Demos

Multiple demonstrations of the Wipeout games have been released to promote the game series. Each featured a small selection of gameplay – limited to a certain number of ships, racetracks or modes – and some advertisement to encourage players to purchase the full version of the game. Demos could be found on classic demo discs or later as downloads. Some demos included early or alternate content not found in the final game versions.

Wipeout[]

Several different demos of Wipeout could be found on various demo CDs. Each of these demos allowed the player to race one lap of Altima VII with Daniel Chang's AG Systems craft at Venom speed. There was no menu, but there was a hidden three-minute time limit to gameplay.

Prototype demos were available on the first two editions of Demo One (the first PAL PlayStation demo discs) and some versions of the PlayStation Picks discs.

Alternate demo loading screen. — Loading screen from the *Demo One* prototype. This was later used as the background of the track layout loading screens.

Screenshot of Demo One — Screenshot of the *Demo One* prototype, with unique billboard, no flame trail, and different track texture.

There were many differences between the final game and the Demo One and PlayStation Picks copies:

The music was an early version of Tentative by CoLD SToRAGE, with differences in structure and melodies.
All of the weapon voice lines were early, sounding more human. Crowd and engine noise was different.
Some of the billboards were different, including a unique billboard design advertising the PlayStation itself.
The track surface textures were early, particularly in the tunnel section and across the big drop and jump.
Ships did not have any engine flame trails.
The weapon and speed pad locations were not final.
Some of the weapon icons were coloured differently, e.g. the Missile icon here was orange.
There were two unique loading screen graphics – one of four ships with unique liveries crashing through a yellow background, and another reading "Wipeout Loading - Hold Tight!" on a dark rectangle.
There was no results screen after finishing.

The PlayStation Picks demo did not include the text "Copyright Psygnosis 1995" on the loading screen, and featured a minimal results screen that showed the player's lap time and position. The HUD also displayed Lap 1 of 3, despite the fact that the race was a single lap race. It was otherwise identical to the Demo One copy.

Later demos, which could be found on Interactive CD Sampler Pack Volume 1 and Essential PlayStation CD 1, were almost identical to the 1.0 PAL release. The early version of Tentative was still present, and the results screens showed Arial Tetsuo's image instead of Daniel Chang.

Finally, a rolling demo of a race on Karbonis V could be found on the all-Psygnosis Euro Demo 1 (Official UK PlayStation Magazine Disc 1 Vol. 1) disc. Though normally unplayable, a obscure trick using a copy of Demo One could make the demo playable under the same one lap rules as the others. The background music was the finished version of Tentative – but when made interactive using the trick, an unrelated soundtrack from another game on the disc could sometimes play.

More than a few PC demos of Wipeout were also released. Although not all have been catalogued, all appear to be based on the released version of the game, with no prototype content. These demos would sometimes play music from other unrelated features on the same disc.

Wipeout 2097[]

The PSX and PC demos of Wipeout 2097 could be found on multiple different demo discs. The demos allowed for a race at Gare d'Europa with any of the four main ships at Vector or Rapier speed, each capped to two laps regardless of speed class. The demos looked and played largely the same as the final game, with differences as follows:

Body in Motion was the only music soundtrack playing in-game.
Some of the voice lines sounded different, and "Contender Eliminated" erroneously played instead of "Energy Low".
The only weapons available were Missiles, Rockets, the Plasma Bolt, and the E-Pak.
The menu erroneously displayed Talon Reach's description for Gare D'Europa at the Vector speed class.
The track loading screen was visually simpler, since the loading screen was unfinished.
There was no results screen after a race.

Winning a race would cause a golden speed class icon to show up in the menu like the original game, but nothing else was available to unlock. If the player managed to eliminate all AI opponents on the track (which was considerably easier to do with the limited weapons), the game would glitch and apply an incredible amount of speed to the player's ship.

A second demo for the Sega Saturn (available from Saturn Power Magazine) allowed the player to race on Sagarmatha instead, with any of the four main ships at Vector or Rapier speeds. Canada was the only music soundtrack playing, all weapons were available, and the lap count was four at Rapier speed.

Wipeout 3[]

Wipeout 3 was available on a large number of demo discs. The demo that appeared on Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine Demo Disc #25 was an early prototype with some significant differences, while all other demos were identical in look and feel to the final game, apart from certain weapons like Missiles, Cloak, and Drain not being available.

The demo allowed users to play a Single Race around Stanza Inter, at Vector speed in the FEISAR ship. Finishing this race unlocked another race on the same track, but at Rapier speed in the Goteki 45 ship. Finishing high enough in each of these races awarded users with cheat codes that could be used in the full version of the game.

