Games where the Demo is actually unique content?

[Soycast Guy]

RE3 Remake technically has a unique demo. By that I mean it’s demo changes things to make consoomers think it’s a better product. Like Nemesis appearing far more in the demo than he did in the actual game.

 

[xXx: State of the Union]

The FFVIII demo I played on a demo disc as a kid has some extra scenes/dialog that weren't there in the final game, and some characters were there who were removed and introduced later in the full game IIRC.

This was the same for FFVIII. Rinoa was in the party from the start, Selphie never showed up, the music was different and I think the FMV's were even altered so Quistis wasn't the one who shot the mech at the end.

There was a Square PS1 RPG demo that was different, but I can't remember which game it was (not any Final Fantasy). I think it even broke the 4th wall by having characters acknowledge it was a demo or something like that. It's been decades so I can't really recall specifics.

Legend of Legaia was like this. The demo had all three main characters from the start, and they would literally say shit like "Normally I'm not supposed to be here, but this is the demo so I'll join you."

 

[skykiii]

Did Lemmings have different levels in a demo or am I misremembering?

IIRC Lemmings had a lot of different demos--Holiday-specific ones for example, and I've heard some versions with unique levels came with certain hardware. I recall hearing specifically that "Covox Lemmings" was a thing.

 

[Kheapathic]

This was the same for FFVIII. Rinoa was in the party from the start, Selphie never showed up, the music was different and I think the FMV's were even altered so Quistis wasn't the one who shot the mech at the end.

Yup, the demo was a heavily altered Dollet Mission. Party was Squall, Zell, and Rinoa in their street clothes (SeeD Uniform didn't exist). Seifer and Quistis weren't there, so a number of scenes and text were completely absent. A number of enemies from different parts of the game were in the area, and I don't remember all of them, but I know Leviathan was one of the summons you had. The FMV of the XATM-092 chasing you were mostly intact; aside from Rinoa being the one who turns and waits for Squall and some genetic looking masked soldier dude was at the gun that ventilates the robot.

Don't mind me, I played the shit out of that demo while waiting.

 

[Book Thief]

I'm not really sure if this "counts" as a demo, but when the fuck am I ever going to bring this up.

"Duty Calls" was a short playable advergame meant to advertise Bullet Storm. The whole idea was to mock the at-the-time popular genre of military shooters for how bland and unimaginative they were compared to the game they wanted to sell you.

It probably seems rather cringe-worthy in hindsight, but when I was in highschool, I thought this shit was peak comedy. Probably because I agreed that games like Call of Duty were overdone.