Demo / Attract modes

[jubber]

I always have my BBC Master sitting running in the background of game design meetings for a bit of visual interest (and because I know my audience will be interested) - but it's hard finding games with demo modes. The ones I have found so far -

Palace of Magic (and I think Citadel, Baron and some other castle-based arcade adventures) show various screens from the game
Galaforce and Galaforce 2, because Kevin Edwards Does Things Right
Barbarian 2 I think
Elite - the spinning ship

If anybody knows of any others, I'm all ears!

----------------------------------
Barbarian 2
Galaforce
Galaforce 2
Elite
Citadel
Palace of Magic
Thrust
Manic Miner
Manic Miner 2021 update
Arcadians
Kix
Games from Tricky
Chuckie Egg
Quest
Blagger
Vertigo
Contraption
the superb Citadel 2

[Diminished]

I believe Thrust has one.

[bob147]

Manic Miner (and the rather wonderful fan update, Manic Miner 2021) loops through all the level screens. The Prince of Persia port for the BBC Master has a proper demo of the first level just like the apple II original.

[dixiestoat]

BBC and Elk Arcadians

[ChrisB]

Most of Tricky's games have an attract mode - some are more functional that others. My Night Ninja and Castle Defender both have attract modes as well.

Edit: Sorry - didn't realise this was in the classic games section - assume that's what you are looking for. Kix has a demo mode (press tab at high scores) that plays itself.

[ctr]

Chuckie Egg cycles through the high scores, a random level and the controls.

[bob147]

Quest also cycles through various screens

[TobyLobster]

Blagger shows the different levels I think

[TobyLobster]

Galaforce and Galaforce 2 auto-play the game for an attract mode (with music).

EDIT: Also Vertigo and Contraption.

[Symo]

Blowing my own trumpet a bit but Citadel 2 has a demo mode

[melchett]

Psycastria and Psycastria 2 have demo modes - but neither seems to last long at all. You press 0 from the high score screen. I guess you could put a heavy object on the 0 to keep it playing

[melchett]

1. Codename Droid also has Stryker animated and occasionally shooting.
2. If you have already died in Caveman Capers, he moves around the "press space" text in the middle of the screen.
3. Starclash (if it's allowed) also has a spinning wireframe
4. Vertigo has a demo mode when it first loads, cycles screens
5. Helter Skelter animates the background a little
6. Pro Boxing Simulator / By Fair or Foul Means starts in demonstration mode
7. Nevryon has an animated star field in the backgroud (maybe a stretch this one)
8. Hostages has a nice animated LED like background
9. Star Port has a scrolling "incoming message"
10. Frak! has Trogg appear and a monster and then he says Frak! Then reflows the screen and does the same.
11. UIM has an animated planet Earth.
12. Last Nina has one animated ninja
13. Last Ninja 2 has, um, two animated ninjas
14. Baron cycles through screens nicely
15. Space Blaster animates the asteroids in the background
16. Sphere of Destiny 1 has some cool scrolling loading text (space to continue) and also the animated ground as per SoD 2
17. Sphere of Destiny 2 animates the ground and scrolls a test message
18. Firetrack has the animated boxes on the screen before you hit space
19. Spycat - he occasionally flashes the player!
20. Zenon - animated stars and logo
21. Empire Strikes Back - animated stars and changing screen
22. Ransack has scrolling stars and flashing text
23. Evening Star has a Computer demo mode
24. Omega Orb has a bouncing orb
25. Bonecruncher has an animated Bono
26. Southern Belle has a computer demo mode (but then it's basically the same game as Evening Star
27. Uridium has a short demo between title screens
28. Colourspace will do its own thing if you don't interact with it. Always fun to insert a Yoda.
29. Street Machine has a demo if you wait
30. Bug Eyes II has an animated character at the bottom of the screen
31. Way Of The Exploding Fist will AI fight if you're not playing
32. Flip has a nice rotating logo and moving colours
33. Electrobots screen cycles

Hope that helps.

[jubber]

That's an amazing list - thanks very much! I shall refer to this often.

