CDi Fan Appreciation Thread

[Leeroy ST]

6 minutes ago, phoenixdownita said:

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".

I didn't say it was official, just that you could install and run it.

[+sixersfan105]

On 7/26/2021 at 3:32 PM, Leeroy ST said:

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.

Are you referring to the Gamester LMP GT controller pictured below? It's definitely tough to find and was only released in limited quantities in Europe, I believe. I agree that it made ZERO sense for Philips to include a wired remote with the CD-i 450 when they were finally trying to market the platform as a game console!

On 7/26/2021 at 3:32 PM, Leeroy ST said:

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.

You're right, though I think since CD-i players were already very expensive, adding the digital video cartridge by default would be even more of a turnoff, you know? 

 

On 7/26/2021 at 3:32 PM, Leeroy ST said:

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.

With you 100%! I'm not much of a fan of the FMV genre but the developers did a bang-up job on this one!

 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the CD-i!

[Leeroy ST]

4 hours ago, sixersfan105 said:

Are you referring to the Gamester LMP GT controller pictured below? It's definitely tough to find and was only released in limited quantities in Europe, I believe. I agree that it made ZERO sense for Philips to include a wired remote with the CD-i 450 when they were finally trying to market the platform as a game console!

You're right, though I think since CD-i players were already very expensive, adding the digital video cartridge by default would be even more of a turnoff, you know? 

 

With you 100%! I'm not much of a fan of the FMV genre but the developers did a bang-up job on this one!

 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the CD-i!

There were $299 models and some holiday stuff a bit less in late 93 and 94, but all didn't come with a DVC and some didn't come with controllers. I think there was one $350 bundled with a DVC.

 

That late in the game it would be near a scam to by those units because you wouldn't he able to play most of the remaining movie releases less than half the new games, and you still had to buy the game controller separately.

 

They then expected online to take off a couple years later, but none of the sold supported models came with controllers so you had to find a keyboard compatible with ram raid to play it, and you sub to the gold tier for all these demos, videos, and deals, only to find out they cancelled or stopped developing any other online games, and they ended up making an offline version of ramraid called Atlantis, so the CDI web was mostly just for productivity or media at the end of the day.

 

But yeah as for Burn:Cycle I generally dont care for FMV unless it's an Adventure game, like Ripper, Under a killing Moon, Phantasmagoria etc. Burn:Cycle did a great job and it was smart with the CDIs limited colors and CG. Really works with the noir feel.

[+sixersfan105]

For all the US longbox collectors out there, Buzz and Bingo's Moon Circus now sells box protectors on eBay for CD-i longboxes (and jewel case-style for that matter, too). Here's a post I made about it in stupus' Video Game Box Protector Thread:

 

 

[ventrra]

I knew I had mine put away somewhere. Unfortunately it has both a dead timekeeper and belt issues now.

[+sixersfan105]

2 hours ago, ventrra said:

I knew I had mine put away somewhere. Unfortunately it has both a dead timekeeper and belt issues now.

Glad you found your long lost CD-i player! Alas, dead timekeeper and belt issues are expected. Here's a link to a replacement belt. That same seller can replace the timekeeper for you if you wish to send the player to him for a repair, or you could try your hand at replacing it yourself. A guide is here. Cheers. 

[Blazing Lazers]

I'm not an unbiased person in the matter, but all the same I highly encourage all to watch this video:

 

 

 

...it is well worth the full 2.5 hours!

[CatPix]

On 9/18/2021 at 3:41 AM, ventrra said:

I knew I had mine put away somewhere. Unfortunately it has both a dead timekeeper and belt issues now.

The belt issue is minor, as it only require the belt to have enough grip to pull the CD tray far back enough. I replaced the ones on CD-i I fixed with simple "desk furniture" rubber bands. Trial and error might be required to find the right one, as a slightly too loose one will pull the tray, but not enoguh to "lock" it. You can still manually push the tray all the way in if that happen, it's mechanically fine to do that!

Depending on your TimeKeeper version, replacing the battery might require minimal skills and time.

On the very model you show, I didn't even bothered desoldering the TimeKeeper, I scrubbed the older battery from it and put a standard CR 2032 holder in place, hot-glued atop the TimeKeeper.

