Jump to content
IGNORED

CDi Fan Appreciation Thread


Recommended Posts

My hope in creating this post is to establish a single "go-to" thread here on AtariAge dedicated to the Philips CD-i platform. 

 

I'm not going to dive into a history lesson here, as Wikipedia is great for that, but Philips co-developed the compact disc-interactive (CD-i) format with Sony beginning in the mid-1980s. In the United States, Philips supported the platform from approximately 1991 to 1995, with software development continuing in Europe, where the CD-i found more success, until 1998. The CD-i platform could probably best be described as misunderstood, as yes, from a pure gaming standpoint, it's not great (but it does have some fun exclusives!) but it was marketed as a home entertainment device, as you can see from much of its software and accessories, so it is not a game console in the traditional sense. 

 

Looking to pick up a CD-i player but don't know where to begin? A list of all consumer CD-i players made by Philips is available here; head here for a really helpful comparison table. As the CD-i format was an open standard, any company could purchase a license to make their own CD-i player. LG/Goldstar were perhaps the most notable third-party company to make their own CD-i players. The LG GDI 700 is a favorite of CD-i fans these days, noting the smaller footprint compared to some Philips players, built-in digital video cartridge (DVC), 32kb RAM, replaceable battery (no Timekeeper chip woes here) and very sharp composite output. Sony made a portable player and others also got into the game, often with just a rebranding of existing Philips players. Head here for more info on the non-LG third-party players. Note that the DVS (Digital Video Systems) player which sometimes pops up for sale in the US is largely just a rebadging of the LG GDI 700 along with some slight cosmetic changes. Portable CD-i players were also made by Philips and others, and go for a pretty penny here in 2021. **If you are looking to pick up a CD-i player, it is advised to get one that has already been refurbished by a reputable technician. While many people can tinker with a lube up a CD tray mechanism and replace its belt, maybe repair/replace a CD laser etc., many are unfamiliar with the intricacies of the CD-i motherboard, particularly the ticking timebomb Timekeeper chip. Once that chip goes, all bets are off with respect to player functionality. Far more than *just* keeper of time and date, you will experience the inability to save games and often the inability to play discs at all. eBay user dorwena777 is one such individual who knows his way around a CD-i player as a former Philips technician, and sells refurbished units as time permits (and as he can get his hands on reasonably-priced units, which is getting harder and harder...). dorwena will also repair your unit for you if you already have one.

 

I personally have a Philips CD-i 220/57 with an added DVC (note that Philips had several revisions to the 220, and for comparison purposes on the above-linked table, the 220-57 falls within the 220/40 specs-wise). I went with that model because it checked all of the boxes, for me at least: second-gen "shell," built-in IR (remote-friendly), 32kb RAM for storing save states (many players have only 8kb), a reliable version "9" CD loading mechanism (mine has also been refurbished, which I would recommend), S-video output and both front and rear I/O ports can be used for "pointing devices," aka gamepad/mouse/trackball/light gun/roller controller (many CD-i players don't have this ability with both front AND rear ports, and some don't even have a rear port!). Speaking of pointing devices, a full list of those is available here
 

Since the official CD-i pointing devices tend to be hard to find and are pricey when they do pop up for sale, some hobbyists have made modified SNES controllers and also adapters to use an SNES controller and also a Genesis/Mega Drive controller. I have Lauraiss' Mega Drive to CD-i adapter and highly recommend it, though as he mentions on his site, some players have some compatibility issues with it. An AtariAge member does occasional batches of SNES2CDi adapters and that thread is here. Tech hobbyist Fragol Tech is also planning an initial run of their SNES2CDi adapter and you can express interest in that upcoming device here.

 

If you're a collector, you must check out @Blazing Lazers' stellar post detailing his journey of completing the full US longbox set (97 in all; 98 if you count a European exclusive that was inexplicably released in the US longbox format) and also highlighting the 10 most rare titles. That thread also includes mentions of other hard to find titles (not just longbox format) that Jack has come across in his collecting journey. A must-read!

 

Note that the CD-i platform does not have any copy protection or region-locking mechanisms, so that is VERY good news for those who do not want to drop a ton of cash on a bunch of original retail releases. Just burn a CD-R with an image (BIN/CUE) or ISO and you're good to go. Here's a handy download & burning guide.

