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"Hey, hey, hey! Ready to have some fun? I got some kicking music, and I'm ready to see you drive! Get those coins out of your pocket, throw 'em in the machine, and let's get started! CRAZY TAXI!"
Announcer, Crazy Taxi

An Arcade Game that isn't being played goes into "attract mode" (sometimes called "advertise mode", "demo mode" or "game over mode"note ), which is intended to attract passersby to play the game.

Typical attract modes show several of the following elements:

Pinball games will also have attract modes similar to those in video games. Typical versions will play music; flash the playfield lights in a choreographed sequence; play animations on the alphanumeric display, dot-matrix display, or monitor; and display various scores, including the top scores and the most recent score. The last of these eventually led to pinball competitions, as the attract mode provided an easy way to determine a player's score after it has ended. Said competitions caused pinball attract modes to evolve with them: In more recent machines, pressing either flipper button during the attract mode will skip the display to whatever it will display next or go straight to the scores, depending on the manufacturer.

Arcade games with an attract mode will almost always have blinking text on the screen telling the player to "Insert Coin". Or they may have "Game Over" meaning that at the moment, the game is unplayable. Of course.

Attract modes still appear in many console games today, to persuade customers in retail stores to buy the game, the console or both, although the attract mode often consists merely of playing the opening FMV again if the game is left idle at the title screen too long.

Attract modes that specifically show gameplay or plot elements are Precaps. Compare Auto-Pilot Tutorial, when the game demonstrates the tutorial for you, blocking any other interaction.


Examples:

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Video Game Examples

    Action 
  • If Power Bomberman is left idle on the title screen for a while, the game will play a series of short demos. While some elements are predetermined, the combatant's actions are made up by the AI on the spot.

    Action-Adventure 
  • Booting up Epic Mickey treats players with an expository cutscene before reaching the title screen. Said cutscene is even named "Attract Mode."
  • Leaving the start screen on The Legend of Zelda games idle for a time usually brings up something. In the two original NES games, players were treated to a scrolling explanation (famously misspelled, in The Legend of Zelda) of the game's plot. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess features an attract mode with a lengthy montage of cutscenes and game action set to some of the game's best music. Ocarina of Time also has one that shows brief scenes of the Fire Temple, the Spirit Temple, or the Forest Temple.
  • The Sega Genesis version of The Lost World: Jurassic Park had demos set in arenas with random characters, showcasing how the hunters and dinosaurs are hostile not just to the player but also to each other. One cheat code allows the player to view one battle after another, as it's actually rather fun to watch and bet on who will win. Of note is that the Stegosaurus is the top dog among the characters and that sometimes the demos feature an infant version of it that isn't ever used in the proper levels.
  • Stay on the title screen for too long in Luigi's Mansion, and the opening cutscene will play.
    • When the game was first being shown off at events like Spaceworld and E3, all of the trailers and previews incorporated a shot of Luigi outside the mansion, looking as though he was depressed or possessed by a ghost. Thought to have been the original Game Over screen, it turned out that it was just a cutscene to entice players to check out the game.
  • The attract mode in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes had, besides showing off the game, a title screen theme that did not play anywhere else (a snippet of it appears before the credits).
In New Horizons, waiting long enough in the main menu triggers a trailer from Black Sails.
  • Star Wars: Episode I - Jedi Power Battles had a pretty cool one where the different Jedi show off their powers.
  • Super Metroid has several sets of demos, the initial ones just showing normal gameplay but progressing far enough into the game would unlock demos that actually show various tips and tricks, most of them being obscure stuff you wouldn't think of doing such as the charge beam-powerbomb combos and fancy ways to use the Speed Booster.

