Did anyone else have a Best (not Best Buy, just Best) department store in their area? I remember them pushing the CD-i like crazy in the mid '90s, they were the only place I can remember that had a playable CD-i kiosk right out in front of their gaming section next to the SNES and Genesis.
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Last edited by Jive3D; 05-01-2022 at 10:49 AM.
I never owned one although `The 7th Guest` is a game that seems to get mentioned a lot on that rare occasion i read a discussion.
The 7th Guest was released on a whole bunch of different consoles, though, and now that it's playable in ScummVM you could probably run it just about anywhere, especially since the game data is available on GOG.com. No need to keep a CD-i around for that.
"There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge." --Bertrand Russel (attributed)
If it wasn't meant to be a gaming system, wat was it supposed to be? A cd player? I'm not following wat Philips wanted it to be...
No they pitched it as a multimedia system for education, movies, music, and games too. It mostly was designed for all but games, but when people demanded them they made what they could with the limited hardware and limited it was considering what they pulled off. Some of the most basic stuff you'd see on a SNES game like Mutant Rampage Bodyslam which was a Final Fight knockoff had load times all over and it was just a flat 2D brawler. The system was at its best with flowing video scenes and static images.
I actually love my CDi. I had it on display at the Video Game Arcade at this years CGE in Las Vegas.
If you like Dragon's Lair and Space Ace the quality is truly impressive - I would even suffice to say that the FMV is just as good as PS1 or 3DO. They are just great conversions. Hotel Mario is a decent game to play.. everyone just wants to jump on the bashing bandwagon. I mean - it's not great, but it's not bad either. I say try it yourself before basing an opinion on everyone else's.
I do have the Zelda games and from the couple minutes that I've played them.. I can safely say that I don't think they are very good. Burn Cycle seemed pretty cool but I need to spend more time on it.
But like mentioned - it's really an FMV powerhouse especially with the video module upgrade (which was included in later models) and for the time it was quite impressive. I remember being blown away by the graphics.
I say, if you run across one for cheap - go for it. Mine was a Goodwill find.
Cheerios
Yea I don't listen to the hype. I've never played one so how can I really judge it? I have been on the lookout for one at a Goodwill, tho, if I find one for $10 cuz they thought it was a cd player. A store I go to had one, they wanted $200 for it, and they have about 30 games for it, one being the Flowers of Robert Mabelthorp hahaha. But $200??? And are they really gonna sell those games? The only person who'd buy them is probably whoever buys the system, cuz I'm willing to bet there's not another CDi in a 25 mile radius of that place.Originally Posted by Oldskool
I can tell it was not designed to be a game console, so I think its unfair to really judge it cuz it doesn't have a library as good as the Playstation has. It's a product of the SNES cd add-on deal gone awry, Philips probably just had other plans.
Also, I haven't played Dragon's Lair or Space Ace, but Don Bluth is an amazing artist and I always loved his movies as a kid, and the art style always stood out to me in particular. He did An American Tale, All Dogs Go To Heaven, The Secret of Nimh, all great cartoon movies.
Last edited by Arkanoid_Katamari; 10-17-2014 at 07:00 AM.
But you can buy the super-dooper HD version on Steam these days, assuming you can't find the Blu-Ray or modern console versions.
Last edited by Jorpho; 10-18-2014 at 11:41 AM.
"There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge." --Bertrand Russel (attributed)
I played with a CDI for the first time in over 15~ years last March, someone put one on display at the Louisville Arcade Expo and they had Link Faces of Evil in it. I still could play it, it's not easy but it's fun, and yes the horribly acted cartoon parts that pop up are as awful as they seem but they also did when it was new. The system for what it was was fine, not excellent but it's good, just only good at certain things since it wasn't designed as a game box so some genres work and some others just don't at all. If you go into it knowing what's there and if the games are stuff that'll interest you, if you go in using the gravis wannabe pad and not that sketchy remote control it came with it's worth the experience if you can bag the stuff cheap. It just gets dumped on because it's easy to pick on and ignore the facts around the thing.
My former roommate bought a CD-I last spring for close to $300. I didn't understand what the hell he was doing. His only response was "It had the best version of 7th Guest back in the day". I guess if he's happy paying $350 for the best version of 7th Guest, more power to him...
$300? Is he insane? I mean - I like mine and everything but it's nowhere worth near that amount - even on eBay. Unless it came with a ton of games then I guess I just don't understand or it was brand new/sealed in the box.
Should I dare say how much mine was? OK... It's a boxed Magnavox "console" version with the upgraded video module, all the hookups and one gamepad for .. $29.99 at Goodwill.
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