 

Do you fancy yourself a fan of homebrew games? There have been a few over the years that are out of print (Frog Feast - though a demo remains available at that link - and Super Quartet come to mind), but the recently completed and soon to be available for purchase Nobelia is the most ambitious CD-i homebrew title yet. I personally was a beta tester for this game and it is truly fantastic! The developer puts it best, it's like "Zelda meets Bomberman." Keep your eyes peeled for the physical release, which will later be followed by a digital release.

 

With respect to video output options, among the US models, S-video is the best you're going to get *natively*. S-video is featured on the Philips CD-i 910 (the OG!/launch model) and 220. There are, however, RGB mods available, as described here. Note that European player models already output RGB natively via SCART. 

 

There have been a couple of other CD-i posts over the years here on AtariAge that I thought I would link here (which "console" to get?) and here (some general chatter from 2018). 

 

My go-to sites for CD-i game reviews are The Video Game Critic and The CD-I Completionist.

 

In no particular order, here are my favorite CD-i resources when I need to venture beyond game reviews, which is often:

 

The New International CD-i Association - excellent for quick hardware comparisons of players, FAQs, consumer and service manuals for CD-i players, much more.

the world of CD-i - yet another excellent site with a wealth of information and also a good forum.

Preserve CD-i - dedicated to preserving CD-i in digital form, naturally has a stellar compendium of disc images (links to archive.org and others) and more (many of these images are courtesy of our own Blazing Lazers).

CDinteractive Forums - while these forums are mostly inactive at this point, they still contain a wealth of information thanks to posts dating back as far as 2005.

 

Social channels:

 

The Philips CD-i Appreciation Facebook Group and the Philips CD-i Community Discord are two of the best social channels for CD-i discussion, so if you are on those platforms, join us!

 

Be sure to share your personal insights, questions or comments. Long live the Philips CD-i!

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have the 210 with DVC and loved the thing. Bought it new back then, I actually used it more for the VCD capabilities obviously this was before dvd became popular.

Here in the UK we had official licenced VCD releases usually with Philips branding on them I have a good size collection of them, used to love getting movies and manga especially on VCD as the pictures was better than VHS tapes.

I have a large selection of games too, my favourite being Burn:cycle.

My system and discs are all in storage, but I’ll hopefully get them out and photograph them at some point this year!

I also loved the light gun games, getting mad dog McCree day 1 and then part 2 and who shot Johnny rock etc. Fun arcade type games.

I never saw the cdi as a pure games machine and I feel I got a huge amount of use out of it watching video cds and playing games now and again.

Never completed the 7th guest though I’m sure I got quite far!

Lords of the Rising sun was a great strategy game, used to love the ninja parts!

Thunder in Paradise… lol and loved the space ace and Dragons lair games.

I always felt games like Mad Dog looked best on cdi because of the DVC.

I need to get my system, games and movies out don’t I?!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for sharing, @aligborat69! Glad you enjoy your 210. It's pretty closely related to my 220. Ah yes, the VCD scene was more popular in Europe than in the US, I want to say? Not as popular as in Asia, of course, where it was THE way to watch movies for quite some time, but still, seems like it had more of a run than here in the States, where everyone just held on to their VCRs until DVD came to be. We got Philips-branded VCDs stateside, too, but they were branded as "CD-i Movies" and didn't have the VideoCD logo on the spine and insert like you guys had. Here's the US version (note the outer sleeve):

F2B98DB6-9122-48B1-A4C4-3500F969F14D.jpeg.86fba93c9a8cfc36c5bff54bf38fdc35.jpeg

and here's the European version:

55A9CC6A-22DB-4A53-9D83-9127EDFAE597.jpeg.f3b2dc01d9bdea33c8cfb9d2ffacab13.jpeg

 

Philips stuck with that branding style in the US vs. Europe for the jewel case software releases, too, as the US releases had plain black spines while the European releases said "CD-i." Also, the logo in the top left corner of the US insert/manual said CD-i Games or Reference or Kids, etc., depending on the category (much like it says CD-i Movies above). 
 