    Arcade 
  • After idling on the title screen of Domo-Kun's Angry Smashfest long enough, a scene will play out depicting evens that happen before the beginning of the game (you still have to press buttons to advance the text, though).
  • The official Arcade version of Fix-It Felix Jr. had an attract mode that shows why Ralph is wrecking the building, as well as an explanation of the game's mechanics.
  • Glider PRO, if left too long on the title screen, will start an automated playthrough of Demo House.
  • The ancient Hudson Soft game Itasundorious (also known as Driller Tanks) had a minute-long sequence completely explaining the player's and enemies' powers.
  • Not all classic coin-ops had gameplay demo sequences. The attract mode of The Tower of Druaga consists entirely of the title screen, the high score table, the title screen again, the Opening Narration, the title screen again, etc.
    • Other examples are Baby Pac-Man (justified since it's part [physical] pinball machine), Spy Hunter II (not to be confused with the sequel to the remake), and Xenophobe.
    • Yet another example is Commando (Capcom), which just has a title screen, high score screen, and a screen that shows the main character Super Joe, plus how many points it takes to get an extra lifenote 
  • Both the World's Largest Pac-Man, and Space Invaders Frenzy use a large dot-based display. Much like some pinball machines mentioned later on, they allow arcades to input custom messages that usually advertise the arcade, and/or whatever promotions might be going on.
  • Time Crisis doesn't just display gameplay and instructions for its attract mode: it also has opening sequences styled after Trailers for action films.

    Beat 'Em Up 
  • The Asterix Arcade Game had a tutorial illustrating all of Asterix's and Obelix's moves and the controls for them, and a slides of a few of the Gauls.
  • The Battletoads arcade game had profiles of Pimple, Rash and Zitz, a bunch of short gameplay videos, and a high score table titled "Greatest Grave Fillers."
  • The arcade version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time had the famous song "Pizza Power" from the Coming Out of Their Shells Tour.

    Eastern RPG 
  • Most console RPGs will have some sort of story-related sequence play out while waiting for the player to press Start. Some examples which aren't just the opening sequence which would automatically play when you start the game.
    • Nippon Ichi games either show story-related cutscenes or cycle through clips of gameplay demonstrating some of the more interesting moves available.
  • Breath of Fire II actually inserts plot hooks into its attract mode, giving all of the party members a scene showing what they were doing before the events of the game, followed by a brief battle. Notably, Jean dies in his battle.
  • Chrono Cross has one that shows some events that don't actually happen in the game, and with characters that you can't have at the points displayed, and has The Dream That Time Dreams play. Except for one obscure alternate ending, this is the only time it plays.
  • Chrono Trigger's montage of events from various time eras accompanied by the game's eponymous theme song.
  • The Final Fantasy series has these examples:
    • The DS rerelease of Final Fantasy IV features an awesome FMV introducing nearly all the characters, and making use of both screens (occasionally by having credits on one screen, action on the other, and also having action going on both screens, such as the shot of the Tower of Babil.) It also spoils certain plot-points in the game.
    • The Game Boy Advance remakes of Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy V feature one of the main themes from the game playing while a brief explanation of the story is shown.
    • Final Fantasy VIII's "Overture" illustrating the weapons of the main characters in black and white.
    • Final Fantasy IX contains brief cuts of other FMVs in the game as well as a sweeping view of the world map which isn't seen anywhere else. Similarly, Final Fantasy XII's attract mode mainly consists of cuts from existing FMVs.
    • Final Fantasy X-2's homage to FF 8 involves a gorgeous piano melody illustrating monochrome examples of weapons belonging to various dresspheres, with the main characters suggested nearby but never shown.
    • Final Fantasy XIV plays the trailer for the current expansion, accompanied by opening credits.
    • Final Fantasy Tactics (the original release) has no less than three or four totally separate FMVs that cycle around, ranging from story introduction to gameplay footage to just cool stuff.
    • Final Fantasy Mystic Quest just shows the protagonist exploring various regions, several of them from quite late in the story. The developers even named him "DemoPlay" for the attract mode.
  • Fire Emblem games have class slideshows, showing off combat animations for each class along with short flavor text blurbs and a side table detailing how each class rates in each stat. Genealogy of the Holy War focuses especially on showing off specific characters, and adds some dialogue and map shots.
    • The latter actually contained over 40 possible scenes, progressively unlocked by the player completing multiple playthroughs or ending with a better rank. Most notably, some confirm important plot points that are only suggested in the actual story, such as Lewyn dying at the end of the first generation and being resurrected by Forseti.
  • Both Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II feature orchestral remixes of their main themes accompanying a few verses of poetry and quick cuts of scenes that take place within the game.
  • Metal Saga: Sejin no Kusari features a fully-animated anime-style opening sequence set to a guitar-shredding, synthesizer-slamming power metal tune that sounds like it came straight out of a Dragonforce concert, and doubles as the game's "Boss Battle" music.
  • Parasite Eve has a fast-paced, horrifying montage with FMV cuts interspersed with scientific DNA technobabble (similar to Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty).
  • Persona 3 (here) and Persona 4 (here) alternate between a short animated music video and a montage of gameplay and cutscene highlights playing over a second song. (The FES remake of Persona 3 has its own montage, separate from the original.)
  • Resonance of Fate actually has an important plot point hidden away in the attract mode.
  • The Tales Series generally has anime cutscenes with fast-paced (often vocal) music. Sometimes it's the only anime cutscene other than the ending. Similarly with Valkyrie Profile.
  • Vagrant Story, in an interesting take, shows an FMV that features a dancer playing Mullenkamp, the deity of one of the factions in the game. It's notable in that it's the only FMV in the entire game, and features practically nothing about the game itself. Leave the game unattended a while longer, and it will show the meeting at the VKP Headquarters where Ashley first gets his assignment.
  • Vandal Hearts has an absolutely berserk free-for-all between characters from all over the game, all between Levels 27-29 (in a game where 20 is quite high). It ends after several minutes with Dumas casting Plasma Wave.
  • The Wild ARMs series also uses anime cutscenes set to some song. Later games alternate this with some random battle demonstrations, but the first game actually showed a very plot-related in-game cutscene of some backstory... that you never see anywhere else. The remake kept this.
  • Xenosaga 2's haunting vocal melody played while a mysterious device is being assembled. It's the ES Asher having its Vessel of Anima being installed (or rather, the ES Asher being built around the Vessel of Anima).

