Game wishlist

[MrFlibble]

Just located the demo of Zombie Wars, the sequel to Halloween Harry a.k.a. Alien Carnage. [Added to the site]
Download Zombie Wars Shareware Demo

[DOSGuy]

Nope, there is no playable demo of Prince of Persia. That is the full version of the game. Many of the so-called demos on cd.textfiles.com are illegal, full copies of games. The giveaway that they are retail software (besides the fact that the games are completable) is that they contain no order form, no in-game ordering information, and make no attempt to sell you a full version of the game upon exit. I had to pull one of the ISOs from the compilation section because it had illegal full version software on it.

There also doesn't appear to be a playable demo of Prince of Persia 2. Again, there's no order form, no in-game order screen, and no nag screen when you exit the game. It's easier to justify this one as being a demo because it doesn't appear to be possible to jump onto the ship at the end of the pier (I've been trying for years), but it doesn't make any sense that the creators would give no indication that this was a demo, and not write anything into the game to try to sell you the full version. If it was a demo, you would successfully board the ship and, instead of going to Level 2, you would get a screen promoting the full version of the game. Even it is a demo, I need to see some kind of license that says that this so-called demo is legal to distribute, and I've never found a Prince of Persia 2 "demo" that came with one.

[leilei]

Other things to watch out are CDs with Star Goose and BlockOut

Compilaiton cds often pack the full versions of those...

be careful of those many hexed full version games that advertise themselves as 'PUBLIC DOMAIN' from the early-to-mid 80s.

I've seen at least one "Prince of Persia 2 demo" allegedly distributed by "Sierra On-line". Last time I checked, it was a Broderbund product.... though attempting the level skip cheat brings me straight to a "THE END" screen telling me to "head to your software dealer". Then the demo repeats.

[MrFlibble]

Nope, there is no playable demo of Prince of Persia. That is the full version of the game. Many of the so-called demos on cd.textfiles.com are illegal, full copies of games. The giveaway that they are retail software (besides the fact that the games are completable) is that they contain no order form, no in-game ordering information, and make no attempt to sell you a full version of the game upon exit. I had to pull one of the ISOs from the compilation section because it had illegal full version software on it.

Ouch, I'm so sorry I linked to the files without checking, on the premise they'd be okay. But there is a playable, two level demo of Prince of Persia:
Download Prince of Persia Demo at DOS Museum
I'm certain you can find it at cd.textfiles.com too, or maybe at the other sites as well.

There also doesn't appear to be a playable demo of Prince of Persia 2. Again, there's no order form, no in-game order screen, and no nag screen when you exit the game. It's easier to justify this one as being a demo because it doesn't appear to be possible to jump onto the ship at the end of the pier (I've been trying for years), but it doesn't make any sense that the creators would give no indication that this was a demo, and not write anything into the game to try to sell you the full version. If it was a demo, you would successfully board the ship and, instead of going to Level 2, you would get a screen promoting the full version of the game. Even it is a demo, I need to see some kind of license that says that this so-called demo is legal to distribute, and I've never found a Prince of Persia 2 "demo" that came with one.

Once again, this certainly is a demo. Once you jump on the ship and finish the level (it is possible), you'll get a message that tells you to buy the full game.

Oh, and I also apologize for the fact that the Zombie Wars file I linked to above turned out to be only one half of the distribution package. The demo is pretty though to find, I'll keep looking for the rest of it.

[DOSGuy]

I apologize. I always thought those Prince of Persia "demos" were full version software, seeing as how they have none of the usual indicators of shareware. I'm very surprised that Broderbund didn't do more to make it clear that these were demos. Indeed, in the Prince 1 demo, if you sit idle for a while or beat Level 2, there are a number of screens with independent reviews praising the quality of the game. Still no indication of price or how to purchase the game, but I'm convinced that this is indeed a demo.

[MrFlibble]

there are a number of screens with independent reviews praising the quality of the game.