Those are some great games that you mentioned! While there were definitely some pretty poor FMV games released for CD-i, the actors in Burn:Cycle, in particular, were quite good...I love how the light gun is called the "Peacekeeper," as if it makes it any less violent lol...Lords of the Rising Sun was also released on the TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine but the CD-i version is widely considered to be MUCH better than the TG-16 release - you don't often see that when comparing ports released on other systems. 
 

Were you ever into any of the platformers like The Apprentice or Christmas Crisis/Christmas Country? They were done pretty well and filled a significant void since platformers were all the rage at the time. 
 

You definitely need to break out your CD-i stuff and get your nostalgia on!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, sixersfan105 said:

My hope in creating this post is to establish a single "go-to" thread here on AtariAge dedicated to the Philips CD-i platform. 

 

I'm not going to dive into a history lesson here, as Wikipedia is great for that, but Philips co-developed the compact disc-interactive (CD-i) format with Sony beginning in the mid-1980s. In the United States, Philips supported the platform from approximately 1991 to 1995, with software development continuing in Europe, where the CD-i found more success, until 1998. The CD-i platform could probably best be described as misunderstood, as yes, from a pure gaming standpoint, it's not great (but it does have some fun exclusives!) but it was marketed as a home entertainment device, as you can see from much of its software and accessories, so it is not a game console in the traditional sense. 

 

Looking to pick up a CD-i player but don't know where to begin? A list of all consumer CD-i players made by Philips is available here; head here for a really helpful comparison table. As the CD-i format was an open standard, any company could purchase a license to make their own CD-i player. LG/Goldstar were perhaps the most notable third-party company to make their own CD-i players. The LG GDI 700 is a favorite of CD-i fans these days, noting the smaller footprint compared to some Philips players, built-in digital video cartridge (DVC), 32kb RAM, replaceable battery (no Timekeeper chip woes here) and very sharp composite output. Sony made a portable player and others also got into the game, often with just a rebranding of existing Philips players. Head here for more info on the non-LG third-party players. Note that the DVS (Digital Video Systems) player which sometimes pops up for sale in the US is largely just a rebadging of the LG GDI 700 along with some slight cosmetic changes. Portable CD-i players were also made by Philips and others, and go for a pretty penny here in 2021. **If you are looking to pick up a CD-i player, it is advised to get one that has already been refurbished by a reputable technician. While many people can tinker with a lube up a CD tray mechanism and replace its belt, maybe repair/replace a CD laser etc., many are unfamiliar with the intricacies of the CD-i motherboard, particularly the ticking timebomb Timekeeper chip. Once that chip goes, all bets are off with respect to player functionality. Far more than *just* keeper of time and date, you will experience the inability to save games and often the inability to play discs at all. eBay user dorwena777 is one such individual who knows his way around a CD-i player as a former Philips technician, and sells refurbished units as time permits (and as he can get his hands on reasonably-priced units, which is getting harder and harder...). dorwena will also repair your unit for you if you already have one.

 

I personally have a Philips CD-i 220/57 with an added DVC (note that Philips had several revisions to the 220, and for comparison purposes on the above-linked table, the 220-57 falls within the 220/40 specs-wise). I went with that model because it checked all of the boxes, for me at least: second-gen "shell," built-in IR (remote-friendly), 32kb RAM for storing save states (many players have only 8kb), a reliable version "9" CD loading mechanism (mine has also been refurbished, which I would recommend), S-video output and both front and rear I/O ports can be used for "pointing devices," aka gamepad/mouse/trackball/light gun/roller controller (many CD-i players don't have this ability with both front AND rear ports, and some don't even have a rear port!). Speaking of pointing devices, a full list of those is available here

 

If you're a collector, you must check out @Blazing Lazers' stellar post detailing his journey of completing the full US longbox set (97 in all; 98 if you count a European exclusive that was inexplicably released in the US longbox format) and also highlighting the 10 most rare titles. That thread also includes mentions of other hard to find titles (not just longbox format) that Jack has come across in his collecting journey. A must-read!

 

Note that the CD-i platform does not have any copy protection or region-locking mechanisms, so that is VERY good news for those who do not want to drop a ton of cash on a bunch of original retail releases. Just burn a CD-R with an image (BIN/CUE) or ISO and you're good to go. Here's a handy download & burning guide.

