The best playable demo of a full price game on a YS/Crash/SU covertape: vote

[PeteProdge]

Here's a massive poll - every playable demo (of full price games) that featured on a magazine covertape given away with the three major British Speccy mags.

Ideally, I'd have you take the actual demo into consideration, but in an age of online abundance where you can freely get ~99% of all ZX Spectrum games, why would you go for the demos when the full thing is available to you? I wouldn't blame you for opting for your sentiment of the full games, I know I'd do the same if there was such a thing as a playable demo of Chaos. Also, you may notice that the links go to the full game and the in-game screenshots are also from the full game. If the screenshot matches with the playable demo - and quite a lot do - that's good, but many don't, and I already spent eons putting this list together, I'm not going to play 103 demos to derive screenshots as well. (And next week - 30 playable demos of budget games.)

Anyway, here's the list of 103 demos...

19 Part 1: Boot Camp (playable demo) by Cascade Games


Addams Family, The (playable demo) by Ocean


Adidas Championship Football (playable demo) by Ocean


Altered Beast (playable demo) by Activision


Armalyte (playable demo) by Thalamus


Astroball (playable demo) by Revelation Software


Athena (playable demo) by Imagine


Atomic Robo-Kid (playable demo) by Activision


Avalanche (playable demo) by CCS


Back To The Future Part II (playable demo) by Image Works


Back To The Future Part III (playable demo) by Image Works


Bard's Tale, The (playable demo) by Electronic Arts


Basil The Great Mouse Detective (playable demo) by Gremlin Graphics


Batman: The Movie (playable demo) by Ocean


Battle Command (playable demo) by Ocean


Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show (playable demo) by Tynesoft


Cabal (playable demo) by Ocean


Captain Blood (playable demo) by Exxos


Chase HQ (playable demo) by Ocean


Chip's Challenge (playable demo) by US Gold


Circus Circus (playable demo) by Martech


Cisco Heat (playable demo) by Image Works


Conman The Barbaric (playable demo) by Elven Adventurers


Cromwell At War 1642-1645 (playable demo) by CCS


Cybernoid II: The Revenge (playable demo) by Hewson


Daley Thompson's Olympic Challenge (playable demo) by Ocean


Dark Side (playable demo) by Incentive


Destiny Mission (playable demo) by Williams Technology


Dominator (playable demo) by System 3


Dominion (playable demo) by Pandora


Double Dragon III: Rosetta Stone, The (playable demo) by Storm Software


Duel, The: Test Drive II (playable demo) by Accolade Inc


Football Manager 3 (playable demo) by Addictive Games


Gazza II (playable demo) by Empire


Gazza's Super Soccer (playable demo) by Empire Software


Hammerfist (playable demo) by Activision


Hero Quest (playable demo) by Gremlin


Hotshot (playable demo) by Addictive Games


Hunt For Red October, The (based on the movie) (playable demo) by Grandslam


Ikari Warriors (playable demo) by Elite


Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade (playable demo) by US Gold


Ivan 'Ironman' Stewart's Super Off Road (playable demo) by Virgin Games


LED Storm (playable demo) by Go!


Last Duel (playable demo) by Go!


