the cutting room mirror

Euro Demo series

This article has a talk page!
view on tcrf.net

To do:

  • Create subpages for the French and German Euro Demo series (and maybe the special issue demos, too); there's bound to be some interesting stuff in there.
  • There are Italian and Spanish versions of Euro Demo 49, each with their own version of the This Is Football video.
  • Beat-Em-Up Special has an unused Rival Schools icon.
  • Power Source, released as a fundraiser by The Prince's Trust, has an unused splash screen for Namco Tennis Smash Court, as well as a copy of Exhumed's instructions without the reset console instruction for it.

Euro Demo is a series of demo discs which were distributed with various PlayStation magazines across Europe and Australia.

NOTE: This series has used different naming schemes over the years; for consistency's sake, only the "Euro Demo #" scheme will be used. Please also note that some of these discs may not have been distributed outside the UK.

Hidden Credits#

Euro Demo 2#

On this disc, a file called FUTURE.TXT is located in the root folder which contains the credits for the demo disc itself.

        FUTURE DEMO DISC - ISSUE 2

Producer:    John Roberts
Programmers: Vince Diesi/Paul Holman
Artist:      Pete Johnson
Sound:       Harry Holmwood

Euro Demo 3#

An altered version of FUTURE.TXT exists in the same place, with the same credits.

        FUTURE DEMO DISC - ISSUE 3 (January)
Thanks for all the artwork, pity the new sound didn't
make the deadline !

Euro Demo 4#

FUTURE.TXT was included here too, with a couple of new lines of text at the bottom.

        FUTURE DEMO DISC - ISSUE 4
Our thanks to Dean at Millenium (for DefCon) and Bob (for Xcom).

Pity that Thunder' arrived too late - wait for the next issue !

The last line likely refers to the game Firestorm: Thunderhawk II which was included on Euro Demo 5. This exact file was included on discs 5 and 6 (the line referring to it as issue 4 went unchanged), except it was moved to the "DD" folder. The text would be edited on Euro Demo 7 to remove the reference to demo 4 and last couple of lines and would remain that way up to Euro Demo 25, outside Euro Demo 14, which doesn't have that file.

Euro Demo 26#

Hacking:     Tommy_D

This line is added to the FUTURE.TXT up to Euro Demo 29.

Euro Demo 30#

        FUTURE DEMO DISC

Programmers: Allan J. Murphy, Vince Diesi, Paul Holman
Producer:    Richard Milner
Assembler:   George Bain
Artist:      Pete Johnson, Steve Weymouth 
Sound:       Harry Holmwood, Jason Page

This is how the FUTURE.TXT is up to Euro Demo 47, outside discs 36 and 37, which don't have that file. It is also found in Euro Demo 76.

Euro Demo 70#

FUTURE DEMO DISC

Programmers :   Glyn Hughes, John Cassidy
Producer :  Richard Milner     

Euro Demo 74#

FUTURE DEMO DISC

Programmer: Glyn Hughes
Producer:       Richard Milner
Artist:         Lorne Christie

Euro Demo 75#

FUTURE DEMO DISC 75

Producer:   Richard Milner
Assembler:  Glyn Hughes
Artist:     Lorne Christie

Euro Demo 77#

        FUTURE DEMO DISC

Programmers: Matt Collier, John Cassidy
Producer:    Richard Milner
Assembler:   Robert Crosbie
Artist:      Lorne Christie 
Sound:       Harry Holmwood, Jason Page

Euro Demo 78#

        FUTURE DEMO DISC

Programmers: Matt Collier, John Cassidy
Producer:    Richard Milner
Assistant Producer: Paula Jones.

Euro Demo 80#

        FUTURE DEMO DISC

Programmers: Matt Collier, John Cassidy
Producer:    Richard Milner
Artist:      Lorne Christie 
Sound:       Harry Holmwood, Jason Page

Unused text#

The file POCKET/POCKET.DAT whenever present, contains text for some parameters.

Star Fighters#

Euro Demo 33 contains a hidden extra Net Yaroze game which is accessed by holding L1 + R1 + Up and then X on the main menu.

(Source: [http://powerlineoeupsmfanclub.wikia.com/wiki/Euro_Demo_33_(OUKPSM16Vol.2) Official European PlayStation Magazine Fan Wiki])

Trouser Trouble#

Euro Demo 39 contains a hidden game called Trouser Trouble, which is accessed by holding L1 + R1 + Up and then X on the main menu. However, due to an oversight, it won't work on retail hardware.

(Source: Official European PlayStation Magazine Fan Wiki)

As described by the programmer, "MikeD" in a Reddit post:

My last disc I think would have been #39, which I celebrated by sneaking my own little game onto the disc, activated by a secret button press in the menu (don't recall what). It was called 'Trouser Trouble' and is a trivial block-sliding game in which you're rearranging images of Dev Support team members' pants. Sadly, I screwed up the executable linking for that one — I didn't adjust the stack pointer to not require the double-sized memory that dev kits had — so it won't play on consumer hardware. But play the audio on a CD player and you'll hear the three kitsch little ditties that a friend and I composed for it.

(Source: MikeD/Luxocrates Reddit post)

The game can be played using DuckStation, with the expanded 8MB RAM enabled.

On start-up, you are greeted by the following:

This is probably not the program you intended to load
Instead, here's something that's really pants...

When starting the game, the following story is displayed:

It's panic time at Demo Disc HQ - the Boss' weekly
trouser inspection is only a couple of minutes away,
and our normally flawless slacks have been mangled
by interlopers from Wedge magazine!

