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Who here had/has a Philips CD-i?

SkyMasterson

SkyMasterson

Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,001
After wanting one for years(for curiosity's sake), I finally got a CD-i.

I have to say, this things lives up to expectations and is a huge piece of shit, but also is impressive in some aspects. The audio and video capabilities(especially with the digital video cartridge add on) were very good.

I respect that it was the first CD base home console and that Nintendo bailed on Philips last minute, putting Philips in a tough spot and this was the end result. Trying to find information on the console, games and accessories is somewhat difficult. It's out there, but most of the stuff are just articles talking about how Nintendo had partnered with them and how awful the Zelda/Mario games were.

Hotel Mario isn't the ideal Mario game, but actually not awful. The Zelda/Link games have nice looking backgrounds and catchy music, but is hampered by bad game design, awful voice acting, cruse animation and some shit controls. I do wonder what could have been had Philips not given those game tight budget and time constraints. Hell, I would have loved to have seen what Nintendo would have been able to do with the hardware.

It sounded like Philips lack of knowledge in the video game industry and being a bit gun-shy on marketing the CD-i as a full on game console hindered them from the beginning.

So who here had or has a CD-i and what are your thoughts? Favorite games? I already know this isn't going to be a very popular thread to post in ha.
 
_zoipi

_zoipi

One Winged Slayer
Member
Nov 23, 2017
2,377
Madrid
I had it. That's why i legitly think Wand of Gamelon is not a shitty game or one of the woprst games ever. A mediocre game but can be enjoyed legitly. Needs a neat fan remake.
 
Shy

Shy

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
18,520
I had one.

Only had two games on it. And they were Space Ace, and Burn Cycle.
 
Crackhead_Bob

Crackhead_Bob

Banned
Nov 1, 2017
1,865
The only games that genuinely interested me were the Don Bluth laserdisc games and 7th Guest. Dragon's Lair and Space Ace were hampered with 20 second load screens every time you died and every time you cleared a level. So with Dragon's Lair, a game which in some cases had only one move per level, you were pretty much sitting through 20 minutes of load screens by the time you finished the game.
 
Rabid-Coot

Rabid-Coot

Member
Oct 27, 2017
269
Had one way back until it died, Tetris and International Tennis Open I remember having but not well enough to speak on their quality. Kether I remember playing but not getting very far and Chaos Control I played the most dying around the same point most times and completing once.

Also one or more educational games in the mix.
 
Egrimal

Egrimal

Member
Oct 27, 2017
224
Aberdeen, Scotland
Had one when they came out and remember playing Mad Dog Mccree on it but not much else. We had Zelda and I don't remember too much about it which is odd given how much I remember from my other gaming systems from before then as well!
 
OP
OP
SkyMasterson

SkyMasterson

Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,001
Takahashi said:
I had it. That's why i legitly think Wand of Gamelon is not a shitty game or one of the woprst games ever. A mediocre game but can be enjoyed legitly. Needs a neat fan remake.
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Yea, I'm actually looked forward to putting more time into both.
caylen said:

Without exaggeration, this is probably the weirdest commercial ever cut for a video game console ever made. I'm just happy I have another opportunity to share it with people discussing the CDI.
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Lol and that's saying something considering some of the commercials that Sony has put out for PlayStation.
 
Charsace

Charsace

Chicken Chaser
Member
Nov 22, 2017
2,870
There was a belt scroll beat'em up that was good. Forget the name of the game though.
 
xendless

xendless

Teyvat Traveler
Member
Jan 23, 2019
10,665
My uncle had one, he found it again this year moving out of his house. No idea if it still works or if he even has the cables still.
 
Outtrigger888

Outtrigger888

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,305
I wanted one so bad, they use to have 30 minute infomercials late at night for the CDi and I would always watch. My dad was big into games at the time and knew it was a piece of shit so we never got one.

