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Whenever some new technology comes out, companies want to find ways to market their product. The best way to do it is to show it off. This usually happens in the PC hardware world where graphics card vendors put out tech demos to show it off. Or in an environment that's limiting such as video game systems, smartphones, and tablets, a proof of concept to show that hey, that piece of hardware really can do it.
And what a better way to show off the technology by having users interact with it in a fun way. This is where the '''Tech Demo Game''' comes in. It can be loosely described as a tech demo disguised as a game. But this isn't unlike an [[Obvious Beta]], the developer tried in earnest to make a fully functional game that plays relatively well. The problem though is that most of the time the technology they're trying to show off is hardware based, which limits who can actually play it. In a video game console setting, this isn't such a problem unless the hardware in question is the latest peripheral. In the PC gaming world, this becomes a problem as the game expects nothing less than bleeding edge hardware.
Note that this trope has nothing to do with the respective quality of a game in itself, and many games started with the motivation of being a tech demo end up as extremely well received classics for much more than just their technical aspects.
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* ''Hard Drivin'' is seemingly the first 3D racing game. The 3D board it featured was actually quite huge, looking like several modern-day computer motherboards stacked.
* ''Virtua Racing'', Sega's first 3D arcade game, was originally designed as a proof-of-concept demo for the state-of-the-art polygonal graphics hardware which (with some upgrades) would go on to produce such hits as ''[[Virtua Fighter]]'' and ''[[Daytona USA]]''.
* Sega's arcade hardware in general is chock-full of this as they represent the state-of-the-art in video game and/or computing technology. While arcades back then are indeed leagues ahead of home consoles and are thus the gold standard to which conversions of popular coin-op hits are judged against, a number of platforms stood out such as the Super Scaler hardware used on ''[[Hang-On]]'', and the Sega Model 3, whose graphics capabilities were derived from flight simulator hardware developed by Lockheed Martin.
== PC ==
* ''[[Crysis (series)|Crysis]]''. When released, only a handful of computers could actually handle the "High" setting at 1280x800. Even fewer could run the "Very High" setting at 1280x800 above 10FPS. [[Zero Punctuation|Yahtzee]] summarized it best, saying that the game must have been designed for some ultra high-tech supercomputer ''[[In Space|from space]]''. Although the lower settings could perform well and still look better than most games at the time. ''Computer Shopper'' still
** This had the unforeseen additional effect of lots of people pirating the game just to use it as a tech demo, just because they "didn't want to pay for the whole thing" (and [[Failed a Spot Check|didn't think to check if Crytek had released a demo version]]).
** [[SCP Foundation]][http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-062 -062] is a highly advanced [[Quantum Mechanics Can Do Anything|quantum computer]], believed to be from the future.
{{quote|''Yes, it is fun to joke around about whether or not SCP-062 would be able to run Crysis. However, if I find any more bored guards trying to install the damn game onto SCP-062 one more time… You just don't want to do it. Okay?''|''Dr. Tong''}}
**
** Crytek later followed this up with ''Crysis 3'' to which they stated, "This time we promise to melt down PCs". Indeed, it proved to be a PC melter that Eurogamer's Digital Foundry division used it as benchmark for much of the 2010s.
** The remastered versions added the "Can it run Crysis?" preset as a nod to the original game, along with features such as hardware-independent ray tracing (which doesn't require proprietary extensions from Nvidia). Though it turned out that gamers were still dissatisfied with the remaster as they blamed lazy coding for what was seen as a still poorly-optimised game.
* ''[[Far Cry]]'' was actually a tech demo first for NVIDIA's GeForce 3 cards. Later patches added Shader Model 3.0 features like HDR lighting that could only be utilized by the then-newly-released GeForce 6800 cards.
* ''[[Battlefield (series)|Battlefield 1942]]''. In order to take advantage of the large draw distance (which was unheard of at the time), one needed 1GB for maximum draw distance. The trouble is, RAM was expensive back then, and most of the world was fine on 256MB.
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* ''[[Supreme Commander]]'' has much greater multi-core support than most games, with performance scaling heavily with the number of cores.
** Somewhat less conspicuously, it is also one of the few games that can accomodate multiple monitors in a useful way.
* Despite being
** To note,
* Just about every single one of [[Id Software]]'s games has started off (before further development) as an excuse to show off whatever piece of technology John Carmack had just recently mastered:
** ''[[Commander Keen]]'' was made to show off the smooth-scrolling graphics engine, which was once thought only to be possible on the [[Nintendo Entertainment System]], and was previously used to develop a proof-of-concept game resembling ''[[Super Mario Bros 3]]'' (that was never released).
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** ''[[Skyrim]]'' is the new benchmark, with what a new engine and a huge overworld.
* ''[[Unreal]]'''s graphics were near-unparalleled at the time of it release and various set-pieces were intentionally designed to show-off things it competitors couldn't do. For instance, the first level was set in a crashed prison ship with the sort of dingy brown and grey textures you'd seen in the original ''[[Quake]]''... and then you set foot out in the open world, with vibrant greens and blues and draw distances that surpassed anything seen before. It also played a major part in heavily increasing the sales of graphics accelerators.
