Wetlands/Demos

There is a good amount of Wetlands demos, either interactive or non-interactive.

Interactive Demos

Interactive demos contain only one level of difficulty but allow to play a variety of levels (one or two). All the interactive demos, except the demo disc features extended command-line options:

USAGE: Wetlands <options>
Options:
/cd=#  = CD Drive (play off of CD)
/e##   = (debug) starting energy level (0-100)
/g     = god mode (a must for Dean)
/l##   = number of lives ##
/r     = rapid fire
/s     = Turn Sound ON
/sn    = Turn Sound OFF
/sa    = Auto Detect Sound Driver (only needed once)
/66    = Slow computer setting (compressed background)

The god mode comment about "Dean" most likely refers to Deane Rettig

The list of demos includes:

• Early demo from PC Spiel (October 1995). It allows to play levels 31, 41 and 61. While the demo was available in PC Spiel, it seems to use old graphics that were never included in the final games, including enemies and HUDs, as shown in the videos of the non-interactives demos.

• Demo Disc (November 1995): It allows to play levels 31 and 52, and includes complete transitions screens (showing stats about every completed level) as well as a game over. It also features a list of videos about the game, as a non-interactive demo.

• Demo from a Hebrew game magazine (Date unknown). Similar to the demo disc, but without transition scenes. The data files are plain-text and contain useful comments about the implementation.

• Demo from Génération 4 - Number 81 (FR) (October 1995). Similar to the demo disc, but without transition scenes. The data files are plain-text and contain useful comments about the implementation.

• Demo from Personal Computer World (UK) (May 1996). It allows to play level 11, and it does not include anything else (except for a game over video). The data files are plain-text and contain useful comments about the implementation.

Non-Interactive Demos

These demos are basically a sequence of videos and some background music. There are two non-interactive demos:

• Demo from PC Review 49 (November 1995).
• Demo from Joystick HS 7 (September 1995).

Both demos features the the same videos, in slightly different order. However, the background music is different. The videos show some cutscenes of the game, as well as some gameplay. The gameplay videos are particularly interesting, since they contain some ship interiors that are not available in the final game.