The demo can only be downloaded if a friend buys the full version - Crazy Nintendo always managing to have a great idea....then gimping it.

Sooo...does anyone plan to buy the full Dr. Mario? *cough*

No 's' on Demo. Only one (Dr Mario). >.>

have to have a friend code with the full version...ridiculous.

The demo was there but they vanished it afterwards. I don't know why.

http://play.tm/wire/click/1813228

Dr. Mario WiiWare includes demo to share with friends

It seems somewhat embarrassing in this, Space Year 2008, to be raving about the appearance of a downloadable game demo on a home console, but in the case of Nintendo (who haven’t exactly embraced the concept as of yet) it is a significant step. It isn’t even a disc-based release or available to everyone for free, but those who purchase Dr. Mario for WiiWare have the chance to send their friends an invitation to bag a preview of the game for themselves.

Japanese gamers willing to fork out 1000 Wii Points for Dr. Mario: Bacteria Extermination from the WiiWare download service, are also given the chance to send a message to anyone in their Wii friends list, with a link to install and access a free demo of the virus-blasting puzzler. Said trial allows players to compete in classic Dr. Mario matches over the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection only, with no way of experiencing the multiplayer or single-player modes offline.

Yes, it’s a pitiful advancement in terms of what’s available on the Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3, but it does at least show that Nintendo is slowly beginning to open its eyes to the idea of providing free game demos - and indeed, that WiiWare is able to support them. Unfortunately it isn’t possible for Japanese gamers to gift the Dr. Mario demo to their friends in other regions, not unless they’ve also got a Japanese Wii of course.

We’ll bring you more on this story as we get it, most likely covering whether the North American version of the game also provides the demo, when WiiWare launches in the territory on May 12.

Yes they added demos, but they sure are freaking hassle.

You have to have an friend code of someone who has already purchased the game. Only then can you d/l the demo. (as far as Kotaku explained it)

Nintendo needs to take a note from MS about online! (even Sony, this isn't how you do demos)

My friend sent me the invite for the demo, which i have now downloaded.. haven't had a chance to play it, but the process was quite simple..

according to the 'letter' that was sent to the message board, it only can be played wi-fi with friends..you'll need to buy the game to have local multiplayer and single player

so who has the game downloaded and wanna send me the demo :) ...send me pm with your wii code plz mines in my sig ^_^

Yep.. this is the time to show we are friends...

Not good enough.

I want playable demos of upcoming disk-based games, including Mature titles like The Conduit and Fatal Frame IV.