I want to get this out of the way: this is not a site that just advocates to pirate your games. The point is to show off games that have legal (or at least legally grey) free versions or demos that are on digital storefronts like Steam, GOG, or the Nintendo eShop. Stuff like Cave Story, the Shareware version of classic Doom, and the PICO-8 version of Super Mario Bros. I will provide links to the games when possible. I say when possible, since some demos are only available on consoles and stuff like that. With that out of the way, let's get started.
This section is for games that have full free versions that are either official, endorsed by the devs, or the game itself is open source.
Not only one of the most iconic free games, but one of the most iconic indie games. This game was released with its full source code, making it one of the most ported games. Linked here is the Genesis version (Cave Story MD) and a modern PC port (NXEngine-evo). The Steam version has more content and revised graphics and music, but the free version is very much a complete video game.
I'm hesitant to put this in the "full games" section, considering it's basically just a demo compared to the amount of content in the full game. The full game has a completely different art style, new levels, new items, new enemies, new playable characters, and more.
This one only recently (within the past few years) got a commercial release. The major difference between DF Classic and the Steam version is the art style. The original uses purely ascii art (there are "skins" for the game, but they're genuinely more confusing for me to understand than the ascii art) while the Steam version has a completely new art style.
This is the free version of Super Fancy Pants. It's split up into 3 parts, but other than that and the ommission of World 1 Remix (which is also available using Flashpoint archive) and saving, it's pretty much the same game.
I think this is a little-known fact, but Fancy Pants World 3 is actually an adaptation of the story mode of The Fancy Pants Adventures, initially released on the PS3 and Xbox 360. The console version contains Worlds 1 and 2 as well, but (again) both of these are also playable using Flashpoint Archive.
It's just Pac-Man. The original. From the arcades. I don't think it's emulation, but actually ported to HTML5 for something like that.
The original Flash game turned commercial. It was released on all PlayStation 2 era consoles, including the GBA. It's now available on Steam as well as all modern consoles. The Steam version has been redone in HD and has co-op.
This section is for parts of commercial games that have parts that are available for free officially.
Part of The Fancy Pants Adventures available on PS3. Doesn't have some collectables compared to the PS3 version, but feels a bit more polished.
Part of Super Fancy Pants on Steam. A remake of Fancy Pants World 1. The two versions are almost identical, minus the pencil being absent from the flash version.
Part of The Fancy Pants Adventures available on PS3. Doesn't have some collectables compared to the PS3 version, but feels a bit more polished (sounds familiar).
Tetris. The first link is to the main web browser port of Tetris, while the second is to the older N-Blox port. They're basically the same minus the level system working different. Fun fact about N-Blox: It was originally just a bootleg Flash port of Tetris, but was later officially licensed by The Tetris Company. The early, unofficial version can still be played via the Flashpoint Archive.
There are a few entries on this list made by Stealth. The interesting thing about Stealth is that they officially worked for SEGA on the mobile ports of Sonic 1 and 2 and later on Sonic Mania. They actually have a few of his earlier projects still hosted on his website, including this. It's just knuckles from Sonic & Knuckles ported into Sonic 1. This would later be possible in the mobile port of Sonic 1 and the Sonic Origins version of Sonic 1.
This section is for demos of games that are not available on PC marketplaces like Steam or GOG.
The Minecraft demo is interesting. It gives you 90 minutes to do whatever you want in a world. Each world gives you 90 minutes and there's no limit on the amount of worlds you can generate or what you can do. You can to play this in modern versions of Minecraft by logging into a Microsoft account that does not own Minecraft.
This is a demo of the original Flash version of Isaac. It contains the first 2 levels of that game.
Contains two levels present in the final game.
One of the most notorious demos ever. It's really suprising that this demo is not available on Steam. It contains the first episode of the game. Interestingly enough, DOOM II does not have a demo but many other classic ID titles do, such as Quake and Quake II. If you download the IWAD, then you can play it in any source port you want. If you don't know what a source port is, you probably want to stick to the broswer demo.
This section is for commercial games that have fanmade ports. This is for ports that have not been taken down by the copyright owner and contain no code copied from the original game.
This section is for parts of commercial games that have fanmade ports. This is for ports that have not been taken down by the copyright owner and contain no code copied from the original game.