 

With respect to video output options, among the US models, S-video is the best you're going to get *natively*. S-video is featured on the Philips CD-i 910 (the OG!/launch model) and 220. There are, however, RGB mods available, as described here. Note that European player models already output RGB natively via SCART. 

 

There have been a couple of other CD-i posts over the years here on AtariAge that I thought I would link here (which "console" to get?) and here (some general chatter from 2018). 

 

My go-to sites for CD-i game reviews are The Video Game Critic and The CD-I Completionist.

 

In no particular order, here are my favorite CD-i resources when I need to venture beyond game reviews, which is often:

 

The New International CD-i Association - excellent for quick hardware comparisons of players, FAQs, consumer and service manuals for CD-i players, much more.

Interactive Dreams - The Philips CD-i Group - fantastic blog-style original content, CD-i intro/history, games catalog, FAQs, lots more!

the world of CD-i - yet another excellent site with a wealth of information and also a good forum.

Preserve CD-i - dedicated to preserving CD-i in digital form, naturally has a stellar compendium of disc images (links to archive.org and others) and more (many of these images are courtesy of our own Blazing Lazers).

CDinteractive Forums - while these forums are mostly inactive at this point, they still contain a wealth of information thanks to posts dating back as far as 2005.

 

Social channels:

 

The Philips CD-i Community (by Interactive Dreams) Facebook Group and Interactive Dreams - Philips CD-i Zone Discord are two of the best social channels for CD-i discussion, so if you are on those platforms, be sure to join us!

 

Be sure to share your personal insights, questions or comments. Long live the Philips CD-i!

Man, lots of good stuff and information.  Definitely the CD-i was a very misunderstood system / console and deserves more respect and appreciation than what it typically has gotten as it (along with the CDTV) was ahead of its time.  I know that Wrestling with Gaming is a big fan of the CD-i.  Will have to visit the social channels sometimes as well. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just a little precision on European CD-i :

Only the earlier and higher-end version had RGB out via SCART.

The European CDi-450 is composite only, as well as later, smaller format home players.

 

So if you ever seek an European player for the RGB out or even price (you still see players popping for 50€ here, but usually without remotr controls or software), be careful what you choose.

Philips - CDI 220 - Lecteur CD - Catawiki

(also this begs a case-by-case basis but CD-i all use switching power supplies so they should, in theory, be fine working on 120V 60 htz without any modification, but I can't guarantee it. At worst it won't work, but there's no risk of explosion)

Thankfully one all the ones I've seen, the SCART is a slightly unusual blue color, making it easy to spot even on a blurry picture.

If I remember well, CD-i can be mod-switched from 50 to 60 htz display, professionnal models may even have the option with a switch.

Regardless CD-i software isn't region locked.

Edited by CatPix
Link to comment
Share on other sites

39 minutes ago, CatPix said:

Just a little precision on European CD-i :

Only the earlier and higher-end version had RGB out via SCART.

Ah yes good clarification. I should have specified that starting with the 400-series, SCART dropped out. I agree that it's very easy to spot and is also labeled "A/V Euroconnector." 
 

40 minutes ago, CatPix said:

 

If I remember well, CD-i can be mod-switched from 50 to 60 htz display, professionnal models may even have the option with a switch.

yes, I know the LG GDI 700 has an NTSC/PAL switch.

 

I did look into getting a player shipped from Europe but shipping costs made it cost-prohibitive. Also, for those considering buying one from Europe, be careful of a seller out of the Netherlands who claims the players they sell have the DVC but they very clearly do NOT. Super sketchy if you ask me!

 

Cheers. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This thing was basically too early for it's own good. A friend of mine bought one off of a late night infomercial, and I will admit, we had some fun with it. Many of the games were laughably bad, with terrible voice acting and/or other weirdness (I remember Kether being one of the strangest things I'd ever seen on a screen at the time, it was an in joke for years with us).

 

That said, there were some really fun titles. I remember staying up late and beating 7th guest on it, at one point. Burn Cycle and Hotel Mario were not bad. One of the Zelda games was ok. And there was ... umm ... not much else lol

 

Still, it's kind of a fascinating and nearly forgotten chapter of the proto-CD era, much like the 3DO. It was very much ahead of it's time in terms of an early media center concept with encyclopedias, movies, music and games. It wasn't particularly great at any of those, but it was the first thing of it's kind to do all of them at once. If they'd included a real controller and pushed the games more, it might have been more successful. They focused to strongly on the 'media center' concept, with that terrible one handed controller, and it hurt them, I think. The 'media center' concept was a solution for a problem that didn't exist in the 90s, much as the 'our console turns into a computer' was a bad idea for the 80s. 