Even more interesting, the text for those screens can be found in the full version's EXE as well (at least, in v1.0), although it is never displayed.

BTW, you can just press Shift+L in the demo to skip either of the levels, and get to the review quote screens too. This level skip option (without activating the cheat mode) is present in the full game as well, there it also works for the first two levels, at the cost of reducing the remaining time to 15 minutes making it (near) impossible to beat the game that way. I guess it's sort of "practice mode". BTW, the full version cheats all work in the demo.

[MrFlibble]

BTW, I just noticed I did not post any links for the Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome expansion trial version, and it is missing from Microsoft's FTP for some reason. [Added to the site]
Download Age of Empires Expansion: The Rise of Rome Trial Version from C|NET Downloads

However, the trial version of The Conquerors expansion for The Age of Kings is available from Microsoft: [Added to the site]
Download Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Trial Version from Microsoft

[Litude]

There's also a french version of The Conquerors demo available here.

[DOSGuy]

Yeah, I looked all over the place for a webmaster address to let Microsoft know about the broken link to the Rise of Rome demo. Thanks for finding that!

As for The Conquerors, I just haven't had time to play it and post it yet. Thanks for the French version, Litude!

[MrFlibble]

There seems to be a noticeable lack (if I may say so ) of flight simulators on the site. I've mentioned NightHawk: F-117A Stealth Fighter Playable Demo somewhere above, here are a few other titles:

Gunship 2000 MicroProse's remake of their 1986 Gunship helicopter simulator. This demo has four missions, showing three different types of helicopters, and can be run in either interactive or non-interactive mode.
Gunship 2000 Playable Demo

F-15 Strike Eagle III
Another simulator of the popular fighter by MicroProse, with updated graphics. The demo shows one mission that can either be watched or played in an interactive mode.
F-15 Strike Eagle III Playable Demo

LHX: Attack Chopper
The game has a certain similarity to Gunship (although it was developed by Electronic Arts), and allows to fly actual aircraft, and not only the titular fictional LHX helicopter. The demo features one mission and one aircraft.
LHX: Attack Chopper Playable Demo

Su-25 Stormovik
Yet another flight sim from Electronic Arts, this time featuring a Soviet attack aircraft.
Su-25 Stormovik Playable Demo

MiG-29 Fulcrum
This simulator was created by former British Aerospace simulation designers.
MiG-29 Fulcrum Playable Demo

Thunderhawk AH-73M
Yet another helicopter simulator.
Thunderhawk AH-73M Playable Demo

There's also a pretty nice selection of oldschool flight simulators at DOS Museum.

[MrFlibble]

It turns out that the MiG-29 Fulcrum demo I linked to above will only work if the data files are manually placed into a sub-directory called "D".

[DOSGuy]

You're quite right that we don't have many flight simulators. I'll try to look into that this weekend.

[MrFlibble]

You're quite right that we don't have many flight simulators. I'll try to look into that this weekend.

Cool I've spent quite some time as a kid playing F-19, and have sort of a soft spot for oldschool flight sims

Oh, a couple more that also have playable demos:
Faclon 3.0 Demo
Faclon 3.0 Demo (this one seems to be an earlier version)
Su-27 Flanker Demo (DOS)
Su-27 Flanker Demo (Win95)

[MrFlibble]

A user at Beta Archive Forums has uploaded all three Chasm: The Rift demos:

I have collected a handful of different demo versions of Chasm. The most common demo on the internet is version 2.20 which can still be easily found. I have uploaded the following:

Demo 1.02 (the same as in the above post)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KN1YH5U7

Demo 1.05
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=PLNUR3EH

Demo 1.32
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GDU05X9Q

And if anyone's interested in Chasm maybe he'll find something here http://www.angelfire.com/games6/chasm/t ... _files.htm. This is possibly the only Chasm fansite out there

[leilei]

Hmm, haven't seen the 2/97 version before.

too bad the earliest one is still modified