    Fighting Game 
  • Some games in the Mortal Kombat series allowed you to move a joystick or press a button to show certain high score lists during attract mode. Very nice if you wanted to see whether someone had beaten your best score without waiting around. The arcade version of Ultimate MK 3 had a fake character, a purple ninja named "Rain", appear in attract mode, although he became playable in the home versions and later games.
    • Each MK arcade game also used its attract mode to tell its story through numerous stills and character bios.
  • ...to GO!! to SHINE!!
    • "Transcending history and the world, a tale of souls and swords eternally retold." (title screen without intro)
    • "The heroes finally meet under the star of destiny." (gameplay demo)
  • Capcom vs. games have extremely flashy intro sequences showing its characters in action. Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter ups the ante with a Large-Ham Announcer.
    Are you ready, True Believes? Capcom and Marvel have joined forces once again to bring you...IT'S MARVEL SUPER HEROES VS. STREET FIGHTER!
  • Every Super Smash Bros. game, if left idle at the title screen for long enough, will eventually display a short video of the games' basic mechanics, called "How to Play." At other times, it will show the first 15 to 20 seconds of a 4-player match played by the CPU. For the sake of convenience, from Super Smash Bros. Melee and onward, "How to Play" can be viewed from an in-game menu at any time.

    First-Person Shooter 
  • BioShock has a particularly chilling one.
  • The early Doom games would cycle through three or four gameplay demos which would always end in the player getting killed. However, Final Doom crashes after the first loop. As well as this, any Game Mod that replaces the maps featured but not the demos would have the player running into walls and shooting randomly.
  • Wolfenstein 3D and its sequel Spear of Destiny had attract modes cycling between demos ending with player death or timing out. The Spear add-on packs would break the hard coded demo loops due to map diffrences not matching the script.
  • All three games in the Marathon trilogy had a few gameplay demos back in the day that would start running if a person opened the game and left it for long enough without selecting a command. They were not included in the now far more commonly seennote  Aleph One ports, however. A few of the more ambitious Game Mods for the classic trilogy also included their own.