 

The system does turn up in weird places. A friend of mine, swlovinist here, found a portable one used for Sears employee training from later on it's life cycle. Pretty cool.

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The CD-i was both too early and too late.

 

It was too late as when it came out in 1990 for professionals and 1991 for general consumers, other systems already started to do what the CD-i did, but with more versability. By 1993, the "best years" of the CD-i, CD-ROM were becoming commonplace on computers; this and dropping prices for computers meant that the CD-i wasn't as attractive as it was envisionned.

Philips themselves wanted (and had) the CD-i ready by 1988 but the envisionned sales price made it absolutely unsellable even on the profesionnal market.

As rough as it was, in 1988 the Cd-i would have been steps ahead of anything available to the public.

The CD-i was too early as it came before the MPEG format, forcing Philips to create their own to fulfill the "movies" parts, then forcing to get the digital video cart later in 1993. Then in 1996, the DVD was announced.

The CD-i with 1996 tech, including DVD support for more storage and standard video definition over 2 hours? Basically what the Nuon tried to do.

Of course, Philips didn't helped themselves by having poor understanding of their market, poor communication or understanding of video game development (The two first Zelda games have been developped on a 100 000$ budget. According to Animation Magic, it was the defined budget from Philips. According to Philips, it was only a "kickstarter" sum and the game company would received a share of the sale's money), poor controller design and quality (the two gamepads are very cheap and flimsy. According to many people, finding a Roller Controller in working state is uncommon).

The IR remote controls are this : remote controls, they aren't "weird controllers." Still, the issue being that apparently all the video buttons aren't acessible in non-video application, reducing the number of buttons to two.

 

The CD-i 's failure is more than just being too early or too late or having "weird" games (and please, stop calling video and photo galleries "games").

It was more than that.

The 3DO is hardly comparable as it was much more focused and powerful; the 3DO main issue, comparatively, were the initial high price tag, the total lack of quality control on games and the general "decentralized" nature of the system, without any "central" authority to keep a sorta official game line and design.

 

As a kind of side note, local antennas of Philips Media had some latitude to release local software and release special editions, so really when collecting CD-i software, several countries mgiht have their own thing (other than the translation of course) - for example the longboxes weren't used in Europe, but at least on the French market 7 games were released in PC-like "big boxes".

 

 

 

Edited by CatPix
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the additional insights, @CatPix. I disagree with you about the gamepads being "cheap and flimsy" and a "poor design." Now I can only speak first-hand in reference to the Touchpad, as that is the only one I have used so far, but it is essentially identical to the Gravis Gamepad, as it was licensed by Gravis, just different color scheme. The Gravis Gamepad is known as one of the best-selling PC gamepads of all time, and certainly of the 90s. You could even toggle a switch, flip it around and use it "left-handed" with the D-pad on the right. I don't know of anyone who ever used it with the screw in-joystick, but kinda neat to have. The other CD-i pad, the Gamepad, reminds me of the Genesis/Mega Drive 3-button controller and I've heard good things about it, but haven't had the opportunity to use one. Maybe that's the one that you think is flimsy? On a related note, a trackerball just arrived on my doorstep yesterday. I've heard that most games are much more responsive with the trackerball or a mouse (the latter of which I have, too, but still need to try), so I'm looking forward to using both of those! Obviously to each their own, but thought I'd chime in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have the pseudo Megadrive one and it's flimsy, light and made of several bits of plastic assembled. The buttons are squishy and the D-pad is meh. I do not own the Gravis version but I've seen it and it may have been produced with licence but without the branding, as the CD-i version doesn't have the name anywhere on it, feels less good; it cannot longer be flipped because the switch is replaced with the 3 choice cursor move speed setup (but that doesn't affect the quality of it of course).

Tho maybe the one I got to see was very worn out, it's a possibility!

Still my point is that for a system that sold for more than twice the price of any other console of the era (ok, excluding the 3DO), the quality of the game controller was really subpar.