Last Ninja 2 (playable demo) by System 3


Lemmings (playable demo) by Psygnosis


Mad Mix Game (playable demo) by Topo Soft


Match Of The Day (playable demo) by Zeppelin Premier


Maze Mania (playable demo) by Hewson


Megaphoenix (playable demo) by Dinamic Software


Midnight Resistance (playable demo) by Ocean


Mystical (playable demo) by Infogrames


NARC (playable demo) by Ocean


Navy Moves (playable demos) by Dinamic


Night Breed (playable demo) by Ocean


Night Shift (playable demo) by US Gold


Operation Thunderbolt (playable demo) by Ocean


Operation Wolf (playable demo) by Ocean


Pac-Land (playable demo) by Grandslam/Quicksilva


Pang (playable demo) by Ocean


Passing Shot (playable demo) by Image Works


Pipe Mania (playable demo) by Empire Software


Pit-Fighter (playable demo) by Domark


Playdays (playable demo) by Friendly Learning


Power Drift (playable demo) by Activision


Predator 2 (playable demo) by Image Works


Puzznic (playable demo) by Ocean


Rambo III (playable demo) by Ocean


Rasputin (playable demo) by Firebird


Real Ghostbusters, The (playable demo) by Activision


Rex (playable demo) by Martech


Robocop (playable demo) by Ocean


Robocop 2 (playable demo) by Ocean


Robozone (playable demo) by Image Works


Rod-Land (playable demo) by Storm Software


SWIV (playable demo) by Storm Software


Sanxion (playable demo) by Thalamus


Savage (playable demo) by Firebird


Scramble Spirits (playable demo) by Grandslam Entertainments


Shadow Of The Beast (playable demo) by Gremlin


Skate Crazy (playable demo) by Gremlin


Skate Or Die (playable demo) by Electronic Arts


Space Crusade (playable demo) by Gremlin


Space Harrier II (playable demo) by Grandslam Entertainments


St Dragon (playable demo) by Storm


Stormlord (playable demo) by Hewson


Street Fighter (playable demo) by US Gold


Switchblade (playable demo) by Gremlin


Techno Cop (playable demo) by Gremlin


Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles (NES game conversion) (playable demo) by Image Works


Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles - The Coin-Op (playable demo) by Image Works


Thunder Blade (playable demo) by US Gold


Thunderjaws (playable demo) by Domark


Total Eclipse (playable demo) by Incentive


Tilt (playable demo) by Linel


Toyota Celica GT Rally (playable demo) by Gremlin


Turrican II (playable demo) by Rainbow Arts


Typhoon (playable demo) by Imagine


Untouchables, The (playable demo) by Ocean


Viz - The Soft Floppy Demo (playable demo) by Virgin Games


War Of The Roses (playable demo) by CCS


World Class Rugby (playable demo) by Audiogenic Software


Xenon (playable demo) by Melbourne House

[PeteProdge]

Has to be Lemmings for me. I don't think I even got the full game though, which would have been a strange decision...

1) Lemmings
2) Hero Quest
3) Rex

Bubbling under, in any old order: Switchblade; Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles - The Coin-Op; Hammerfist; Cybernoid II; Batman: The Movie and The Bard's Tale.

[stupidget]

How come Trantor: The last stormtrooper isn’t on the list? This was one of my all time favourite playable demo’s even if it was just to watch the intro sequence with the amazing tune.

[PeteProdge]

How come Trantor: The last stormtrooper isn’t on the list? This was one of my all time favourite playable demo’s even if it was just to watch the intro sequence with the amazing tune.

It's not a playable demo, it's a rolling demo - ie: unplayable! (The worst type of item on a covertape if you ask me.)

I am doing a poll on rolling demos, in a few weeks time.

Also - the discussion phase for these polls is here. That's where I post my shortlists a week before they get turned into polls and is everyone's opportunity to iron out any mistakes.

[hitm4n]

Rasputin
Mad Mix
Rex

Now, i prefer Mad Mix (and Rex for that matter) as full titles over Rasputin, but Rasputin was the only demo i ever played that made me actually BUY, YES BUY, the full game. I was upset when i found the controls insanely hard to get to grips with and barely got anywhere in the game.

Mad Mix, love it. Great demo, and when i got my hands on the full game, i was overjoyed.

Rex is just cool...

Honorables to Total Eclipse, Pipemania, Darkside.

Was never much of a demo fan though, had quite a few friends with Speccys so was always copying and trading full games.

[equinox]

Hero Quest for me. It's a slow, absorbing turn-based game, so even the demo had plenty of lastability. Also they hadn't finalised the character names so they were called stupid things like BOGROL.

[AndyC]

It's very hard, so I've tried to stick to games I remember playing the demos of back in the day and enjoying. Which, to some extent, excludes those I bought the game of because I'll have forgotten the demo but hey ho.

1) Dominator - I remember loading this one, lots. As a massive R-Type fan I loved the organic look of the demo level. Can't remember ever seeing the game and certainly never bought it, looks like it got a bit slated in a YS review so maybe I was put off.

2) Armalyte - Another fun looking R-Type clone that I definitely played a fair bit. I remember being surprised it was +2A/+3 only at the time, although I do now wonder if the technical issues there are part of the reason the full game never came out - it would've been a nightmare for shops given the average Joe just thought they had a "+2"

3) Atomic Robo-Kid. Another scrolling shooter and another game that never was, which is perhaps why I remember the demo more. Shame it didn't come out as the demo was very colourful and it seemed like it should be a solid conversion.

