European Demos (1990)

European Demos delivers exactly what the name implies: A virtual smorgasbord of screens from groups who operate in the old continent. The Overlanders, however, get deservedly the top credit. The French group had organised the effort and created the underlying framework and the astounding full-screen interactive menu, as well as seven striking screens. Some of the other teams who participated where Alien Cracking Formation, Blue Bird, Vector, NeXT, Hemoroids, The Pendragons and New Power Generation.

A megademo menu of ST era was like a game. In this case: a fullscreen game with smooth scrolling in four directions!  

This is also another production that easily earns the title megademo. There are in total 22 screens spread over two double-sided sisks. For a demo freak in 1990, this kind of giant production was like a gift from the gods. It would be easy to get lost for hours just marvelling the beautiful raster effects, fast vector objects, numerous full-screen parts, or reading the scrolling texts. And let's not forget the music, which was anything from sampled loops to digital soundtracker songs to more traditional chip sounds.

It's also worth noting that European Demos has a rare treat for demo lovers who own a monochrome monitor. Overlanders had cooked a surprise screen, which would pop up if the demo was run on a black-and-white display. Check out the last screenshot for a glimpse of some true high-res, two-tone fun!

European Demos was released on Christmas Eve 1990 at the STNICCC party, held in Oss, Netherlands.

Read more about the European Demos, Overlanders and the demoscene in Microzeit’s Breakin’ The Borders. Revised and revamped second edition available to order.