matt Hoffman bmx demo that can be accessed through the options menu while Akuji the Heartless includes a demo of Soul Reaver.

Seems nuts that somebody at Sony Europe thought naming half a dozen significantly different demo discs "Demo 1" was a good idea.
Did any Pal demo discs promote the Ps2 at all? One of the US PlayStation Underground discs included the entire Metal Gear Solid 2 trailer.

A few links to that demo list site featured in the video Demo 1 page the Official Pal magazine list and the Master list page.

 

[EightBit Man]

This one was so full of good previews, I ended up buying more than half the games included on it. Wouldn't have happened without it.

• Actua Golf
• Adidas Power Soccer
• Battle Arena Toshinden 2
• Crash Bandicoot
• Descent
• Destruction Derby 2
• Die Hard Trilogy
• Formula 1
• Monster Trucks
• Ridge Racer Revolution
• Tekken 2
• Wipeout 2097
• Broken Sword

 

[Slateee]

remember when they included imports on some of the Playstation Magazine demo discs but they were hidden in a seperate section than the regular playable demos?
On the disc for issue #69 in 2003 there was a demo for a japan-only game called Space Fisherman (which is the katamari damacy of fishing games) and I hunted for years to find the full game! I'm proud to say that after 17 years of searching, I finally found the ISO online!!!

has anyone else played a game on any playstation demo disc that they were never able to get there hands on??

 

[Slayer-33]

I still have the ones that came with the console itself (somehow got many) a bunch of opm ones and jampacks, really loved the demo discs.

 

[UnNamed]

Memories.

Remember when I was a huge Nintendo Fanboy waiting for the N64 release, and everybody were overhyped about this new Nintendo dream machine capable of such incredible things.

Then my brother brought a PS1 borrowed from a friend, with DEMO 1 inside. First game I played, Wipeout 2097. Those transparency, they said only N64 do that, and look at that texture, you barely see the pixelation on CRT. But... but... bilinear filtering...who cares when texture are so defined. And then Tekken2 ( the slowdown-ed PAL version ) RRR, and Die Hard, a game I played tons of times.

Six months later, I bought a PSX, who cares about N64 anymore.

 

[ROMhack]

The Net Yaroze one with like 30 games was the best. It had gems like this absolute piece of shit:




Loved it as a kid though. The translation is amazing.

 

[K.N.W.]

When I bought my PS1, the inclued demo disc had the best selction of games ever:

Bust A Groove (Ok, maybe this itn's so great)
Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped
Gran Turismo
Medievil
Kula World (!)
Spyro The Dragon
Tekken 3
Tombi (!)
Tomb Raider 3
Metal Gear Solid (Video)

No wonder how I became such a big nerd LOL

Then I got the Registered Users Demo with Abe's Exoddus, and then my third demo disc included:

The Net Yaroze one with like 30 games was the best. It had gems like this absolute piece of shit:




Loved it as a kid though. The translation is amazing.

Net Yaroze and Metal Gear FTW

Nowadays I collect those things, I've got:

Demo 1 (PBPX 95001)
2x Demo 1 (PBPX 95007)
Demo 1 (PBPX 95008)
Demo Disc (SCED 01441)
Registered Users Demo (SCED 01636)
Euro Demo 59
Euro Demo 61
Euro Demo 68
Next Demo 4
2x Demo (SCED 02417)

 

[Alexios]

 

[ROMhack]

Get the heck outta here Sega boy

 

[stranno]

Mine was the European Demo One v5 (SCED-00816). With:

- Overboard!: Exclusive level with the setting from the second chapter of the final game and a mixture of traps from the entire game.
- Disney's Hercules: The third level of the final game (Thebes).
- Abe's Oddysey: The first level of the game, until the first exit of Rupture Farms.
- Rapid Racer: Three laps in Golden Suns (Miami) track. Time counter can be stopped pressing R2 in the sound menu, but only in the US version (afaik).
- Porsche Challenge: EEUU circuit, short version, three laps.
- Rage Racer: Single lap in Mythical Coast circuit, 10 minutes of time limit.
- Kurushi: You can play level 2 and 4 from the final game, but since levels are procedurally generated ... well, you can play endlessly.
- Lifeforce Tenka: Single level. I havent played the final game so I'm not sure what level is.

I have done an interactive cover with some footage from my console. Unfortunately Rapid Racer demo doesnt seem to work with PSIO (retail game works fine).

 

[ArthriticZombie]

I've got a TON of PS1 demo discs, well over a hundred. I even have the developer disc with the T-Rex. I put them all on eBay last year and couldn't even get $20 for the lot. Also had most of the demo discs from the Official Xbox Magazine in that lot too. I absolutely HOARDED demo discs back in the day.

 

[Orta]

Still waiting on the infamous Lobotomy Software demo disc