He also refused to let me buy a ps1 when it launched because it was gonna fail like the CDi and 3DO
 
Pearljam and Earl

Pearljam and Earl

Member
Jun 7, 2018
1,505
One of my best friends at high school had one. I unironically love the Burn Cycle OST, and even though I know deep down that the game itself isn't exactly an all-time great, I still have a soft spot for it. I found a dirt-cheap copy of the PC port in a second hand shop when I was a teenager, complete with bonus soundtrack CD. Didn't even know there was a PC version so I was super excited when I saw it, and to have the chance to play it in my own CDi-free home!



 
charlaten

charlaten

Member
Oct 27, 2017
46
I had this when I was a pre-teen with lots of time on my hands. My dad picked up a demo unit and tons of games on the cheap. I tried my best to find enjoyment in it, but it was quite a challenge even back then. There simply weren't many enjoyable games and many of them left me with an immediate 'do not want' feeling.

Some of more memorable games in my experience (which probably didn't age well):
  • International Tennis Open
  • Mad Dog McCree
  • Tetris
  • Space Ace / Dragon's Lair
  • Thunder in Paradise
  • Mystic Midway
  • Video Speedway
  • Caesar's World of Boxing

Hotel Mario is very meh overall, sort of like a rough take on Mario Bros. I don't really need to say much about the Zelda games, they are what they are portrayed to be.

Lastly, I had 3 different type of controllers. The remote-style controller was default but pretty bad for gaming. The trackball and the gamepad worked well enough though.
 
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Tobor

Tobor

Member
Oct 25, 2017
28,486
Richmond, VA
I remember seeing a CDi demo unit at a Babbages or Circuit City and having a good laugh.

Sort of related, one of my high school friends bought a 3DO. Spent every nickel he had saved on it and a copy of Star Control 2. That was worth it.
 
Artificial Housewife

Artificial Housewife

Member
Oct 30, 2017
279
My stepfather had one and Zelda. I never got around to asking him to hook it up and trying it because his sense of humor was a bit different and he would not get why I would be turning it on just to immediately shit on the game that I would be playing.
 
caylen

caylen

Publisher - Riot Games
Verified
Oct 27, 2017
139
santa monica
fieldafar said:
...what the hell did I just watch?
The presenter/narrator guy is setting off huge creep alarms.
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I collect a lot of really bad gaming videos, and I'm still flummoxed as to if the "actor" in this is like a household figure of some sort in Canada (like public access? Educational TV?) or if he was written in as a "magician" completely for the sake of the bit.

There are so many more questions than answers for this commercial. The CDI has a ton of bad tv commercials, but this one is some TV Carnage level of horrific - and it's still not as bad as the CDI itself was.
 
imbarkus

imbarkus

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,645
Crackhead_Bob said:
The only games that genuinely interested me were the Don Bluth laserdisc games and 7th Guest. Dragon's Lair and Space Ace were hampered with 20 second load screens every time you died and every time you cleared a level. So with Dragon's Lair, a game which in some cases had only one move per level, you were pretty much sitting through 20 minutes of load screens by the time you finished the game.
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You know, the blu-ray versions of these games got crazy rare and expensive.
 
Jockel

Jockel

Member
Oct 27, 2017
679
Berlin
My family actually had one of those back in the day, including quite a few games. I remember them mostly being garbage, particularly Wand of Gamelot. Hotel Mario was ok, Chaos Control was decent and the 7th Guest easily the best game on the system. A good variation of the soundtrack, too.
 
antitrop

antitrop

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,595
Yes, and I still have all the games. The system itself stopped working about 15 years ago and I tossed it, but all the games in their jewel cases are still sitting in a container in my closet.

NeoZeedeater said:
Mutant Rampage?

The CD-i was weak for exclusives (it shared some cool games with PC like The 7th Guest).

I like The Apprentice.
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I loved The Apprentice. Definitely one of the better ones amongst the pile of shit that was my CD-i collection.

Also it had a legit nude code that I didn't find out about until I was much older. Eat your heart out Tomb Raider nude code rumors.

KFMAruC.png


NSFW


Kids-To-Adults Ages 6+ lmao

Z07u4rh.png


Even as a 12 year old playing it that didn't know about the nude code, I still picked up on the developers being some horny bastards. Out-of-place nearly naked women were already all over the game, I wasn't surprised at all to find about the nude code.
 