Edited September 24, 2021 by CatPix

[derSammler]

On 7/30/2021 at 2:57 AM, sixersfan105 said:

Wow, where did you find THAT picture? Because it's from me, made that way over a decade ago.

[electricmastro]

This CD-i game probably stood out to me most. Rather quirky.

 

 

[ventrra]

9 hours ago, CatPix said:

The belt issue is minor, as it only require the belt to have enough grip to pull the CD tray far back enough. I replaced the ones on CD-i I fixed with simple "desk furniture" rubber bands.

Oddly enough, I don't actually own any rubber bands. I'll most likely just buy the proper belt for it when I get some time to work on it. 

[+sixersfan105]

7 hours ago, derSammler said:

Wow, where did you find THAT picture? Because it's from me, made that way over a decade ago.

Google I believe! Thanks for the pic

 

5 hours ago, electricmastro said:

This CD-i game probably stood out to me most. Rather quirky.

 

 

The Apprentice is fantastic! Makes good use of the power of the digital video cartridge without using it for FMV which is kinda neat, too (they used the extra RAM to be able to have sound effects and music simultaneously). There was a sequel in the works, too. Never got finished or released, however. 

[derSammler]

5 hours ago, sixersfan105 said:

Google I believe! Thanks for the pic

It's funny because I lost most pics of my old CD-i collection long ago. The only one I still have saved is this:

 

 

Sadly, I had to sell that gamepad, the pictured CD-i 550, and a CD-i 360 shortly after.

 

I built up a new CD-i collection over the past years, however. Now I have both official gamepads from Philips, a CD-i 470 and, most proud of, a complete CD-i 370 incl. the original carrying case.

Edited September 25, 2021 by derSammler

[Leeroy ST]

9 hours ago, derSammler said:

It's funny because I lost most pics of my old CD-i collection long ago. The only one I still have saved is this:

 

 

Sadly, I had to sell that gamepad, the pictured CD-i 550, and a CD-i 360 shortly after.

 

I built up a new CD-i collection over the past years, however. Now I have both official gamepads from Philips, a CD-i 470 and, most proud of, a complete CD-i 370 incl. the original carrying case.

Should have kept the gamepad. Those sometimes go for high prices if you sell them. Must people settle on that other gamepad without the curves.

[derSammler]

They did back then as well. But I'm not and never was collecting with high prices in the future in mind. So I'm fine with that. However, I miss the CD-i 360. That one is impossible to get these days and I also had the complete set with the manual, carry case etc.

 

//edit:

Wait, I figured you are probably talking about the gamepad on the 550 picture, not the GT-i one. Yes, I still have that! Also the other one made by Gravis.

Edited September 26, 2021 by derSammler

[Tanooki]

So I feel in the dark about this, but did no one here notice that Link Faces of Evil and Zelda Wand of Gameleon were entirely remastered for the PC (Win/Unbuntu) late last year and revisions into the earlier parts of this one?  Using the original assets and high resolution captures of that and the video the games have been converted to PC because I guess just to do it, and cdi emulation being crap (along with how nasty time keeper chips in real hardware are and the ugly price of the games too.)

They're small downloads around 200MB each, found them in the last hour, they're on the archive org look for v.1.3.2 Dopply did them.  Seems The Apprentice also got the treatment.  And the Zelda's are getting an unofficial sequel with assets tweaked to avoid Nintendo fireballs.

[derSammler]

47 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

but did no one here notice that Link Faces of Evil and Zelda Wand of Gameleon were entirely remastered for the PC (Win/Unbuntu) late last year and revisions into the earlier parts of this one?

Since these are commonly refered as the worst games for CD-i, it's no wonder no one did notice. I didn't either. And while I like the CD-i and own both games, I have no interest in even trying the PC ports. ?

[+sixersfan105]

6 hours ago, Tanooki said:

So I feel in the dark about this, but did no one here notice that Link Faces of Evil and Zelda Wand of Gameleon were entirely remastered for the PC (Win/Unbuntu) late last year and revisions into the earlier parts of this one?  Using the original assets and high resolution captures of that and the video the games have been converted to PC because I guess just to do it, and cdi emulation being crap (along with how nasty time keeper chips in real hardware are and the ugly price of the games too.)