    Hack and Slash 
  • Left to its own devices, the main menu of Devil May Cry plays some helpful demos of Dante's moves in combat, as well as a story trailer.
  • The game for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King has one of these, an amazingly cinematic trailer-esque sequence set to the movie's main theme music.

    Platform Game 
  • Astro Marine Corps showed the menu and high scores list while panning back and forth over the first level background.
  • The later Commander Keen games 4-6 had attract modes with demos and a hidden level demo as a high score table.
  • The Game Gear port of Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade used the same demo data from the Master System version despite the modified controls, which led to them not playing out properly.
  • Killer Queen has an elaborate one consisting of animation featuring the game's sprites and live-action footage of teams of people playing the game.
  • Kirby's Adventure shows a brief gameplay tutorial if you linger on the title screen, then swaps to a reel explaining the game's backstory, which is otherwise All There in the Manual. The remake, Nightmare in Dream Land, also has the story reel, but not the tutorial.
  • Kirby Super Star, a game made up of several sub-games, will play a series of story sequences explaining the plot of each of the sub-games if you let it sit at the title sequence long enough. What most people don't realize is that letting the game cycle through these scenes twice will play an extra scene that acts as a prologue to the final sub-game, "Milky Way Wishes". Since many players are unlikely to ever find this scene, the final boss appears to be a Giant Space Flea from Nowhere. Each sub-game shows its plot on its own sub-title screen as well, though, and Super Star Ultra amended this by making the cutscenes play automatically the first time you start each game.
  • Some Mega Man games feature this when waiting at the title screen if players wait long enough at their respective title screen.
    • Mega Man 7 and Mega Man 8 features a demo of a few stages by waiting at the title screen.
    • Mega Man X4, X5, and X6 will also play a brief gameplay demo when "Press Start" is flashing at the title screen.
    • Mega Man Network Transmission will play a brief demo of the Net on Fire, Outer Net, and Garden Comp 2 stages after waiting at the title screen. The Japanese version of the game will sometimes play a short clip of the anime adaptation's opening credits, which was taken out of the international release.
  • The N games have prerecorded demos of the player character going through a random level, although the odds of it actually reaching the end of a level without dying are slim to none. In N++, it actually uses deaths that have happened to you as you play the game.
  • The gameplay demo for Ninja Kid IInote  shows the main character running into one of the first enemies in the level.
  • The attract mode of Rastan covered the Excuse Plot in a few short blurbs and had a list showing what every item in the game did.
  • The demos in The Revenge of Shinobi were set up to have lame gameplay for Joe to die at some point. Since they are affected by the difficulty settings, you could have Joe killed in just a few seconds or cause him to survive and stay idle with nothing to do, which leads to the game becoming stuck on the demo until you press start.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog's idle mode was somewhat controllable. In some versions of the game, holding A, B and C would prevent Sonic from being able to jump. Most notable during the Green Hill Zone Act 1 section, as Sonic would run straight into the game's first enemy and die.
    • Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins also had demos you could control with a specific button combination. Normally, the demos would end after a set number of button presses, but one of the demo stages was actually beatable in that amount. Doing so would crash the game.
    • Super Mario Maker 2 also allowed player input, namely moving around on the title screen, playing and even beating the level that was generated.
  • Super Paper Mario opens with an expository cutscene before the title screen.
  • The title screen of Super Mario World shows Mario running through an apparently generic stage. That's the fifth level of the Special World, "Groovy". Poorly made ROM hacks are notorious for Game Breaking Bugs caused by allowing Mario to die during this sequence.