And there we have it. There are a fair few other very memorable demos, like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, but they mostly stick in my mind for convincing me the game was too crap to spend actual money on!

[jpnz]

Shame the poll is limited to those magazines, missing out the C&VG demo of R-Type

[8BitAG]

I'd come to vote for Lords of Chaos, but after noticing it was missing I checked the relevant magazine and it's down as being an (exclusive?) 4th scenario, not included in the main game. So, I'm guessing that's why it doesn't count as a demo.

[worcestersource]

I'd come to vote for Lords of Chaos, but after noticing it was missing I checked the relevant magazine and it's down as being an (exclusive?) 4th scenario, not included in the main game. So, I'm guessing that's why it doesn't count as a demo.

That was going to be my vote too! I got quite a lot out of that demo/exclusive. My memory recalls it being the first level but I’m now old and unreliable.

Anyway… plenty to choose from here. I’m voting based on what I would have replayed.

1 Cybernoid II
2 Space Crusade
3 Rex

[PeteProdge]

Shame the poll is limited to those magazines, missing out the C&VG demo of R-Type

Not a bad point. However, if we included all magazine covertapes with ZX Spectrum content on them, then ACE's demo of Bubble Bobble (just the first five levels) would have been my 1st vote, pushing Lemmings into 2nd and Hero Quest into 3rd. I took ages to save up to buy the full game of Bubble Bobble. Absolutely no regrets, it's still astonishing, and is also really good on practically any platform (albeit I think it's a bit screen-push on one of the hand-helds, IIRC, because of the resolution).

[PeteProdge]

I'd come to vote for Lords of Chaos, but after noticing it was missing I checked the relevant magazine and it's down as being an (exclusive?) 4th scenario, not included in the main game. So, I'm guessing that's why it doesn't count as a demo.

Yep, exactly that.

There will be a poll for ''Special Edition' Games That Are Like Playable Demos Yet Offer An Experience Fairly Exclusive From The Full Game, once I can come up with a more succinct term! Currently, the shortlist is:

Dan Dare II: SU Edition by Virgin Games
Lords Of Chaos (playable demo) by Blade Software
Dizzy 3 And A Half by Code Masters
Seymour - Take One! by Code Masters

[equinox]

There will be a poll for ''Special Edition' Games That Are Like Playable Demos Yet Offer An Experience Fairly Exclusive From The Full Game, once I can come up with a more succinct term!

Promos?

[Timmy]

Lots of great choices, so I'll start highlighting the demos that I've played a lot.

Batman: Nothing special, but just a nice exploration game from the first level. Still, I've played it quite a bit.

Cybernoid II: A lovely demo that I've played a long time, not as much as the main game, but that's because Dustin was really good as well. Did I mention this demo is an exclusive level?

Dark Side: The demo was obviously still very innovative when it was released. Although this demo only contained a couple of rooms of the main game, there was a lot of stuff to do. I've played it a lot more, compared to the Last Ninja demo on the same tape.

Midnight Resistance: Compared to the rest of the tape with Tank and Destiny Mission, this was the highlight of the tape with its first level. If you have played this game then I don't need to exaplain why.

Rex: Another exclusive level demo, which is nice. Even if I remember I played the Mad Mix demo on the same tape more. (Which is a good thing as the full game was Orbix, and that was just not very good.) This Rex level wasn't as good as the real first level though.

Skate Crazy: Another great demo from the skate park part of this game, the better part of the game, too. I played it a lot. (Not as much as the main game Hyper Active on that tape though.)

Stormlord: was also a great demo that showed it is possible to do a fast and colourful horizontal scroller back then. The demo was a bit different from the main game, even the main character didn't look like the main character from the full version. This was also an exclusive level too.

There are a lot more demos I could talk about, but I'm tired now.

=======

But before I stop, let's do a vote first (which is going to be completely unfair given the many great choices here):

1) Cybernoid II
2) Dark Side
3) Skate Crazy

Honorable Mention goes to:

*) Denizen, which was on a covertape and was described as a full game, and I finished that one on that tape.
Imagine years later, when I found out the covertape was only part 1, and the real game actually was a multi-load.

