Philips CD-i ... why do I want this?

[Domasaurus 4]

Hey Guys, 

So.... for as long as I've known that Link, Zelda and Mario Games exist for this thing... I have wanted it. My dream is to find it in a stack of DVD players at a 2nd Hand store (Salvation Army, Goodwill, Value Village, Pawn Shop etc) which I doubt will ever happen... and I rarely see these things come up on Ebay for less than $400. Any tips for collecting this? or is this a pipe dream. I honestly just want a working System with the Nintendo brand games, regardless of how bad they are, I'm sure I would still enjoy owning them. So what's the catch to Collecting this thing? worth it? Is there a specific model i should look out for? 

[Tanooki 4,581]

I'd say you're a bit of a masochist, at least if you do go the online route to nail one down, and as you saw the games can go from meh to ARGH price wise when you see what like the Nintendo stuff hits for example.  They also in some cases suffer from the hell that the TG16 library does as some jewels came in cardboard slips most people wisely all things considered trashed.  Like you I'd love to find one at a thrift rack or some fools accidental thinks it's a CD player listing locally but it won't happen.  Truth be told 3 of the 4 Nintendo licensed but untouched (by them) games aren't as bad as people make them out to be it's a mix of some truth and a lot of tall tale.  I know this, as I was a cdi owner in the era and I had most of them.  I knew well one was a dumpster fire, that's the one that should have played like the original Zelda (Zelda's Adventure) but it's so buggy, laggy, and foul in creation it can't even play its own music and sfx at the same time.  The other 2 Zelda games, they do have these pauses by area you enter to access the needed files, but play wise it's much like Zelda 2 with some terribly animated/scripted pop up FMV here and there that's so bad it's good.  Hotel Mario though is the best of the lot, that is if you love Elevator Action because that's basically what it is with a few Mario World mechanics and looks attached to it.

If you need to look for a model, research the various ones as I forgot the numbers, but earlier models like mine had an expansion port in back like the PS2 did and it added a DV feature on a card, later models it was built in, also later models were like PS3 super slim you just tossed it in there and closed the top, earlier had testy drive/door motors to load games.

Much like TG16 there is no catch other than a willingness to lose a hefty sum of cash to get into it, and continue into it buying the games, and you'll also strongly be advised to get the gravis game pad clone looking controller as the Wii-mote/chuk like hybrid controller is kind of crap to play with.

I can suggest some good games for the system I used to have and others I demo'd but never got around to.

[Domasaurus 4]

Yeah , although it's a sad reality , I figured as much, a friend of mine stumbled on one second hand in a estate sale and i almost died when he told me, of course he kept it for his own collection but man... ever since I played it, I have wanted it. Yeah , I would love to hear some reco's on games if I ever get my hands on one for a reasonable price I might think about collecting it. Thanks for the info.

[captmorgandrinker 1,540]

Only reason I want one is to play Jokers Wild.

[Teh_Lurv 242]

My only experience with the CD-i was wasting time playing Mystic Midway on the demo kiosk at my local Sears. For some reason, that Sears only got kiosks of the non-Nintendo/Sega systems. It was my only exposure to the CD-i, 3DO, and TG-16 systems.

[Rancidskater 4]

I got the cd-i, maybe 10 yrs back. It isn't as bad as people think, it has such a bad rep.

 

If nothing else, it is very interesting in the software released for it. I got my hands on a sweet portable cd-i unit that unfortunately stopped working last year (recap project)

It's been a while since I have played it, but I remember enjoying burn cycle, and the 7th guest, as well as Hotel Mario.

 

The voice acting and FMV is just hilarious in the Zelda games, worth a play.

 

Attached is a pic of a few games with slip covers in decent condition for your enjoyment!

[nrslam 343]

Burn Cycle was a lot of fun.  I actually got a fair amount of enjoyment from the CD-i and it doesn't deserve its reputation as the worst console ever (the Memorex VIS is far worse).

[Rancidskater 4]

It's funny you mention the memorex VIS, it's still on my list of crappy consoles I'd like to own. 

[DefaultGen 4,457]

I specifically bought a CD-i 220 instead of the more reliable-looking 450 but I can't remember why anymore. Possibly because it's easier/possible to install DVC cartridge?

I remember having a lot of trouble buying one. One guy cancelled my order because shipping was more than he expected, one guy ghosted me after ordering, and the one I finally bought arrived broken despite being "tested". You can fix the CD-i 220 trays with $3 for 100 generic cassette replacement belt rubber bands, no need to buy a single pricey $10 one on Ebay. Also despite the console being pretty expensive, most games are worthless except for the Nintendo ones, so that's nice.

Also the Gravis Gamepad-style CD-i controllers really aren't too bad (considering you'll be playing CD-i games) but check out this SNES to CD-i project if you're really serious about your CD-i playing: https://cdii.blogspot.com/2016/05/now-you-can-play-cd-i-games-with-your.html

Edited November 5, 2019 by DefaultGen

[Tanooki 4,581]

This is sheer memory here I then confirmed using the wiki to make sure i got names right.  I think this is mostly what I had and I found it quite enjoyable.

Link Faces of Evil, Hotel Mario, Mutant Rampage Bodyslam, Escape from Cyber City, Dragons Lair, Space Ace, Little Divil, Caesars World of Boxing, Voyeur, Lords of the Rising Sun, Tetris, Namco Museum, Chaos Control, Burn Cycle, 7th Guest.  While I didn't own them I got to play the games of Kether, Inca, and Pinball which were solid too.  While not my jam with sports that boxing title was surprisingly good.

MRB basically was a 2D sprite based mix of I guess Final Fight and SNK's Mutation Nation brawlers and excellent.  ECC was a light gun without a gun game using footage from Galaxy Express 999 and good, just brutal on timing.  I think the others are fairly well known games, though I will add Lords of the Rising Sun was like an excellent edition on their with some added cool modes and some oddly non-cheese well done FMV bits.  A couple CDi games did make it to pc like Little Divil (on GoG cheap) and Chaos Control was on CD which I found recently in a dollar bin and it's still challenging fun.

[CMR 470]

I want one, but mainly for nostalgia.  When I was a kid my grand father worked in a furniture store and they had one of these on display.  I played the crap out of it back then.