Picture the scene: it’s January 1996 – an eye-rolling 25-years ago – and you’re gawking at the non-interactive WipEout demo included with the first copy of The Official PlayStation Magazine. The so-called “rolling demo” technically wasn’t playable – but what if we told you there actually was a way to commandeer those polygonal aircrafts you spent hours staring at?
As revealed in a future issue of the aforementioned magazine – and lost to the annals of time – booting the PS1’s infamous Demo 1 then swapping the disc mid-session allowed you to take control of Psygnosis’ rolling demo. Presumably it’s some kind of memory bug which unlocks the controls, and the exploit obviously still works to this very day.
Alright, it’s not the most mind-blowing story we’re going to post in 2021, but we figured this was a fun hack that deserved a few virtual column inches, lest it get forgotten. Do you miss the days of demo discs and weird little unpatchable exploits like this? Finish first as Feisar in a demo you weren’t ever supposed to play in the comments section below.
[ Thanks, Martin ]
Comments 28
The demo disc music is a bop.
Amazing memories. Jumping Flash, Loaded and ESPN Xtreme Sports were also treasured snippets.
As was the interactive T-Rex and Stingray...
@deathaxe that's really made me smile. Cheers for sharing.
Man those early demo discs were great. Always remember the Dinosaur and the Manta Ray that blew my mind when I was a kid.
I do miss demo discs and shareware and all that. Obviously not much need for it now but this kind of stuff really built up the anticipation. And it's like the lack of constant content made it possible to enjoy what little you did have. Or maybe that was just a product of being young and relying on your parents for stuff. Like I don't know how many times I played the demo for Under a Killing Moon and Full Throttle or the first chapter to Doom.
Anyway, a little off topic I know but good times.
Hey Sammy what is your profile pic from? Thanks.
@deathaxe that's genuinely awesome!
@TechaNinja that's from the film mars attacks, 90s film.
How many people bought the Official PlayStation Magazine only to find someone else stole the demo disc?
I grew up rural and trips to the city always included a stop at Coles, then Chapters in the 90’s. My dad and I could spend 2-3 hours at a time there. Of course I b-lined to the mag section and would read every game magazine (that wasn’t packaged) front to back. I could always pick 1, and built up quite the collection over the years.
For whatever reason, I still vividly remember the Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver demo that confused me so.
I look fondly on those days. As a recent article on this very site mused about, the conversation around video games moves so fast these days, it’s hard to just enjoy anything anymore. Not saying it’s better or worse, just...different.
Net yaroze! I bet a small few still remember those neat little games 😜☺️
@AhabSpampurse
Oh man, LOADED! Been a while since I've thought about that game.
The only demo glitch that I recall was the Viewtiful Joe 2 demo that erased any memory cards inserted into the system. I hated losing my San Andreas progress and starting over. The other games on my card weren't a great loss, but San Andreas was another story.
Wow. That’s pretty cool. There’s both a neatness to knowing everything with the internet these days, and something sad about information not being valuable or less known these days, such that secrets really feel like secrets.
@TechaNinja isnt that from Mars Attacks! ?
I feel like half my time spent with the PS1 was playing demo discs, as a teenager at the time I didn't have money to be buying games but a monthly magazine with several demo's to play, yes please
Yeah, I loved the demo disks. I also remember the demo cassettes that came with Commodore User! I loved going to the newsagents to pick up the latest copy. I remember the demos of Gauntlet, 720°, Uridium etc!
Used to love the demo discs...twisted metal and cool boarders
I remember doing something stupid like this with the US PS1 demo disc vol 2 (I think. It had Demolition Derby on it) and swapping to Resident Evil when loading a demo. It would play cutscenes from Resident Evil if done correctly. It wasn’t meant to do that, but it did. Just reading data from a certain point or something.
@WhiteTrashGuy funnily enough, I went out of my way to get a physical copy of it recently to fire it up. It's still fun 😜
Loved demo discs and hunting the magazines in newsagents. Usually late in my local newsagents and end up travelling to W H Smiths👍😂😂
Still have hundreds of these magazines and discs, from the first mag onwards. I doubt the discs still work though. I must have spent more time on the smash court tennis demo disc than any actual game baring FF7. Good memories
RIP to most gaming magazines and their demo discs.
I remember the first Grand Theft Auto on the pc could be "cracked" by installing the demo and copy and pasting over a single ".ini" file. This kept the no cd status of the demo, but removed the action that ended the demo early after the first level.
After realising this, will never forget the excitement of me and my mates excitedly pedalling around to all our houses with the PC Zone demo disk after our paper rounds.
Back in 1995 or 96, a friend of mine got a PSX (rare thing in Poland at the time) and this was the only disc he had for months. Still the best gaming experience we had back then and probably why I've always gone with Playstation later (starting with a PS2 I got pretty late in its generation). PS2's price in Poland at launch was ridiculous btw - almost twice the US price.
Edit: I checked some data - the price of a PSX in Poland when it launched here in January 1996 was twice as high as the average monthly income. Things have definitely changed for the better since then.
I had the red demo 1 disc that came with The T rex 3d model to just mess around with. I think it had destruction derby and medievil as well, friend got his for Christmas as well as me and he got the orange demo 1 disc. And you could fill out the form and send off for another but they never arrived think you can get them all on eBay as there was about 5 I think.
@Bingbongboyo Ha, ha! You're showing your age now!
I seem to remember one of the Spectrum mags had included on its tape a pre-loader for Jet Set Willy to stop most of the crashes!
So that's what we did before Day 1 download patches...?!
@sanderson72 haha! Yup, getting up there now! I remember that Jet Set Willy patch! My mate had a Spectrum!
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