[PeteProdge]

Cybernoid II: A lovely demo that I've played a long time, not as much as the main game, but that's because Dustin was really good as well. Did I mention this demo is an exclusive level?
[...]
Rex: Another exclusive level demo, which is nice.

Rats.

I did have a discussion phase on this, and nobody brought up the fact Cybernoid II and Rex's representations fitted the (cumbersomely named) ''Special Edition' Games That Are Like Playable Demos Yet Offer An Experience Fairly Exclusive From The Full Game category, rather than a typical playable demo.

Those are quite glaring flaws in this poll.

I'm considering rerunning the whole poll afresh now. Tsk.

[RWAC]

1 Midnight Resistance
2 Avalanche
3 Mystical

[Timmy]

Rats.

I did have a discussion phase on this, and nobody brought up the fact Cybernoid II and Rex's representations fitted the (cumbersomely named) ''Special Edition' Games That Are Like Playable Demos Yet Offer An Experience Fairly Exclusive From The Full Game category, rather than a typical playable demo.

Those are quite glaring flaws in this poll.

I'm considering rerunning the whole poll afresh now. Tsk.

Didn't we had the Cybernoid II conversation a while ago? I thought it was related to that thread.

Anyway. I did saw the thread, but I still felt this was the way going forward. To find out if any of the demos had levels from the official release, I would have to play all of them, as well as the full release to verify. With this amount of games, that is not going to work.

Besides the fact that I already got tired after writing about 7 of them.

PS. Also it was very hard to decipher what kind of games you actually wanted. I was reading the first post of this page and again I couldn't figure out these games were supposed to be part of the released version. The current list still fits the "The best playable demo of a full price game on a YS/Crash/SU covertape" title, too.

[Morkin]

1. Ikari Warriors
2. Last Ninja II
3. Dark Side

Played the Ikari Warriors demo to death. Possibly even more than the game when I finally got it.

I suppose Last Ninja II wasn't quite as good a game as I expected when I came round to playing the full game, but I remember being wowed by the detailed and atmospheric iso graphics and loved running around fighting.

Had seen screenshots of Dark Side but I was excited to play the demo to actually see the graphics moving. OK, so it's a bit sluggish, but I enjoyed mooching around the solid 3D world.

[Mpk]

Poll's too big. Break it up into a series.

[Matt_B]

1. The Bard's Tale
2. Heroquest
3. Ivan 'Ironman' Stewart's Super Off Road

[Daveysloan]

It's odd, there's 3 games there where I have definite memories of playing the absolute heck out of the demos & really enjoying them, but never getting the full game (19, Skate Crazy & Mad Mix)

All 3 I got to play through emulation years later & was pretty disappointed with.

[Pobulous]

In terms of how often I loaded them up for a play, I'd say:

1. Skate Crazy
2. Ikari Warriors
3. Xenon

However, the most useful thing a playable demo can do for me is highlight games that maybe get decent reviews, but that you personally don't get on with.
On that scale, Stormlord, Turrican, and TMHT would be up there.

[PeteProdge]

Didn't we had the Cybernoid II conversation a while ago? I thought it was related to that thread.

Ah, probably during the Covertape Wars polls. Which feels like an eon ago.

PS. Also it was very hard to decipher what kind of games you actually wanted. I was reading the first post of this page and again I couldn't figure out these games were supposed to be part of the released version. The current list still fits the "The best playable demo of a full price game on a YS/Crash/SU covertape" title, too.

I've been doing some thinking over it, and I'll let this poll carry on for now, and then probably reissue it without Cybernoid II and Rex, at a later date.

[PeteProdge]

Poll's too big. Break it up into a series.

Ironically enough, it has been!

My first thought was to throw in every playable demo from a YS/Crash/SU covertape, but that - at 138 entries - goes above the phpBB poll limits, so I've broken it into full price and budget. And yeah, it is still quite huge on the full price side. I could break it down into YS, Crash and SU, but feels tooclose to the Covertape Wars polls.

The big problem I'm gonna run into is when I hit the Re-released Full Price Games category, as that's the biggest of them all. My working out has it standing at 238 entries, so that needs to be broken down somehow.

[Lethargeek]

but IIRC Rex demo isn't actually playable, it's just an animation (~rzx)