Went out yard saleing over the holiday weekend. Found some deals wont post them all, but this one that stuck out. Ten person yard sale stuff everywhere they didn't price anything. Bunch of old ladies sitting in garage facing yard waiting to get paid. I ask the lady if anything behind her was for sale she said it was. I found this Philips CDI 220/77 system. Lady said her husband bought it new, but she rarely seen him use it. She really didn't know what it was. She considered it a "20 year old dvd player", and her husband had since passed away. She wanted $3 for it. Brought it home, and it fired right up. Ran a flashlight inside what I can see it is spotless as far as any dust or dirt collecting. Disk drive opened, and video. No controller, or games i couldn't go any further testing. 

I was playing SNES/Genesis-->PS1 when these consoles were out, and I never met anyone that had one, or seen one in person. 

Would it be worth buying a controller, and some games (what games?) and playing the system today?

It looks like there were alot of models, but this is the one of the more basic ones.

Just curious if anyone had some experience/memories with the CDI. 

 

worth playing, to have fun? God no.

worth playing, to laugh at? Sure why not.

I believe you can play burned games without modding, so you can try out the Zeldas and Hotel Mario. They're not good.

What about The Apprentice, or Mutant Rampage?
 

CDi is probably the best console for full motion video interactive adventure games.
So if you like those the you will love the cdi.

Looks better than the one I've had for the last 16+ years. Mine is probably the same model and the door hangs open on the left (won't stay closed). If you are interested in keeping it you have to get the embedded battery replaced before it dies or else the system won't boot (a bit like CPS2 Suicide), which is something I also need to do ASAP. When I say "embedded," I don't just mean internal: it's literally built-into/embedded the SRAM chip's package.

I can't think of any good reason to buy cd-i stuff probably one of the worst systems and most expensive in some cases the legendary bad Zelda games go for hundreds. Would take Bert's advice and buy knowing that you might get a good laugh outta the stupid games you'll find for this thing.

And educational games and interactive showcases like The Flowers of Robert Mapplethorpe.  

 

I didn't spend much on Wand if Gamelon and Faces of Evil, but I bought them around 16 years ago.  

Wish I had the foresight to get Hotel Mario and Zelda's Adventure. I did get Tetris though, which was still supposed to be a Nintendo exclusive for home consoles back then. I never see anyone mention that one when discussing Nintendo on CD-i.
 

That golf game the grumps played was pretty funny!

I would never get a CDi though. Straight Garbage! Your money would be better spent on almost anything else!

Thunder in Paradise

No surprise the first thing people talk about w/ CDI is the Zelda games. There are quite a few awesome games on the system. I highly recommend Zenith, nothing quite like it other than maybe a Virtual Boy game. I also really enjoy Inca, which is an underrated game.

I agree, almost bought one after that and then I realized I'm getting the same experience just watching the video 

You should check out the Angry Video Game Nerds videos on YouTube on the CD-I. They underline the worst and the best of the system. The whole of the lot is quite terrible.
 

Its a novelty and not a gaming experience. Great find and if you want a cool piece to point out then perfect. If you want to gsme i would pass. Would you want to use the power glove? Prob not but its cool to have on the shelf

If you are looking for a decent CDi game I'd recommend The 7th Guest. It's the definitive version of the game, and it actually feels like the remote controller is a great fit for it.

It needs the extra Video card add on for the console though.

You know, if you are a gamer at heart, have the space, and don't need the money desperately (I have no idea what these normally sell for), why not? I have a bunch of PC-Engine Hu cards tucked into a binder (maybe about 30 or so), which I picked up from a buddy of mine for about $2 each. I also ended up with some extras that I will resell, but I guess my point is, I don't desperately need the money I would get from reselling these, and although I currently am in a situation similar to yours (though in my case I have no machine, but have games), I enjoy playing games so since the price is right I hope to track down a machine sometime, fart around with it, and kill a couple weekends gaming. If I then like the stuff, I'll keep it, if I hate it, I'll sell it, and if I find the experience to be mediocre, I'll probably just keep it until it's time to clean house again. If I had a CDI, I'd probably do the same.

I have around 40 titles and that's still what I immediately talk about when CD-i comes up (well, those and Tetris).

I recall seeing the system demonstrated in Macy's opposite the 3DO. Of course, the 3DO stole much of the thunder, but I still sat through, watched both demos loop, and listened to the sales pitches (each had someone paid to stand next to it and promote it). One sales person told me that CD-i was supposed to be the open-standard "VCR of CD videogames." Years later, I found out that the 3DO was pitched to investors the same way. I wasn't aware of the VHS/Beta format wars (thought all VCRs were VHS) but I knew that they were made by multiple manufacturers and all played the same movies, so the analogy worked.

Later I saw Faces of Evil and Wand of Gamelon in a then-current Babbages flyer and thought "What on Earth?! How did this happen?!" I wasn't subscribed to Nintendo Power yet so I didn't even know about the proposed SNES CD system.

I still wasn't interested in buying a CD-i. The demo made it clear to me that it was really more for encyclopedias and stuff and that 3DO was the system to have if you wanted games and didn't want to wait for Saturn/PlayStation.

I'd suggest some like Defender of the Crown except that it exists on other platforms and I have no reason to think that the CD-i version is particularly good in comparison (Tetris certainly isn't).

That one was frustrating to watch, especially the castle hole.



 

The Apprentice...  wasnt that the game with those naughty cheat codes?
 

its a terrible system for games and design and from what ive heard the console itself a failure waiting to happen due to the bios battery that is nearly impossible to replace because of it permanently being inside a chip.

Couldn't believe the Hulk Hogan attachment. Hulk is looking at the system like is playing this thing going to get me laid? I wasn't aware of the movie. 
 

Only cheat codes I could find were for level select, mini games, and alternate endings. It's a platformer that got decent reviews (for a cdi game), and maybe one of the best platformer on the system (just looking at reviews). 

 

Ah ok well i looked it up. and yes it is the game with the "nudtality codes" from what i was able to find these codes were released by some one that worked on the game 20 years after its release.

 

What attachment?  I would love to see it.  Long time Hulkamaniac here.