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CD-i Recommendations?


flatfoot

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Nobody will agree with me, but I find that Hotel Mario is actually quite a fun arcade-ish game.

Also, both Dragon's Lair games along with Space Ace appear to be really solid ports with decent rips from the original Laserdisc.

Yeah Hotel Mario looked surprisingly good when I watched a video of it on youtube. I'll take a look at that too.

 

Do you have any recommendations as far as the CD-i system itself?

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Yeah Hotel Mario looked surprisingly good when I watched a video of it on youtube. I'll take a look at that too.

 

Do you have any recommendations as far as the CD-i system itself?

 

I'd say a 220 with the MPEG-1 card. Should be a good middle-ground system.

 

Consider the MPEG-1 card a necessity regardless of the model you eventually pick up, however.

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For software, remember the CDi has no security features - you can burn games and they'll run, no problem.

 

With that in mind, some of my favorites:

Zelda: Wand of Gamelon - both it and Faces of Evil are surprisingly good Metroidvania type games, albeit with some hit detection issues. Stay far away from Zelda's adventure though.

 

Voyeur - neat fmv murder-thriller

Zenith - unique action game with a bouncing ball

Plunderball - pinball game featuring fmv scenes

Flashback

Hotel Mario - decent little platform game

Wacky world of Miniature Golf - I wrote the FAQ with my buddies!

Edited by ubersaurus
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Definitively get a one with the digital video cartridge, I have a DVS 9000 which was actually still being made and distributed up until a few years ago. Ideally you want a model after the first couple iterations as you'll want more memory of save. Burn Cycle is a great game, but you can also play it on PC. Little Devil is good and the CD-i probably has the best version of MadDog McCre, however I've had problems with hit detection with the light gun. I had a memorex unit but it was always breaking, they had a CD-i in my study hall so I spent many study hall hours playing game on, I think it was a 220. I am pretty sure none of the staff knew you could play games on it.

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Thanks for the recommendations so far! It sounds CD-i had a pretty stellar line up. :grin:

 

How about my question regarding if there was a mod or product that will allow me to play Sega CD games on a CD-i? If it doesn't exist, I would think it would be a great idea for someone to take up and they could make a lot of money.

Edited by flatfoot
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Thanks for the recommendations so far! It sounds CD-i had a pretty stellar line up. icon_biggrinwink.gif

That's certainly one way of describing it icon_wink.gif It did have a few really good games, but was stuck in the limbo of Philips never really being able to decide if it was a console, video playback device, multimedia machine, or other.

 

How about my question regarding if there was a mod or product that will allow me to play Sega CD games on a CD-i? If it doesn't exist, I would think it would be a great idea for someone to take up and they could make a lot of money.

Not likely to happen. The two architectures are very different, and the CD-i doesn't really have the gaming capability of the Sega CD.

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Mutant Rampage: Bodyslam

 

It's not a great beat-'em-up, but there is a large variety of enemies and several levels. The graphics are good for the time, too.

 

The Apprentice

 

A nice platform game, again with good graphics for the time.

Oh man, how did I forget Mutant Rampage? It does do some cool stuff, like having a tag mechanic and allowing enemies to pick up items (including food and 1ups) too!

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Nobody will agree with me, but I find that Hotel Mario is actually quite a fun arcade-ish game.

Also, both Dragon's Lair games along with Space Ace appear to be really solid ports with decent rips from the original Laserdisc.

Having been the owner of a CDi220 in the day, you have a friend here. I thought Hotel Mario was really fun, a quick and interesting mash up of Elevator Action in play design and Super Mario World in look. I also thought Link Faces of Evil was a fun ride even if the clips were comedically rotten for the year it hit they were different in a train wreck amusement way of things.

 

I had a fair many game discs for it back then. Going off the wikipedia I know I had at least these ones.

7th Guest, Arcade Classics (think Namco Arcade renamed), Caesars World of Boxing, Chaos Control, Dragon's Lair, Escape from Cyber City, Hotel Mario, Litil Divil, Lords of the Rising Sun, Mutant Rampage Body Slam, Space Ace, and Voyeur.

 

And in stores I played pinball, tetris, and Zelda Wand of Gamelon

 

Of all those I can't think of one I wouldn't come back to, even the store play stuff as they did keep me busy. The FMV games based on laserdisc stuff, you have to be into it or they'll just piss you off since that's just how they are, and Cyber City really feels like it needs a zapper gun but doesn't so you have to move a tracking icon which can get strange making it super hard. Lords of the Rising sun hit a lot of systems in the day, but that release I loved the use of design from both the color and audio, but also some well done FMV that didn't for once feel cheesy, and some added sequences some other versions didn't get. I did play a lot of Mutant Rampage, it was basically the final fight clone of the system and done nicely.