In the U.S. PlayStation Magazine Demo Disc #25 prototype version:

The music was an early version of Control by MKL, with notable differences in synths and drum patterns.
The Rockets and Missiles weapons fired three projectiles instead of two, and the weapons icons were different to reflect this.
The weapons icons for Force Wall and Reflector were also different.
The Force Wall looked different on the track.
The HUD was more colourful, and some elements were aligned differently.
Ship liveries were different – Assegai's was blue and orange instead of tan and teal, Icaras' was purple and white instead of pink and orange, Goteki 45's yellow was darker, and Qirex's blue accent colour was darker.
Many of the sound effects, including the ship engine noise, Curly's race countdown, and the weapon pickup voices, were different from the final game.
A voiceline for an unused weapon, Flametrail – which presumably used the ship's jets to damage others – could be found in the files.
The prototype version did not include cheat codes or the unlockable Rapier race with the Goteki 45.

For more details on this particular demo, see here.

Wipeout Fusion[]

There were two demos available for Wipeout Fusion – a standard demo and a "Challenge" demo.

The standard demo allowed users to race on Florion Height (Long Course Forward, aka Course 3) or Alta Vexus (Medium Course Forward, aka Course 2), in the FEISAR or the EG-R with either team pilot. The race music playing was always "Smartbomb (Plump DJs Remix)" by BT. There was otherwise no alternate or early content.

The Christmas 2001 billboard from the Wipeout Fusion Challenge demo — The Christmas 2001 billboard from the *Wipeout Fusion* Challenge demo

The Challenge demo showcased the new Zone mode on Florion Height (Short Course Forward, aka Course 1) and had some notable differences as shown below:

The title screen read "Wipeout Fusion Challenge". Instead of a main menu, there were multiple screens of text explaining the features of Zone Mode and the game's controls.
The race start used a "3, 2, 1, Go!" countdown instead of the "Ready... Go!" countdown.
The ship used was a fully upgraded FEISAR ship instead of the dedicated Zone ship.
After the vertical loop, there was a billboard advertising the game's projected launch date, Christmas 2001. The actual final game was released in Europe nearly two months thereafter.
Two soundtracks cut from the soundtrack, "Carnival XIII" by Breeder and "Gizmo (The Wooden Spoon Mix)" by Silken, could be found in the game files.

Wipeout Pure[]

Demos of Wipeout Pure could be downloaded from a PSP device with the full game to another PSP device over Wi-Fi. These demos were multiplayer compatible – up to eight users could race against each other via Wi-Fi, as long as one of them had a copy of the game. A demo could also be found on copies of Fired Up. It is currently not yet known which tracks or ships were available in these demos.

The starting grid of the Stealth track from the Pure demo, with the Stealth ship. — The starting grid of the Stealth track, with the Stealth ship.

The "pre-beta" version of Wipeout Pure, with an unfinished UI.

A particularly unique promotional demo of Wipeout Pure could be found on the UMD Video release of the 2005 film Stealth. This demo allowed users to race in a single race or time trial on an exclusive film-branded reskin of Koltiwa (named Stealth) or the standard Vineta K, in addition to a Zone event on Pro Tozo. Most notably, users had access to the exclusive Stealth F/A-37 Talon – an AG ship based on the fictional fighter jet of the same name featured in the film – in addition to the FEISAR and Piranha ships. The Stealth ship had unique stats and also took the place of the Zone ship in Zone mode. The menu music was the same, while "Flu Shot" by LFO was the only music soundtrack playing during gameplay.

A "pre-beta" 2 December 2004 build demo was found on a QA archive disc and leaked online. This demo offered races in Single Race mode on Vineta K, Sinucit and Sagarmatha, as well as Zone mode on Corridon 12. There was no music in the main menu and some UI elements were missing due to the UI itself being unfinished. For more details on this particular demo, see here.

Wipeout Pulse[]

A demo of Wipeout Pulse was available for download through the PlayStation Store. The demo allowed users to race in a single race or time trial event around Moa Therma in the FEISAR ship, at any speed class. The differences with the final game were:

The menu music was replaced with the XMB Save Data Screen music. This soundtrack also appeared in ModNation Racers (Click here to listen).
The race music playing was either "Exceeder (Special Mix)" by Mason or "Aerodynamik (Alex Gopher / Etienne de Crecy Mix)" by Kraftwerk.

The demo was otherwise identical to the release version of the game.

Wipeout HD[]

A demo of Wipeout HD was available through the PlayStation Store. The demo was identical to the final game – in fact, it literally was a copy of the full game, with most of the content locked until the full game was purchased. The only options available in the demo were for a Single Race on Vineta K in the FEISAR ship, at either Venom or Flash speed class. Two-player mode was available and weapons could be toggled on/off.

Wipeout 2048[]

A demo of Wipeout 2048 was available through the PlayStation Network. Single player mode was the only mode available, which included a single race event around Empire Climb in the FEISAR Speed ship, at C Class speed.

Wipeout Omega Collection[]

A demo of Wipeout Omega Collection was available for download through the PlayStation Network. The demo allowed users to play a Single Race in either HD or 2048 mode, at any speed class and difficulty. The HD mode featured Vineta K and a choice between the HD and Fury variants of the FEISAR ship. The 2048 mode featured Altima and the FEISAR Speed ship as the sole playable ship.