8 Tech Demos That Should Have Been Full Games

I can't tell you how many times, over the course of decades in gaming, that I've been disappointed to realize what looked like an amazing game was nothing more than a tech demo. If you're wondering what a tech demo is, fear not, as I spent quite a while not knowing what one was when I was younger.

Built to demonstrate either the hardware of a new machine or a game engine, tech demos have existed in gaming for decades now. Similar in a way to pre-visualization techniques in feature films, sometimes tech demos actually lead somewhere. Frustratingly, sometimes they don't.

Over the years, I've seen numerous tech demos come and go. In the maddening times when they don't go anywhere, it's often fun to look back and remember what could have been. Some of these tech demos did come into fruition in some way later, but under completely different circumstances. Others were just a rude tease of what we could have had.

8 Final Fantasy 7 (E3 2005)

One of Many False Alarms

Final Fantasy 7 was one of the most oft-requested video game remakes of all-time until Square Enix finally pulled the trigger in 2020. Long before that, however, a technical demonstration for a Final Fantasy 7 remake was shown at E3 2005.

Designed to showcase the power of the PS3, it was made with Square's cutting-edge White Engine, which would later become Crystal Tools and power the Final Fantasy 13 trilogy. Unfortunately, the FF7 tech demo was only ever conceived as a demonstration of the PS3, and no remake was in development at that time.

As cool as the remake trilogy has been, I've often wondered what it would have been like if Square used this absolutely gorgeous demo as a way to bring the FF7 remake to life almost two decades before we got it. It certainly would have been interesting, and I suspect it might have taken up the 13 production slot, meaning we would have missed an entire FF game as a result.

7 The Getaway 3 (E3 2005)

The Sequel That Never Was

I have been begging anyone who would listen to me for a proper new mainline game in The Getaway series for years now. While Grand Theft Auto had a pretty firm handle on the criminal simulator back in the day, The Getaway was such a unique spin, offering more of a classic British crime thriller vibe.

At E3 2005, Sony showcased a tech demo for the PS3 that featured a realistic rendition of the iconic Piccadilly Circus located in London's historic West End district. It was absolutely wonderful to see, and as someone who often carried the flag for The Getaway, it was something I was incredibly excited about.

The Getaway 3 would never come out, unfortunately. The franchise was deemed as remarkably unprofitable by Sony, feeling that the price to create the realistic face-scan technology wasn't worth the risk. The tech demo from E3 is impressive, but it was never pursued seriously by Sony following the event.

6 The Matrix Awakens (The Game Awards 2021)

The Matrix Has You

There were two film franchises releasing in the early 2000s that I put a staggering amount of energy and love into. Between the Star Wars prequel trilogy and the two Matrix sequels, that was such a cool time for me.

While Star Wars has had its fair share of great video games, great games based on The Matrix are alarmingly less consistent. That made the announcement of The Matrix Awakens at the 2021 edition of The Game Awards even more bittersweet, as it was a marvelously impressive bit of work.

Sadly, The Matrix Awakens was never intended to be a full game. While it was overseen by one of The Matrix's creators, director Lana Wachowski, The Matrix Awakens was only ever intended to showcase the capabilities of Unreal Engine 5. It would have been an absolutely incredible full game, but was later delisted, remaining an elusive piece of Matrix history.

5 Super Mario 128 (Space World 2000)

Multi-Mario Mayhem

Years before E3, Nintendo was hosting their own unique event dedicated to upcoming projects that was known as Space World. Running from 1989 to 2001, the show, that took place in the year 2000, was a pretty epic showcase for their upcoming slate of GameCube games.

One of the most fascinating things to come from the show floor was Super Mario 128, which was in reference to both the 128-bit era of video games that they were currently in, and the number of Marios that were on-screen at any given time.

Super Mario 128 looked like an absolute blast from what they showed, and Shigeru Miyamoto often spoke about it as a direct sequel to Super Mario 64. Despite all that, the project would only have one showing, and Nintendo would pivot to Super Mario Sunshine just one year later.

4 Zelda U (E3 2011)

A Breathtaking What-If Scenario

While Nintendo's showing at E3 2011 felt a bit light in terms of exciting new software compared to previous years, it was to be expected as they were in the middle of a console hype cycle. One thing that came out of Nintendo's E3 that year, however, was what would later be known simply as Zelda U.

Built to showcase exactly what the Wii U was capable of, this breathtaking Zelda demonstration is still impressive even to this day. What's even more fascinating is that Zelda U was shot off a screen, and it still hasn't been released in any form other than that.

It looked stupendous in motion, and despite how cool it was, Nintendo's next Zelda game was very much unlike that footage. The next Zelda game would end up being 2017's Breath of the Wild, but I still wonder exactly what that game could have been like.

3 The Legend of Zelda (Space World 2000)

From Zelda to Celda

At Space World 2000, Nintendo was gearing up for the launch of the GameCube the following year. This was the time for them to showcase exactly what their entry into the sixth-generation console war was capable of, and they certainly did that.

Alongside first looks at what would later become Metroid Prime and Luigi's Mansion, Nintendo also showcased what would later become a key element in Zelda fan discourse for years. An incredibly realistic, yet frustratingly short, animation of Link battling with Ganondorf was shown.

The expectation for the 2001 edition of Space World became fairly simple, as everyone was expecting to see more of that. Instead, Nintendo opted to go for something completely different, revealing The Wind Waker the following year. I love The Wind Waker with all my heart, but I can't help but drool over that footage, as a Zelda game in that style would have been amazing.

2 Valley of the Ancient (Unreal Engine 5 Demo)

The Power of Unreal 5

In order to showcase just how much of a leap that Unreal 5 was from the previous version, a talented team at Epic put together a remarkably impressive technical demonstration. It showed new lighting and shadow technology, including the incredibly cool Lumen system.

Known as Valley of the Ancient, that's where it started and ended, sadly. Valley of the Ancient was never intended to be a full game, but if you've played the vertical slice of the game, you can see something that would have been fantastic to get a more complete release.

A good thing that did come out of Valley of the Ancient, however, was Epic releasing the entire package to UE5 users. The assets and technology in the demo are freely available, making it an invaluable tool for developers looking to get the most out of Unreal 5.

1 Final Fantasy 6: The Interactive CG Game (Siggraph 1995)

A Vision of the Future

In the time between the launch of Final Fantasy 6 on the SNES and what would later become FF7, Square Enix was searching for answers. They weren't quite sure what form the next game was going to take, but were experimenting with a lot of avenues.

One of those potential outcomes was shown at Siggraph 1995, which was an annual PC and electronics show focused on cutting-edge hardware. Final Fantasy 6: The Interactive CG Game featured a 3D battle scene with Terra, Locke and Shadow.

Created with high-end 3D software of the time on powerful SGI workstations, elements of it would influence the creation of the FMV scenes and pre-rendered backgrounds of Final Fantasy 7. While I wouldn't trade Final Fantasy 7 for anything in the world, it's always fun to think about if Square had decided to go forward with something like this as opposed to what we got.