I also seem to remember a number of firebird games that had long sequences with a barrel organ (or maybe an orchestrion?) as their loading routines.

[Cybershark]

That's an amazing list - thanks very much! I shall refer to this often.

I also seem to remember a number of firebird games that had long sequences with a barrel organ (or maybe an orchestrion?) as their loading routines.

Melvyn Wright's Music Machine!

Yes, this featured on Fat Man Sam, Acid Drops, Bird Strike, Duck!, The Hacker, Acid Drops, Star Drifter (and probably more that I have missed). Each title has a different tune and loops endlessly

[steve3000]

That's an amazing list - thanks very much! I shall refer to this often.

I also seem to remember a number of firebird games that had long sequences with a barrel organ (or maybe an orchestrion?) as their loading routines.

Melvyn Wright's Music Machine!

Yes, this featured on Fat Man Sam, Acid Drops, Bird Strike, Duck!, The Hacker, Acid Drops, Star Drifter (and probably more that I have missed). Each title has a different tune and loops endlessly

Good call, great tunes!

Duck! was actually written by Melvyn Wright himself and has an endless demo/attract mode of the first level, if you press 'D' after loading.

[Beebson]

Elixir - animated story
Balls - scrolling message in both title screens
Zalaga - title has moving stars background
Predator - scrolls jungle scene in titles
Apple Pie - enemies are animated in title screen

[MillieTD83]

Crazee Rider (another Kevin Edwards great!)

Standard version has revving sounds, and flips between main screen and scoreboard. Master/enhanced version has music and demo as well.

[MillieTD83]

Boulderdash is another one.

[SimonSideburns]

A long looping title animation with music playing can be had after loading Powerplay, the game of the gods. Skip past the bit with the A symbol that rotates in 3d vector graphics style, and your next screen is the title animation sequence.

It could possibly get repetitive after a while, but it's interesting (and actually more fun than the game if you ask me).

[chrisn]

JCB Digger has a demo mode, where the digger drives around very randomly.

[kieranhj]

The Prince of Persia port for the BBC Master has a proper demo of the first level just like the apple II original.

Anecdotal aside: for quite a while the Beeb version of the underlying game ‘simulation’ wasn’t frame perfect compared to the Apple II version, so more often than not the kid would get beaten in the fight or pushed into the void during the attract mode.

[scarybeasts]

Few more:

Acornsoft Chess (you can make it play itself)
Barbarian
Breakthrough
Joey
Meteors
Missile Control
Mouse Trap
Starship Command
Syncron
Tarzan (Alligata)
Vindaloo
Wizzy's Mansion


Love this thread, I use these cases to drive improvements to fast emulation.

[MillieTD83]

Future Shock I believe flips through screens too if left to its own devices for long enough.

[scarybeasts]

I keep finding new good ones.

Ultron is pretty good. Can't say it's one I played "back in the day"

[Cybershark]

Crypt Capers - the current High Score Challenge game - has an attract mode

[lovebug]

my lady bug game has a very limited attract screen of animated enemies and lady bug driving around the screen and pausing to look at the enemies

[scarybeasts]

Crypt Capers - the current High Score Challenge game - has an attract mode

That's another good one!
I'm keeping a coalesced list here: https://github.com/scarybeasts/beebjit/ ... peed_demos

[Diminished]

Frankenstein 2000 has an attract mode, but you need the Atlantis V2 "Remix Version", rather than the earlier (Icon) version.

[MarkMoxon]

Elite - the spinning ship

Even better is the 6502 Second Processor version of Elite, which has a Star Wars-esque scroll text demo. It can be triggered by simply waiting (in which case it repeats every few minutes), or you can start it manually by pressing TAB from the title screen with the rotating ship.

The unofficial Executive version also has the demo and jumps straight into it on loading, but only the official 6502SP version has the correct wording.

And there’s the demo disc of the original BBC Micro disc version, which does nothing but play itself.

Mark

[chrisn]

Laser Reflex (current game in the high score challenge). The instructions say "If the program is left unattended, it goes into autoplay. Use the Break key to return to the title page."