    Puzzle Game 
  • The NES port of Arkanoid would show demo play from different levels, up to level 23. A bug enabled you to trick the game into thinking the Game Over screen from these demos were real, enabling you to use a continue and start the game at level 23.
  • Equinox has its attract mode designed for demo kiosks at retailers. How can you tell? Because it includes an advertisement for the game.
  • The original Lode Runner had a demo of three levels of gameplay (which were actually levels 12, 31 and 11).
  • Marble Blast Gold, if left on the title screen long enough, will launch into a playthrough of Advanced Level 40 ("Ordeal") that ends halfway through.
  • Skweek didn't have one that played automatically, but selecting "About Skweek" would bring up the title character's demonstration of the game's features.
  • Zookeeper 1983 would show the usual demos of the game being played — and, if the controls were jiggled enough, had a chance of letting you play for free for a brief time.
  • The unreleased South Park game for Game Boy Color has two sequences in rotation when idling on the title screen. The first sequence is a cutscene that establishes the basic premise of the game, and the second sequence is a gameplay demo with Chef explaining each character's abilities and how the game's mechanics work.

    Racing Game 
  • Mario Kart games have always had several attract modes, playing in sequence if you left the title screen undisturbed.
    • The original SNES game had modes showcasing two-player Grand Prix, Time Trial, Battle Mode and one-player Grand Prix.
    • The Wii version even has Mario and Luigi demonstrating how to race with the included Wii Wheel like they are the players in the real world before going to a more traditional in game attract mode.
  • Sega Rally would cycle through three courses during the attract mode, and this applies to its sequel. In both games, there's a screen saying that the vehicles in Sega Rally are the cars that participated in the World Rally Championship (although some in the sequel were in the Formula 2 Kit Car category).
  • Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 3DX+ has a song during the attract mode called "Stay Where You Are" where a female singer repeats the title over and over. Guess what the game wants you to do.

    Rhythm Game 
  • The earlier Japanese installments of DanceDanceRevolution used attract mode to advertise Dancemania albums that the games sourced its licensed songs from. This was part of a deal Konami had with EMI Music Japan, which mandated it to put ads of the albums in exchange for licensing their songs for free. The deal was terminated sometime in 2006, after which Konami had to be selective as it no longer had carte blanche regarding licensed songs. The deal did not apply in Western games, however, hence why the ads never appeared in their attract mode.
  • DJMAX Technika 2 has one of the more interactive examples; during the Attract Mode, most of the time there are buttons that allow you to cycle among the tutorial, the score rankings, and the song preview. The former two are straightforward enough, but song preview allows you to select a song to play briefly, so you can hear what it sounds like before starting a game.
  • Both Guitar Hero and Rock Band would have random songs being performed if left at the title screen for too long.
    • Guitar Hero 5 takes it a step further and has the attract mode be "Party Mode", which takes random on-disc or DLC songs (no customs, including Neversoft's) and has the currently set up band onstage performing them while allowing people to jump in and out at will on any instrument without worrying about failing. Additionally, anyone playing can pause without interrupting the song and switch difficulty or handedness, or even request a song change (which is one of the few actions that does stop playback).
    • Rock Band 2, on the other hand, loops between two songs: "Let There Be Rock" and the "Hello There" video.
  • The games that comprise the Pretty Series will show the top scoring game from that day to attract players.
  • Leave any of the three iNiS DS rhythm games (the Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan duology and Elite Beat Agents) idle on the title screen or main menu and a demo of the first phase of an early level will play on medium difficulty. Tapping the touch screen during the demo will restart the opening logo sequence and take you back to the title screen.
  • Just Dance had one that showed some of the routines that you could dance to. Just Dance 2023 Edition removed this attract mode.