They're small downloads around 200MB each, found them in the last hour, they're on the archive org look for v.1.3.2 Dopply did them.  Seems The Apprentice also got the treatment.  And the Zelda's are getting an unofficial sequel with assets tweaked to avoid Nintendo fireballs.

Yes this has gotten a decent amount of publicity! More than just remastered for PC, some consider these versions to be "fixed," as in, the developer cleaned up sloppy collision detection and player control and some other things. Pretty cool. 

 

5 hours ago, derSammler said:

Since these are commonly refered as the worst games for CD-i

You're right that they're commonly referred to as the worst CD-i games, but realistically, Zelda: Wand of Gamelon and Link: Faces of Evil are not that bad, compared to the rest of the CD-i library. Are they bad by Nintendo standards? Absolutely. They're just not that bad for a CD-i game. Zelda's Adventure, on the other hand, is absolute crap.

[Tanooki]

@sixersfan105 They are fixed.  I talked to the author earlier ago on discord.  It was in fact largely fixed for the age with quality of life fixes:  This is his list:

- Infinite continues

- Can open menu without crouching

- Can pick up keys/rubies without stabbing them

- Minor adjustments to boss behavior

- Extra hints throughout the game (arrows and whatnot; the built in hint function can be access with Shift on keyboard, Select on gamepad)

 

 

Also HD versions of the original videos nice clean and touched up.  I've tried a few areas so far on Link and it plays smooth, works a bit faster than the original did as well so it doesn't feel like a crawl when you walk.  @derSammler not sure what circles you're in but that's utter garbage.  I've played numerous games on CDi and there are plenty that actually you could legitimately call bad, far worse, not implying these are a shade of worse saying that, but come on.  They are some of the better games for the system that were new to the format, not just ports like Flashback and Space Ace were.  Largely I think the hate isn't justified, unless they're being lumped in with Zelda's Adventure, for that, there is no excuse how awful that broken game was.  The others got panned for the script/fmv work which is kind reasonably fair, but game wise, they work.  Your loss, but I'd try them, with the upgrades to the games they move along at a better pace and are fairly rewarding to play so far from what I've experienced.

[derSammler]

Seems to be common thinking that a game becomes good once remastered in HD.

 

Bad story, game design etc. remains bad, no matter what else you fix.

 

The Zelda games are iconic for the CD-i because of their story behind (how they come to be) and because of their cheesiness. I've never heard someone saying: oh, I want to play these on Windows.

 

On a side note: Animation Magic also did "Warcraft Adventures" for Blizzard. It was of the same low quality and got cancelled because of that. 'nuf said.

Edited October 16, 2021 by derSammler

[Tanooki]

Hate on it all you want it's not that bad.  No one asked for it on windows much because probably no one figured they'd bother given no one bothers doing cdi emulation right over 20 years now either.  It's a win, and worth playing with the fixes.

[+sixersfan105]

If anyone is after some "longbox" CD-i titles, I have some spares available:

 

A Visit to the Valley of Puebla and the Amparo Museum

Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia

Cool Oldies Jukebox

Dark Castle

Gifts to Behold

Golden Oldies Jukebox

How to Photograph Nature

Jazz Giants

Louis Armstrong

Prelude

Rand McNally's America

Rembrandt

Rock Guitar

Time Life 35mm Photography

Video Speedway

 

I also have some disc-only versions of the Children's Bible Stories longbox titles (no box or inserts with these):

 

Moses: Bound for the Promised Land

Moses: The Exodus

Noah's Ark

The Story of Jonah

The Story of Samson

 

Shoot me a PM with interest. 

[+sixersfan105]

Looks like a SNES2CD-i controller adapter is in the works! If you're interested, you can fill out their interest form.

[Austin]

Does that fellow in the marketplace here still make them? I remember getting one a couple years back and it worked pretty well.

[+sixersfan105]

50 minutes ago, Austin said:

Does that fellow in the marketplace here still make them? I remember getting one a couple years back and it worked pretty well.

I wasn't familiar with a fellow here who made those but I believe I found the thread here. Sounds like he may do another batch.