If our strides aren't straight in a few seconds, our
superiors will sack us for sure! Can you take the
pressure? Or will you crumple like a poorly ironed
pair of khakis?

Use whatever means necessary - we're counting on you!

The game consists of four main levels, which if beaten without running out of time, unlocks a fifth secret level.

Upon completion, a congratulatory message is shown:

Phew! The terror of Trouser Trouble is thankfully terminated! Ta!
                      Thanks for playing

Followed by credits:

TROUSER TROUBLE TEAM:

Trouser Trouble featured...

Code by:                MikeD

Music by:               MikeD (tracks 2, 3)
                        PhyzC (tracks 1, 2)
                        ShishB (sound engineer)

Creative writing by:    MarkB

...and the trousers of: GeorgeB
                        JamesR
                        MarkC
                        MikeD
                        Some girl at a party whose name we don't know

(Source: 20+ Years Lost PlayStation 1 Game Found! - Trouser Trouble - Video Essay - Polly's Archive & Trouser Trouble - Full Playthrough - LOST PLAYSTATION GAME)

Unused Graphics#

Euro Demo 2#

This disc includes some leftover graphics from Demo 1, a disc that was included with the PlayStation in Europe. Strangely, said graphics are still loaded into VRAM despite never being used; this was corrected in Euro Demo 6.

A photo of a man holding a dog is included here too, for reasons unknown. This and the Demo 1 graphics wouldn't be removed until Euro Demo 21.

An icon for Ridge Racer can be found among the icons for the menu. A rolling demo for this game was included on Euro Demo 3.

Euro Demo 3#

An alternate icon for Hi-Octane can be found, using a different font to the icons that were used. This unused icon was removed in Euro Demo (France) 1, which otherwise uses the same icons.

Euro Demo 5#

An icon for Krazy Ivan can be found. A playable demo of this game was featured on the following disc.

Euro Demo 15#

An icon for Onside Complete Soccer can be found with the used icons. A playable demo of this game was featured on the following disc.

Euro Demo 20#

An icon for Total NBA '97 can be found with the used icons. Oddly, no demo of this game was ever included in the series.

Euro Demo 26#

A promo for Sony Game Line can be found with the menu data. This was used for the loading screen on many of the French Euro Demo discs during 1997.

Euro Demo 27#

The icons from Euro Demo 26 can be found on this disc.

Euro Demo 38#

An icon for a Formula 1 '98 video can be found with the used icons.

Euro Demo 41#

An icon for Apocalypse can be found with the used icons. No demo of this game was ever included in the series, but it was released as a standalone demo, and also on third-party demo discs.

Euro Demo 42#

An icon for Music can be found with the used icons. A playable demo of this game was already included on Euro Demo 40.

Euro Demo 44#

Icons for an Actua Ice Hockey 2 video and a playable demo for Swing can be found with the used icons. Playable demos for Actua Ice Hockey 2 and Swing were featured on the following disc.

Euro Demo 45#

Icons for KKND: Krossfire and a Prince Naseem Boxing video can be found with the used icons. KKND was featured on next month's disc, while the Prince Naseem Boxing video wasn't featured until Euro Demo 48 (and the game itself wasn't released until late 2000).

Euro Demo 46#

Once again, an icon for an Actua Ice Hockey 2 video and also one for a Speed Freaks video can be found with the used icons. The Actua Ice Hockey 2 video was featured on the following disc, while the Speed Freaks video wasn't included until Euro Demo 48.

Euro Demos 55 and 58#

Both of these discs contain an unused icon for the Downloader utility.

Euro Demo 69#

An icon for Ultimate Fighting Championship can be found with the used icons, as well as two blank icons. Notably, while the demo itself isn't present on the disc, the packaging for the Benelux release claims that a playable demo of the game is on it.

Euro Demo 70#

An icon for Mort the Chicken can be found with the used demos. Oddly, while the sleeve for the UK release doesn't mention this demo, it does feature one for The Simpsons Wrestling which doesn't even have a hidden icon.

Euro Demo 76#

A self-labeled TIM file found in POCKET/POCKET.DAT. It is present in all later demo discs as well.

Euro Demo 81#

Another blank icon.

Unused FMVs#

Euro Demo 27#

This disc contains an unused FMV inside Felony 11-79's files. Watch on YouTube

Unused Demos#

Euro Demo 108#

This disc includes an unused demo for Um Jammer Lammy, though it appears to be the same one that appeared on Euro Demo 49. This might be a limitation of the menu system, as no disc contained more than 12 options and this demo was likely swapped out for either the Net Yaroze compilation or Archer MacLean's 3D Pool.

Unused Net Yaroze Games#

Euro Demos 44 and 45#

These discs include Adventure Game and Pandora's Box respectively, accessible from the menu. However, there are 5 other games hidden within the same folder containing these games:

  • BLOCKZ.FPC (Blockz, eventually included on disc 77)
  • OPERA.FPC (Opera of Destruction, included on disc 48)
  • POOL.FPC (Unknown)
  • RALLY.FPC (Yaroze Rally, also included on disc 77)
  • SUPERBUB.FPC (Super Bub Contest, a leftover from disc 43)

Unused Downloads#

Euro Demo 56#

The disc seems to contain downloadable save files for Crash Team Racing (CRASHTR.DAT), Speed Freaks (SPEEDF.DAT) and Soul Blade (SOULBL.DAT) but they don't appear on the Downloads menu.

Interestingly, the Crash Team Racing one was later discovered to be save data from the US review build.