There was "Warcraft Special Edition" that came part of the Creative Wave Blaster II Game Pak. As far as I can tell, it sits in between the Warcraft shareware and the full thing. It looks to me that it is really a full blown Warcraft but stripped of a few levels yet have much more levels than the shareware version. There's even the FMVs in it too, which the shareware doesn't have.

The WB2 also came with Descent Destination Saturn. I never really played it as I wasn't really a Descent fan, but the license agreement/readme does say it isn't shareware. So it might be like the Warcraft also. I don't know anything about it!

Yeah, OEM editions were common back then to do that kind of thing. Descent 2 and 3 also had crippled OEM versions (I have one from a Stealth 3D 2000, and one from a 3dfx gamepad)

leileilol wrote:

Yeah, OEM editions were common back then to do that kind of thing. Descent 2 and 3 also had crippled OEM versions (I have one from a Stealth 3D 2000, and one from a 3dfx gamepad)

Those were the good old days when you could build a computer and your software library at the same time. I remember I wouldn't buy a piece of hardware back then unless it came with bonuses included. Too few companies do that anymore.

I remember the Lemmings 2 demo featured some rather clever concepts that didn't make it into the full game. It only featured two tribes – Circus and Medieval – but they had distinctive Armageddon animations instead of the same everything-becomes-an-Exploder like in the original Lemmings. I guess some people found the old way to have its own charms, but I think the full version could have used some more touches to make the tribes more distinctive.

Gemini000 wrote:

In the shareware version of One Must Fall 2097, since you can't select Raven to play as, he's been turned into the final boss and given a substantial boost in stats, thus hiding the nature of the ACTUAL final boss.

The early beta version of OMF ditched the robots entirely, but I guess that doesn't really count as a "demo".

yeah the omfbeta's just intended as a foot stuck in the online audience lake.

DonutKing wrote:

I'm going to resist the urge to make a fart joke, but what exactly are ASS timbres? 🤣

So is the 1.2 version using OPL3 and 1.3 using OPL2? Or are they using some sort of different 'library' or 'bank' of FM synth timbres?
I've always wondered what the reasons for the change was.

I know of a photo that would go perfect with the ass timbres thing but I'd probably get banned for linking it. 🤣

See this old thread for more:

Demos /w "Extra Stuff"

I think if you buy a game based on the demo that was released and it differs considerably from the demo you played, then you should be entitled to ask for your money back if you don't like it even if it's open. They got you to buy under false pretenses. 😠

The TIE Fighter demo is based on X-Wing and has different art, music and sound effects. The gameplay is one super long mission. It also has a neat interactive Dodge Neon showcase because apparently Dodge gave LucasArts some money? I got this with a magazine. Came on 2 floppies.

The Dark Forces demo has a Secret Base map with a number of differences from the final game.

I'm almost positive that Little Big Adventure 2 also had a demo with a few inaccessible or non existent locations in the final release.

Yeah, LBA2 demo had some locations with diferent positioned enemies (some quite dificult if i recall)

Another game demo thats entirely diferent from the final release is Fallout, the demo has its own city with its own storyline, also many mechanics on the final game are in a more "primitive" state in the demo.

The original Lemmings also had demos that weren't like the game...
Xmas Lemmings 1991
Xmas Lemmings 1992
Holliday Lemmings 1993
Holliday Lemmings 1994

I'm not sure if this counts but the Age of Empires: Rise of Rome demo campaigns weren't in the retail version (and frankly I found them to be more fun to play than the retail's campaigns).

Agreed, the 3 RoR demo levels were quite good.

The game Urban Assault published by microsoft 1998
Missions from the demo version (First Blood, Raging Steel and Sturmfront) are not included in the full version.

The Left 4 Dead beta (which unfortunately is no longer available) had completely different graphics in the levels that were much more realistic and darker, different sounds, different reload animations, Louis was a bum, and Francis was fat.

I've played the L4D beta in the day and it wasn't that different at all.

El-Fish demo came with a unique preset fishtank that used the game's distinctive logo as decor. You could, however, "transplant" it into the full version without trouble.

Here's a video of the L4D beta http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJAr-yo-z94 it's quite different in general. I remember it being quite so, and I put a ton of hours into this game (like 4k).