    Shoot 'Em Up 
  • In Berzerk, one of the earliest uses of a voice chip in arcade games is apparent when the game says, "Coin detected in pocket," during the attract mode.
  • Blaze On has an attract mode showing off the abilities of the TFF-001 Garland and all of the units it can absorb.
  • Bosconian, in between the title screen and a short gameplay demo, has a "Score Table" in which the fighter turns to shoot each type of enemy ship as it appears.
  • The arcade game Galaga had an attract mode that, due to a bug, you could actually control. Taking too long to beat it would reset the machine.
  • Salamander 2 also has an interactive attract mode, though it's implemented on purpose.
  • Sinistar does more than simply try to attract players ā€” it actually taunts them, using its HC-55516 voice synthesizer chip. Phrases such as "Beware, I live!" and "Run, coward! I am Sinistar!" were frequently heard in arcades whose managers didn't shut off the voice during the attract sequence. It wasn't a cheap game to own for most arcade owners.
  • Starship 1: The ship flies through space as planets and asteroids go by while it waits for someone to insert a coin.
  • The Touhou Project games do the standard "showing off how the game is played" thing. Why isn't entirely clear, considering that you're not going to find them in an arcade and there are not a whole lot of tricks to show.

    Simulation Game 
  • Later Ace Combat games would feature a video sequence if left alone at the title screen. Most of the time it's just a trailer for the game itself. Notable examples:
    • Ace Combat 4: Shattered Skies includes an electronica-based remix of the game's credits theme, "Blue Skies," interspersed with shots of seagulls and the game's F-22 mascot plane. If the player has completed the game or otherwise returned to the title screen after playing for a while, the Raptor will be replaced by the last plane the player used.
    • Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War has a more action-packed thriller-type trailer, emphasizing mysterious plot points and the use of cinematic CGI cutscenes (in contrast to Ace Combat 4 which used hand-drawn stills for their cutscenes) and wrapping up with the game's Real Song Theme Tune "Blurry" by Puddle of Mudd.
    • Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation also makes use of the game's cutscenes, but puts emphasis on the game's several B-plots alongside gameplay footage.
  • The Animal Crossing games show a random villager in the town walking around, interacting with the world like normal. Bizarrely, in the first game, very rarely the attract mode will be somewhat different—it'll be a villager frantically cutting down trees.

    Sports Game 
  • Madden games pick two random teams (that are not historical teams or NFL Europe teams), and pits them head to head in a full CPU-controlled game, using the current settings.
  • Tropical Angel: There's a demo mode that shows the regular gameplay that ends in a failure.

    Survival Horror 
  • Dead Space has an attract mode that showcases the many ways you can die in the game.
  • It's not only coin-op arcade games that do this. Console games, too, will have attract modes that activate if idle, for use in video game stores. Ghost Hunter's attract mode features the voice of Michael Gambon booming out, "There are thousands of ghost stories... into some intrude the living."
  • The very original Resident Evil features the Shaky P.O.V. Cam of... something as it sneaks up on Chris and ends with screaming and a spatter of blood. Of course this was before the series was a franchise, and to find out what had attacked him you had to start playing.

    Tactical Action and Strategy 
  • Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors games alternate between replaying the opening movie and gameplay footage. Generally not very exciting footage, for some reason.
  • Some Super Robot Wars titles have a sequence of Mecha performing their signature moves with theme songs playing.

    Visual Novels 
  • Lux-Pain has an anime-style animated opening sequence, complete with Japanese vocals, that introduces the main characters and the silent plot. Not bad for a Nintendo DS game.

Non-Video Game Examples

    Pinball 
  • Some alphanumericnote -era and later pinball machines allow the arcade owner (or operator) to input custom messages, usually advertising the arcade itselfnote , or various promotions. The Pinball Arcade versions do this by advertising the collection's website (even on machines that were made before the internet was a thing). The real-life tables followed suit soon afterward by displaying the social media names of the operators, causing the bizarre phenomenon of a pinball machine from before the breakup of the Soviet Union showing the operator's Facebook and Twitter accounts.
  • Data East's Secret Service was renown for its "karaoke" attract mode; it would play the chorus from "Nobody Does It Better" (from The Spy Who Loved Me) while displaying the lyrics.
  • In a number of virtual Licensed Pinball Tables featured in Zen Pinball, the attract mode may also play a famous, introductory quote from the licensed property in question. For example, one might hear Samuel Hayden introduce himself and talk of working together to resolve problems before a session on the DOOM table starts. Or in the Aliens pinball table, you might hear the famous dialogue between Ellen Ripley and Carter Burke over whether he's really going to destroy the Xenomorphs.
  • Rick and Morty occasionally plays an excerpt from original series' "Interdimensional Cable" episodes during its attract mode.
  • Most Data East pinball tables from The '90s have an option to advertise the company's next game during the Attract Mode. WWF Royal Rumble instead uses it for a Credits Gag, promoting Deathball 2000 - a fictional pinball machine that doubles as a Shout-Out to this Weekly World News article.