Compare is with the Trackerball which was aimed at the professionnal market, it's night and day. Built like a tank and oversized.

Edited by CatPix
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, CatPix said:

I have the pseudo Megadrive one and it's flimsy, light and made of several bits of plastic assembled. The buttons are squishy and the D-pad is meh. I do not own the Gravis version but I've seen it and it may have been produced with licence but without the branding, as the CD-i version doesn't have the name anywhere on it, feels less good; it cannot longer be flipped because the switch is replaced with the 3 choice cursor move speed setup (but that doesn't affect the quality of it of course).

Tho maybe the one I got to see was very worn out, it's a possibility!

Still my point is that for a system that sold for more than twice the price of any other console of the era (ok, excluding the 3DO), the quality of the game controller was really subpar.

Compare is with the Trackerball which was aimed at the professionnal market, it's night and day. Built like a tank and oversized.

Got it; thanks. The Touchpad can be flipped, though, it's the top switch. It is not labeled as such, but works like a charm. You're thinking of the bottom switch, which yes, controls speed. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why thanks for correcting me! I need to find that controller to add it to my collection (and play some 2 players games with victims friends ).

Note that while I say that the other gamepad isn't great, it's not awful either. It's really more the kind of quality you'd expect for an Atari console (the 7800 gamepad is worse)  than from a product sold for twice the price of a Super Nintendo!

It makes me wonder if the 3 buttons pad was introduced first, as a cheap controller for games, and seeing that the CD-i mostly sold as a console, Philips licenced the Gravis pad for a better-built one later, which explain why the Gravis one is less common here as it came later?

Do whe have introduction dates for the various CD-i accessories?

Edited by CatPix
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah your mention of mushy buttons on the Mega Drive-style controller reminds me of the mushy buttons on the 7800 joypad! 
 

Actually, the Gravis pad/Touchpad came first. It's often pictured in ads with the 220 player. Since Gravis had a large presence in the Netherlands, the partnership made sense. I believe the Mega Drive-style pad was released around the time Philips wanted to "get serious" about marketing the CD-i as a game console, and that controller was sometimes bundled with the 450/550 and also sold separately. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Luis Mota aka omegalfa of The World of CD-i fame wrote the cover article of the latest issue of Popular Retro magazine and it's all about our beloved CD-i! You can purchase the physical magazine here and the digital magazine here. I just received the physical version stateside (it ships from the UK) and highly recommend picking up a copy!

 

Promo-Issue-1-1536x864.thumb.jpg.bb0954220a07977345e24edac990484a.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Love the CD-i. I own various Philips players, and most of the controllers. Nice thing about the lightgun, is the fact that it will work on modern lcd screens. It work like a wii-mote (or better said, the wiimote works the same as the cd-i lightgun).

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, Seob said:

Love the CD-i. I own various Philips players, and most of the controllers. Nice thing about the lightgun, is the fact that it will work on modern lcd screens. It work like a wii-mote (or better said, the wiimote works the same as the cd-i lightgun).

That's awesome that you own multiple CD-i players! That's a very good point about the lightgun. I suppose Nintendo copied Philips when it came time to designing the Wii! We all know there's no love lost between those two companies after the SNES CD unit partnership fell apart...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 hours ago, sixersfan105 said:

That's awesome that you own multiple CD-i players! That's a very good point about the lightgun. I suppose Nintendo copied Philips when it came time to designing the Wii! We all know there's no love lost between those two companies after the SNES CD unit partnership fell apart...

The perks of living in the Netherlands near Eindhoven. A lot of Philips employees bought the cd-i pretty cheap. Every now or then they pop up in thrift stores for a few euro.

But it is getting less common to find them. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

At @sixersfan105 invitation i wanted to share my modest CDi collection.  I enjoy many of these games and play them from time to time, especially Chaos Control (this one rocks!), Voyeur (Best FMV game of the period IMO), Tetris, Mutant City Rampage, Burn Cycle, Lemmings, Micro Machines and Christmas Crisis during the season.  The next games i'd like to get are the Arcade Hits Compilations 1 and 2, and also Defenders of the Crown to compare to the Jag port. 