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Thanks for the recommendations so far! It sounds CD-i had a pretty stellar line up. :grin:

 

How about my question regarding if there was a mod or product that will allow me to play Sega CD games on a CD-i? If it doesn't exist, I would think it would be a great idea for someone to take up and they could make a lot of money.

 

I doubt anyone would ever find a way to play Sega CD on a CD-i. Even if it were possible, I don't think there are enough CD-i owners to make it a worthwhile project (especially since many people who own a CD-i are likely collectors who already own a Sega CD). One thing I would love to see is an optical drive emulator like we now have for the Saturn, Dreamcast, Turbo CD, FM Towns Marty, and 3DO. I'm not sure that anyone will ever thinks it's worthwhile enough to develop one for the CD-i.

 

One thing to consider when purchasing a CD-i—there is a battery that is housed within a chip inside the CD-i, and these batteries have all either failed or will fail soon. I've seen claims that when the battery dies, the CD-i no longer works; however, the battery in my CD-i is dead, but the only problem it creates is that I can't save games.

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I am not sure what you are referring to. :?

 

I like a lot of the Sega CD games but I hate the Sega hardware and would love to play them on a CD-i with it's superior hardware and controllers.

It can’t even do smooth, full-screen scrolling. It’s definitely not pulling off Sega CD if it can’t even compare to the base console. ;)

 

I got mine almost 20 years ago but never got the MPEG card, so there is a whole segment of the library I’m not familiar with. That said...

Defender of the Crown is more than decent

 

Tetris isn’t, but it’s a title people often forget is another Nintendo title on the CD-i (Nintendo held an exclusive license for non-computer home consoles and portables back then).

 

There are a a lot of board game adaptations that work well.

 

Burn Cycle is considered the system’s “killer app.”

 

IIRC, the SRAM/NVRAM battery is built into the DIP chip on most systems and can’t easily be replaced. You have to Dremel in to connect a new battery and a dead battery can prevent the system from even booting. Might want to be prepared for that.

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I've always been super-interested in building a CD-i but don't know that much about the system. What do you all recommend in terms of hardware and maybe some hidden gems of the game library? I've heard good things about NFL Instant Replay. Is that one pricey?

You won't be able to play Sega CD games on the CD-i because the CD-i doesn't play standard CD's.

 

As for games many of the known games on MD and SNES are on the CD-i with better graphics and enhanced audio, such as Micro Machines, Fifa, and Flashback. Keep in mind they are still the same games though.

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You won't be able to play Sega CD games on the CD-i because the CD-i doesn't play standard CD's.

No. You won't be able to play Sega CD games on the CD-i because the two architectures have zero software compatibility.

 

The CD-i does a perfectly fine job of playing standard CDs, and I say that from firsthand experience. Hint: the 'CD' in 'CD-i' might be the first clue that it's perfectly capable of said feat.

 

And yet again there's this odd feeling of déjà vu...

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No. You won't be able to play Sega CD games on the CD-i because the two architectures have zero software compatibility.

 

The CD-i does a perfectly fine job of playing standard CDs, and I say that from firsthand experience. Hint: the 'CD' in 'CD-i' might be the first clue that it's perfectly capable of said feat.

 

And yet again there's this odd feeling of déjà vu...

CD-i can't play interactive CDs unless they are CD-i's, only Audio and Video. Many YouTube videos on the specifications.

 

But it's not really relevant as both the Sega CD and the CD-i don't have many games worth playing. Especially in retrospect now that we have the best games between the two re-released on better hardware. All 10 of them. :)

Edited by Bubsy3000
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CD-i can't play interactive CDs unless they are CD-i's, only Audio and Video. Many YouTube videos on the specifications.

 

But it's not really relevant as both the Sega CD and the CD-i don't have many games worth playing. Especially in retrospect now that we have the best games between the two re-released on better hardware. All 10 of them. :)

He’s just saying it seems odd for you to put it that way when Phillips literally defined the standard CD and marketed the CD-i for playing those as well. CD-i was their attempt to also standardize interactive CD-ROMs and yet you said it wouldn’t play Sega CD because “CD-i doesn’t play standard CD’s.” The Sega CD format is the one that made no attempt to conform to an interoperability standard. ;)

 

The thing is, CD-i’s base hardware couldn’t even match the capabilities of a bog-standard Sega Genesis, much less, Sega Genesis with Sega CD. The disc is just a storage medium for code. The base hardware is more relevant than the standard used for storage because that dictates what code will run. It’s a bit like asking why NES can’t play Super NES or Sega Genesis or Nintendo 64. Even if it could read their carts, the base hardware for executing them just isn’t there.

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