    The Kiddie Ride 
  • Coin-operated kiddie rides joined the bandwagon since the early 1990s. Many rides made in Japan and Italy would play a snippet of the song that it would play while running (which may or may not be accompanied with speech inviting kids to ride the thing). Those made in the United Kingdom play back speech snippets (which, among other things, invites any passing kids to play with it and explains the type of coins accepted by the ride, as most rides originating from the country are multi-coin capable, as well as the vendor's service phone number), but music sample is optional and not all rides play it. Some are just plain illogical (the interactive van series of rides by R.G. Mitchells are often cited by parents as scary, due them playing, of all things, an Evil Laugh snippet as their attract sound). Certain new Chinese-made rides are starting to have an attract mode, too, which has nothing to do with whatever music the ride actually plays. Many new lower-end rides, however, do not have an attract mode at all.

    Other 
  • Atari 8-Bit Computers (the 400 and 800 and later variants) had what was commonly called "attract mode" built in. In truth, this feature was more akin to a primitive screensaver, simply cycling the color palette after about nine minutes of no input, in order to avoid screen burn. (This, of course, didn't preclude games from including a "real" attract mode).
  • Movie example, or rather a game-within-a-movie example: "Greetings Starfighter! You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the Frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan Armada!" (Especially noteworthy in that the movie also shows the game's glitched Attract Mode, when the machine goes nuts in response to detecting either Centauri or an alien assassin in the vicinity.)
  • One brand of fresh orange juice dispenser, for an unknown reason, will occasionally play music videos of Michael Jackson songs on its screen. If someone pays for a glass of orange juice, it will also start up a randomly chosen Michael Jackson music video as the oranges are juiced and the cup slowly fills up.
  • Some automated teller machines will display ads for the bank's services in attract mode. If the user can select a language, sometimes one of the attract mode screens will display "Se habla espaƱol", or display several flag icons for countries corresponding to the languages the ATM knows.
  • Some railroad ticket vending machines will display ads for cheap tickets, monthly passes, or other special offers from the railroad in attract mode. Like an ATM, the vending machine may have a screen with several flag icons, to indicate that it can operate in multiple languages.
  • An arcade machine possessed by the anomaly in Maximum Overdrive uses an attract mode to kill a victim, flashing abstract colors that are potentially hypnotic to lure him into playing it and then electrocuting him as soon as he touches the cabinet. One could call it a (sunglasses) Fatal Attraction.
  • The Japanese Hello Kitty popcorn vending machine plays Megumi Hayashibara's theme for the character as this, accompanied by Kitty telling you to buy popcorn. Sanrio even created an official dance routine as seen on Hello Kitty's official vlogging channel.
  • In Petscop, the titular fictional game has an Attract Mode where gameplay footage is shown with a flashing "DEMO" alert if the game is left alone. Some footage of the Demo Mode is shown amidst Paul's actual gameplay. While at first it seems to be typical sample gameplay, Paul eventually finds out that not only are the movements of the demo player based on prior actual interactions (including those of other players from long before him), but the locations in the Demo mode are arranged slightly differently than those in the normal game. In the first major example of this being abused in Episode 14, Paul finds out a door in The House is closed in the regular game but open in the Demo mode version. So he tries to walk his character through it in the game proper despite it being closed, and later waits for the Attract Mode to start and see what otherwise inaccessible room he entered in the corresponding Demo footage based on his button presses.


Alternative Title(s): Advertise Mode, Demo Mode

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Daytona USA

The attract mode for Daytona USA.

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