Well, at least from before almost everyone had ready access to the internet. Nowadays when I see a game that piques my interest, I can quickly find any preview articles, screenshots and gameplay videos on the internet to satisfy my curiosity. Back then you might only have a single gametrailer, sneak peek or a couple of teaser screenshots to go on, perhaps from a demo disc in a gaming magazine, or included in some other game. Then you'd gawk over it day after day, wondering what the game was like :)

Remember any particular ones that used to drive you mad with curiosity? There's one I'll never forget, which was viewed from the original Red Alert's menu: Lands of Lore 2. It used to blew me away back then! Still kinda does though :D

bump?

Naaah... I used to look at screenshots in magazines and wonder how they would look like animated, or how the game was played.

If I was lucky, I would get a demo that would run on my machine.

I remember looking at pictures of Magic Carpet and comparing it to After Burner. Surely it is similar. I mean, unless it is really 3D and you could go and look anywhere instead of moving through a fixed path. But what are the chances of that?! Yeah, right. Good luck on pulling that off!

The Metal Gear Solid trailer video on the demo disc that came with my Playstation (One) was cool as heck. I think it was the one below. Especially the office shooting scene really piqued my interest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiTkXAu3nbg

While I already had some sort of internet in the late 90s and early 2000s, I recall downloading lots of PC game trailers online before Youtube was a thing. I don't even recall where you could download them, I just recall getting them somewhere and keeping them on CD-R discs, I think I still have them. A couple of examples of those that I remember fondly:

Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K. 2 (2000)
Duke Nukem Forever (2001)

I don't think trailers like those could be done today anymore, SJWs you knows...

Even though I was reading a monthly video game magazine back in the day, the only games that I would get excited about were the games that came with the included demo discs. For some reason, articles and screenshots never got me excited (and still don't). Even gameplay videos don't get me excited!

I would probably buy a lot more video games now if I could get a demo first, but I guess those are a thing of the past. Now it's about how much you can deceive the consumer with screenshots, CGI videos, marketing and preview demonstrations at E3 to get them to buy your game.

... Sorry, I shouldn't be so cynical.

Oh, and as to which ones blew my mind... The demos for Rayman 3 and Monkey Island 4 made me beg my parents for the real games, and I wasn't disappointed once I got my hands on them :) Good days.

I played game demos once and again and wouldn´t get tired of them.............hoping one day to get the full game :P

The "PCGamer" magazine was the best way I had to get news about games. Read it entirely, and at the same time I would put my english in practice.

Yup. Warcraft Adventures... Damn you, Blizzard!

How could I forget about Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.2! I used to watch the trailer over and over, though not that one, an even better one :D It has clips from the the animated film included, and I always assumed that was animation done for the game's cutscenes. Years later I found out about the movie itself, and unfortunately found it was pretty crappy (especially the end), though it did have some cool parts. If nothing else, it also lead me to the original Heavy Metal which is amazing.

That Duke Nukem trailer makes me sad :( It's a crying shame that we never got the clearly awesome game shown in that trailer. Same for me with the demo of the first GTA, and I almost managed to convince my mom as well. I'm still kicking myself about to this day: when she finally seemed keen on buying it for me, I got so excited that I started telling her more and more about the game, including the bit where you are a criminal running amok in a big city. Biiig mistake :P