** Strangely enough, the Unreal Engine series became such a flexible engine that the third iteration can be run on smartphones, all the way up to running such high visual quality (in UE3.5, 2011) that it in order to run it with maximum detail at 1080p smoothly, a setup of ''three'' GeForce GTX 580s are needed. Unreal Engines 4 and 5 continued this trend, running some beautiful examples on a range of devices.
* ''[[Shattered Horizon]]'' has very advanced benchmarking tools. Not surprising when it's from the same developer responsible for the ''3DMark'' line of benchmarks. On top of this, it requires [[Direct X]] 10, and by extension Windows Vista or later.
* ''[[Il-2 Sturmovik|IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946]]'' can still drag high end systems built in 2010 below 20 frames per second with the graphics set to "perfect" mode. Quite a feat considering the game was first released in late 2001.
* ''[[Audiosurf]]'' is a less traditional demo. It shows off its developer's interactive audio visualizer.
** Ditto with ''The Polynomial - Space of the music''.
* ''[[Serious Sam]]'' came with various attempts to show off its engine (there's even a built-in tech map, accessible from the menu, which is literally a gallery of the engine's graphic effects).
* ''[[Soldier of Fortune]] II'' was rather jerky at maximum detail even with the higher-end hardware of its time.
* ''Microsoft Flight Simulator X'' is sometimes accused of this. Nowadays, a budget gaming PC can run it on full settings with minimal lag. When it was released... [http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B000GBPLYI/ref=cm_cr_dp_all_summary?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending less so.]
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* ''[[Half-Life]] 2: Lost Coast'' featured the newly developed HDR and was specifically designed to show off these features with its shiny beaches, dark and light areas and bright sunlight.
** Playing with the developer commentary makes this even better, with real time demonstrations of the engine.
== Console ==
* ''[[Gyromite]]'' and ''[[Stack-Up]]'' were made to give ROB something to do at the NES's launch.
* ''[[Silent Hill 2]]'' was, in addition to its better-known qualities, a demonstration of the Playstation 2's ability to generate volumetric fog. Given that ''[[Silent Hill]]'' had not really attained a great deal of wide popularity before the second game [[Growing the Beard|grew the beard]], as much of the buzz surrounding ''[[Silent Hill 2]]'' before its release was about its graphics and the fog effect as it was the monsters or characters.
** Another feature that doesn't exactly get a lot of attention was that shadows were cast realistically by objects when the flashlight shined over them. Not exactly an easy to do feature.
* ''Shrek'' for the Xbox. Gameplay-wise it was pretty hard and repetitive, but Rich Geldereich [http://sites.google.com/site/richgel99/#TOC-Shrek-Xbox-and-Deferred-Shading managed to pull off] some pretty impressive effects for a game of its time, as it was meant to be a showcase of what Microsoft's then-new console can do.
* ''Wave Race 64'' was made to show off the water effects of the N64, particularly the undulation of waves, which was impossible on earlier consoles.
* ''[[Fantavision]]'' seems to have been made because firework explosions are excellent exhibits for the smooth textures and higher resolution of the [[
* ''[[Ridge Racer]]'' was a bare-bones driving game that just so happened to show off the original [[
* Name any first-generation [[Super Nintendo Entertainment System|Super Nintendo]] game. These games would show off the Mode 7 capabilities of the system. Some notable examples would be ''[[Super Mario World (video game)|Super Mario World]]'', ''[[F-Zero]]'', ''Pilotwings'' and ''[[Super Castlevania IV]]''. Star Fox was this for the Super FX chip.
** Pilotwings is a Tech Demo series. Whenever it is released it shows off the latest graphical tricks.
* ''Killzone 2'' is arguably a tech demo for the [[
** The original ''[[Killzone]]'' was this even moreso.
* The original ''[[Donkey Kong Country]]'' was an effort to prove the aging SNES was capable of high-quality graphics.
* High Voltage's ''[[The Conduit]]'' provides a showcase of their Quantum3 engine, which can produce some pretty nice graphics on the [[Wii]].
* ''[[Uncharted]] 2'''s developer Naughty Dog claims that the game is the best graphics the [[Play Station
** And yet, two years later they've managed to improve on it for the third game.
* ''[[Lair]]'' appeared to be an attempt to show off the [[Play Station 3]]'s ability to do Motion Control and native 1080p graphics. It couldn't do either very well.
* ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots]]'' shows off all the [[Play Station 3]]'s hardware features. Surround sound, Bluetooth headset support for Otacon's codec calls, motion control for the Screaming Mantis battle, and most importantly, Blu-Ray for holding [[Story to Gameplay Ratio|loads and loads of long-winded cutscenes]] (the latter point is even [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] when Otacon calls Snake and tells him to [[Medium Awareness|swap to the second disc]], but then he remembers that the game is on Blu-Ray).
* ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]''. Square really took the opportunity to show off some of the stuff they couldn't do on the [[SNES]], like polygons and pre-rendered cutscenes.
** To test their graphics engine for ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'', Square created ''[[Parasite Eve (video game)|Parasite Eve]]''.
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* ''[[Wii Sports]]'' and ''Wii Play'' show off the Wii Remote's motion abilities. ''Wii Sports Resort'' and ''Wii Play Motion'' show off WiiMotion+. Wii Fit shows off the Wii Balance Board, however it has yet to be implemented well in any other game.
** And now, with the release of Playstation Move and Microsoft's Kinect, we're seeing variations on ''Wii Sports'' for those systems: ''Sports Champions'' on the [[Play Station 3]], and ''Kinect Sports'' on the Xbox360.
* ''[[Malice]]'' provided a demonstration of the [[
* ''Backbreaker'' started as an attempt to show off Natural Motion's Euphoria physics engine with a simple "Dodge the tacklers" football game, but eventually was expanded into a full simulation.
* ''[[Luigi's Mansion|Luigis Mansion]]'' was this for the Gamecube. Fire effects, water effects, ice effects, transparent, glowing ghosts, Luigi's flashlight, the Poltergust 3000's wind tunnel, cloth effects... it goes on. It shows off the high poly count by repeatedly showing off how round it can make locked doorknobs. Heck, it even shows off the analog shoulder buttons and the c-stick, as both are integral to the game. It was even a test for 3D at some point in development.
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** ''[[Sonic Unleashed]]'' was the first game to use the Hedgehog Engine, which not only provided [[Scenery Porn|prettier backdrops]] and more consistent lighting through baked GI light probes (to amend complaints that [[Uncanny Valley|Sonic stuck out like a sore thumb]]), but it could simulate Sonic's [[Super Speed|trademark]] more accurately ([[Crowning Moment of Awesome|and incredibly]]) than previous games. The engine was reused in ''[[Sonic Generations]]'', to arguably even greater effect. Unfortunately, many of the engine's innovations were being developed by other companies around the same time (like [[Mirror's Edge|DICE]] and [[Wipeout|Studio Liverpool]]), limiting the Hedgehog Engine to Sega's own studios.
* 2006's ''Rockstar Games presents Table Tennis'' Demonstrated the Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE), which is later utilized in ''[[Grand Theft Auto IV]]'' and ''[[Red Dead Redemption]]''.
* ''[[Zone of the Enders]]'' was treated by Kojima Productions as a warm up to see what they could do with [[
* ''[[Drakkhen]]'' is a very, very early example of a partially 3D video game.
* ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time|The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time]]'' ''3D''. The biggest selling point of this game aside from being a re-release of one of the most beloved games of all time was the fact that the graphics had been updated.
** Arguably, the original N64 title fits this trope, displaying several graphical effects unseen before and a ([[Technology Marches On|then]]) large overworld with plenty of side-quests.
* ''[[Rayman Origins]]'' is the first game to utilize the UbiArt Framework, which smoothly integrates artwork into the game and easy animation of 2D characters. It shows in the huge amount of [[Scenery Porn]] and cartoony characters.
* ''[[Hydrophobia (video game)|Hydrophobia]]'' was created with the purpose of showing off HydroEngine, the engine behind its pretty sophisticated fluid simulation effects.
* While the Dual Shock had been out for a while before its release, ''[[Ape Escape]]'' was designed specifically to push sales of the controller by splitting movement and actions between the two joysticks.
* ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword]]'' was pretty much a huge advertisement for how accurate the WiiMotionPlus is, while still being comfortable for long playtimes. Heck, a good chunk of the development period was dedicated to deciding on a control scheme.
* ''[[Super Smash Bros.]] Melee'' and ''Brawl'' could serve as one to their respective consoles. The amount of action that goes on in the game and yet it never dips below the buttery smooth 60FPS is an impressive feat.
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** ''Ocarina of Time 3D'' started life as a tech demo and eventually became a full port.
* ''[[Gunstar Heroes|Gunstar Super Heroes]]'' had a lot of gratuitous rotating things just to demonstrate how much of a 2D powerhouse the [[Game Boy Advance]] was.
* ''[[Infinity Blade]]'' is the first Unreal Engine 3 game on handhelds, and thus was designed to be a showcase for the engine, making use of the iPhone's biggest strength (its console-quality amount of RAM) for [https://web.archive.org/web/20120814092744/http://epicgames.com/infinityblade/img/s2.jpg photorealistic baked lighting]. Some consider it a [[Dancing Bear]].
** ''Shadowgun'', which came out shortly afterward, [http://blogs.unity3d.com/2012/03/23/shadowgun-optimizing-for-mobile-sample-level/ was similarly designed to show off the rival Unity 3D engine]. Both it and ''Infinity Blade'' are used as demo programs for their respective engines.
** ''[[Aralon]]'' is the same deal.
== Multi-Platform ==
* Team Bondi's ''[[
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