Screen Shot 2021-07-16 at 2.53.29 PM.png

Screen Shot 2021-07-16 at 2.47.18 PM.png

Screen Shot 2021-07-16 at 2.47.02 PM.png

Screen Shot 2021-07-16 at 2.46.41 PM.png

Screen Shot 2021-07-16 at 2.46.24 PM.png

Edited by Rick Dangerous
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for sharing, @Rick Dangerous! I see you've got the CD-i 220 - same here. I'm a fan. Have you used the mouse at all? I just picked one up recently myself and have yet to use it, but I've heard that it provides much better control than the gamepads. How do you like that Genesis-style gamepad? There was some hate thrown in that gamepad's direction previously in this thread. On the games front, you've got some great ones!

 

With respect to games that you would like to pick up in the future, which arcade compilations are you referring to? As far as I know, there's Arcade Classics, which has three Namco games (Galaxian, Ms. Pac-Man and Galaga) and then there's Golden Oldies 1 (reimagined Defender and Space Invaders clones) and Golden Oldies 2 (reimagined Breakout and Centipede clones). All three of those titles only saw European releases. 

 

I'm going to send you a PM re CD-i with an idea that may interest you as well as a lead on one of the games you're seeking!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like both controllers, but the genesis style is more comfortable in the hand. The joystick in the gravis style isn’t for me. Make controlling hard.

love the mouse. Great for fmv games. I also have the trackbal, but that one is more for educational titles i think. Not so fast to control. I also have the roller controller but i haven’t tested it yet, and i do not know where i stored it.

 

nice thing about the cd-i is due to the fact that Philips insisted that every title should be able to be controlled by whatever controller. So you can play racing games with the peacekeeper, and platform games with a mouse. Not that that will improve your gaming experience. It is also the downfall of the cd-i. Had Philips not insisted on the every controller has to work with every title, the gamepads could have been better implemented for tighter controls.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Seob said:

I like both controllers, but the genesis style is more comfortable in the hand. The joystick in the gravis style isn’t for me. Make controlling hard.

love the mouse. Great for fmv games. I also have the trackbal, but that one is more for educational titles i think. Not so fast to control. I also have the roller controller but i haven’t tested it yet, and i do not know where i stored it.

 

nice thing about the cd-i is due to the fact that Philips insisted that every title should be able to be controlled by whatever controller. So you can play racing games with the peacekeeper, and platform games with a mouse. Not that that will improve your gaming experience. It is also the downfall of the cd-i. Had Philips not insisted on the every controller has to work with every title, the gamepads could have been better implemented for tighter controls.

That's fair. You can always unscrew the little joystick in the center of the Gravis-style pad, though. Most people do, which is why it's so hard to find the little joystick with the Gravis-style pad these days - it's been long since thrown out!

 

I've heard some people swear by the mouse and trackball/"trackerball" for certain games, including but not limited to shooters like Alien Gate, as they say it leads to much tighter control. I haven't tried it yet myself but plan to (I have both of those alternative controls, along with the roller controller, too). 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

From what I checked a couple years ago the internet still works but there's no way to play somebody with a private ram raid server anymore.

 

As for the controller the "gamer" controller is actually pretty good but it's hard to find so most are stuck with the first two controllers or the uh......presentation controller which the "console priced" CDi player launched with which always confused me.

 

Online had an impressive ecosystem back in the day two years before Dreamcast. One of the grey CDI models allowed you to install windows (3.1) on it.

 

They should have released more consumer models with DVC built in for games and movies, they only released a few and they were all expensive. They really blew up their last chance in late 94-early 95.

 

Burn:Cycle is a blast if you like adventure games, transitions are in smooth real time with swinging camera angles too, and it's long enough to enjoy but short enough not to bother you.

 

I had a Sony player earlier the idea of portability was interesting, ended up getting a grey player 7** model if iirc. 

Edited by Leeroy ST
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 7/26/2021 at 12:32 PM, Leeroy ST said:

...

 

Online had an impressive ecosystem back in the day two years before Dreamcast. One of the grey CDI models allowed you to install windows (3.1) on it.

 

...

Say what now?

I don't think Microsoft ever released a version of Windows for 68K processors.

 

Chances are you are confusing it with the Tandy VIS ( http://www.videogameconsolelibrary.com/pg90-vis.htm#page=reviews ) which did run a "Modular Windows".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...