Extending the demo

Many demo discs have hidden extra content on them. Rather than remove everything that’s not part of the preview, developers add superficial limitations to prevent you from accessing certain game features. A little bit of reverse engineering can often let you explore beyond the restrictions.

Furthermore, a lot of of demo discs are built before the final game. They often therefore have extra debugging features present and references to elements that don’t make it into the retail release.

Here is a collection of articles I’ve written about patching demo discs to allow exploration of prototype builds.

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Sega Saturn

• Anarchy in the Nippon

• Burning Rangers

• Dark Savior

• Fighting Force

• Fighting Vipers

• Gebockers

• Last Bronx

• Layer Section II

• Panzer Dragoon

• Rabbit

• Saturn Bomberman

• Silhouette Mirage

• Sonic Jam

• Swagman

• Street Fighter Zero 2

• The House of the Dead

• Thunder Force V

• Touge King the Spirits 2

• Vatlva

• Virtua Fighter Kids

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Sega Dreamcast

• Aerowings

• Frame Gride

• Metropolis Street Racer

• SoulCalibur

• Super Magnetic Neo

• Surf Rocket Racers

• The House of the Dead 2

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Sony PlayStation

• Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX

• Destruction Derby

• Micro Maniacs Racing

• Motor Toon Grand Prix 2

• Ms. Pac-Man: Maze Madness

• Project Horned Owl

• Psybadek

• Ridge Racer

• Shutokou Battle R

• Steel Reign

• Tales of Destiny

• Tales of Eternia & Tales of Phantasia

• Test Drive 5

• Vs

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In other media

There’s a discussion of hidden content on demo discs in the second half of this episode of the Hidden Palace podcast:

Hidden Palace Podcast, episode 2: Greatest Hits & Demo Discs

And there’s even more in this episode:

Hidden Palace Podcast, episode 5: Demo disc deep dive