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skeezx

skeezx

Member
Oct 27, 2017
20,164
i never played it or seen one in the wild but i remember as kids my friends and i were pretty mystified by it, we even called Philips and they sent us all these info junkets. i don't remember if i even wanted one or not but it seemed like this all-encompassing mega device for rich people
 
antitrop

antitrop

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,595
skeezx said:
i don't remember if i even wanted one or not but it seemed like this all-encompassing mega device for rich people
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In reality all it did was play bad exclusive games, unnecessary ports of PC games, pre-internet encyclopedias, and movies in a worthless proprietary format (that required an expensive upgrade to the CD-i itself). And with one of the worst controllers known to man.

Pretty much any game I have fond memories of playing on the CD-i was just a PC port, like The 7th Guest or Dimo's Quest.
 
skeezx

skeezx

Member
Oct 27, 2017
20,164
antitrop said:
In reality all it did was play bad exclusive games, unnecessary ports of PC games, pre-internet encyclopedias, and movies in a worthless proprietary format.
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yeah in the back of my head i was mostly aware of that. but early 90s, pre windows 95 multimedia device that played CD ROM GAMES (omnipotent god voice), it was kind of head turning in principle
 
antitrop

antitrop

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,595
skeezx said:
yeah in the back of my head i was mostly aware of that. but early 90s, pre windows 95 multimedia device that played CD ROM GAMES (omnipotent god voice), it was kind of head turning
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It was head-turning enough for my dad, who decided to get an expensive-as-all-fuck CD-i over a Super Nintendo.

At the time I was obviously very unhappy with playing Hotel Mario and the CD-i Zeldas, while my friends were playing Super Mario World and A Link to the Past, but in hindsight I am kind of glad I got to actually play these (extremely shitty) games that most people have only heard about through YouTube memes and Angry Video Game Nerd episodes. It's a strange piece of video game history that I actually got to experience.
 
EvilBoris

EvilBoris

Prophet of Truth - HDTVtest
Verified
Oct 29, 2017
16,684
My grandad did and I used to play the 7th guest and Micro-machines on it, using the analogue stock on the remote control.
 
EdgeXL

EdgeXL

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,788
California
CD-I has such a weird version of Tetris. It has FMV backgrounds like waterfalls, deserts and grassy plains and mall music "easy listening" soundtrack.
 
antitrop

antitrop

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,595
EdgeXL said:
CD-I has such a weird version of Tetris. It has FMV backgrounds like waterfalls, deserts and grassy plains and mall music "easy listening" soundtrack.
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My mom played the SHIT out of this version of Tetris. It's the only one she'll ever play. Any time I've ever tried to get her to play Tetris again in the last 25 years, she just asks me "Does it have music like the CD-i Tetris?" and I say no, and she passes.

She played it right up until the CD-i stopped reading discs.
 

Deleted member 59126

Banned
Aug 10, 2019
2,053
I didn't have one, but my friend did. We were blown away by what how realistic the games looked. However it didn't take long to realize that the games just weren't that fun and hop back onto the Genesis and Super Nintendo.

I remember playing, in no particular order.

Mad Dog McCree
Space Ace
Dragons Lair
7th Guest
Othello
Flashback
Tetris

We would boot it up and play a few every now and then, but never for long.
 
Theorry

Theorry

Member
Oct 27, 2017
61,016
I had it. Dont know how lol. I always played a game wich had that Belgium goalkeeper in it.
 
OP
OP
SkyMasterson

SkyMasterson

Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,001
PCEngineGuy said:
Just have to point out it was 2 years late to be the first CD console.
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Are you going to say that it was the PC engine?
antitrop said:
Yes, and I still have all the games. The system itself stopped working about 15 years ago and I tossed it, but all the games in their jewel cases are still sitting in a container in my closet.


I loved The Apprentice. Definitely one of the better ones amongst the pile of shit that was my CD-i collection.

Also it had a legit nude code that I didn't find out about until I was much older. Eat your heart out Tomb Raider nude code rumors.

KFMAruC.png


NSFW


Kids-To-Adults Ages 6+ lmao

Z07u4rh.png


Even as a 12 year old playing it that didn't know about the nude code, I still picked up on the developers being some horny bastards. Out-of-place nearly naked women were already all over the game, I wasn't surprised at all to find about the nude code.
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Click to shrink...

What the hell!? Did not expect that game to have a nude code lol. This game is on my list to get. I actually already have half of the U.S. releases.

Also, very happy to see someone bumped the thread. I figured it died after 17 posts or whatever. I loved reading all the responses.
 
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