Philips, the electronics company behind the ill-fated Philips CD-i, has responded to fan requests for a classic, miniature version of the console. Amazingly, it looks like it could actually happen.
A system easily forgotten about by fans, and possibly even more so by Nintendo, the Philips CD-i was initially released as a family entertainment system in 1991. Able to play a whole range of CD formats and cover all home entertainment needs, the CD-i originally focused on music and educational software, but the introduction of cheaper, low-end PCs around that time soon put it out of favour among consumers.
In an attempt to salvage the system, Philips soon encouraged console developers to create video games for the CD-i, but these were similarly unsuccessful thanks to it being generally underpowered compared to dedicated consoles at the time. Although not developed by Nintendo itself, a Super Mario game called Hotel Mario was released, as were three Legend of Zelda titles - Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon, Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda's Adventure. These were all met with mixed reviews, with many still believing the games to be inferior to Nintendo's own to this day.
Of course, a generous supply of people did - and still do - have a love for the console despite its shortcomings, and fans have been asking Philips for a re-release of sorts. Things appear to have started thanks to this (presumably tongue-in-cheek) tweet from Chris Scullion, which even comes with its own mock-up advertisement for a 'Classic' edition.
At the time of writing, this tweet has gone on to be shared over 500 times, generating over 1,000 'likes' in the process. Others have left their own thoughts in the replies of this tweet, and Philips has been weighing in on the conversation, too. As you can see, the company seems fairly open to the possibility.
We've recently a seen a surge of miniature classic consoles being announced and released, with every console manufacturer and their dog jumping at the chance to earn some extra cash from nostalgic fans. If Nintendo, Sony, Sega, and SNK can do it, why not Philips?
Would you like to see a Philips CD-i Classic? Make sure to leave a comment down below if you do - perhaps Philips will answer your prayers!
[source twitter.com]
Comments 81
I wonder what Ganons up to?!
Philips try to Faces the Evil with a Wand from Gamelon in a Hotel namend Mario!
No. Please. Don't take us seriously. We are morons.
I mean i don't mind but I'm not going to buy it. I'm not sure about the licensing deal they have with Nintendo but I'm sure with the right amount of money they'll be happy as can be.
Further proof that the worst part of any fandom is the fandom itself.
I never knew there was a CD-I fan base and now I really wish there wasn’t...
Nintendo, please do not heed their call, these people are not well in the head.
Please disregard any talk of a CD-I revival on present or future systems...
@saintayu only good bit that came about from this (I say this lightly) venture was the YTP bits I used to watch with a friend several years back. Looking atthem now, I still question my sanity. 😅
We will try our best to revive our worst
This would be the next potato salad kickstarter or boaty mcboatface.
If people are after Hotel Mario and the Zelda games, it most likely won't be on the mini system.
If it's going to annoy fanboys, I'm all for it.
Some of us just want to see the world burn.
So the four Nintendo CD-i games were most likely developed by teams that formerly made educational games? That explains a lot. Impressive efforts, in that light.
The CD-i has fans?
Do NOT do this.
That's what they did the first time around.
Didn't work.
Sure, the games may not be the best, but how many of you actually played them compared to the hundreds of times you played the games on other systems?
I'm sure this is a joke coming from Nintendo. They just want Philips to hear crickets trying to surf on a nostalgia wave that never existed for the CD-i
@TJWorks the world has gone mad, who the hell would really want this?
The only classic system I would actually buy.
this isnt a super early april fools is it??? cannot see how this would happen. it was never a popular machine in the first place! why would anyone apart from a few fanatics buy this?
Was there even a single good game on it? lol
This is one of the only consoles I know of that I have never had any desire to own. I'm a sucker for all kinds of obscure retro stuff, but nothing about this one tempts me.
Isn't it unfortunate the Internet never got behind the Sarcmark? There would be so fewer mistunderstandings....
Calling it now: Nintendo and Philips rekindle their business relationship to produce the ultimate in console gaming
This is what we deserve.
Oh no, please, leave it buried and forgotten as it should be
The sad thing is, from a tech standpoint, the CDi was an impressive device. It's just they didn't hire any competent game designers... It's yet another example of how software moves the hardware more than hardware moves software.
That and it was ******* expensive when it was new.
nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo hell nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo you couldnt find a single classic game to put on this total turd of a abomination waste of worlds resources. Never mind 20 of the bloody things.
As usual people talking crap about a system they have never owned or experienced. The CD-i was a very powerful system for it's day and has a surprisingly decent library. You could easily find 20-30 games for a mini console, and no the Zelda games would not be among them. I still have a CD-i hooked up to this day, next to my 3DO
I feel like 500-1000 is all the people in the world that would buy this.
@GameOtaku I got that reference!
I’d probably buy it at the right price. It’s going to be the only way I’d get to play these games. Can’t see the Zelda and Mario games getting the ok from Nintendo though! Assuming they hold the right to block them.
Well, Y’know what they say...
All toasters toast toast.
It needs to also contain The Wacky World of Miniature Golf just so we can experience the sheer inscrutability of that game.
Seems even they forgot about it. Someone should let them know it’s a joke too
I've never been interested in the NES and SNES classic, but I'd buy that it an instant.
It'd be hilarious if it turns out that after all these years Phillips still holds the rights to publish those Nintendo license games without having to ask them for permission.
Cya
Raziel-chan
No didn’t it only have a couple of good games even the Zelda games are a blot on an otherwise immaculate series
To be honest CD-I is associated with those four games to the point that it's almost like that those games are the entire library of the system.
Don't release this
...
But I'll buy it if it does
The actual physical console has a component that... actually rots itself away, and will some day render every console inoperable, which is why, despite owning various retro consoles dating to the earliest, the Famicom, I can't get myself to buy one of these. A Mini version, however...
Is there 20 good games for this even, though I will admit I loved Mad Dog Mcree on PC lol. Also I think they'd have trouble getting nintendo to let them re-release those bad games.
im sure nintendo would never let phillips re-release the nintendo ones. surely they cant still own the rights?
"These were all met with mixed reviews, with many still believing the games to be inferior to Nintendo's own to this day."
You guys really are too kind with your words.
Why?
Day one for me if they have the balls (and legal rights) to do something like this, just for the historical significance alone.
Honestly, who is asking for this?
"Classic systems" that should be made immediately that aren't already in the works:
My top 5 would be....
-Turbographic 16
-Gameboy
-Gamegear
-Dreamcast
-3DO
-
At least one of the Zelda games on the system is literally the only one worth of that title since you get to play, you know, as Zelda. :B
Cya
Raziel-chan
This is great. Then everyone who hates the CDi games will actually play them just to see how bad they really are only to realize that they are really good!
The only way I can reason why people want this is because they want a chance to actually play some of these infamous games....I kinda get that as I've played E.T., but to actually own one of these....
Let's just let this one lie, hmm?
This would be fantastic, most Classic Mini consoles are not interesting because of stuff like VC and Rare Replay but the CDi Mario and Zelda games aren't available via those kind of services/collections.
This is a very sick joke and anyone who isn't joking about this is clearly deranged.
I don't think it needs it's own mini system but I wouldn't mind a collection released on the Switch/Xbox One/PS4.
To be honest it would be best system to get a mini, since the actual consoles and its games are in danger of extinction (as someone else said already, the consoles are quite literaly rotting away).
It would be a great way to preserve this, uh, beautiful creature for posterity.
@Yosheel There's nothing wrong with extinction if it's something that actually needs to be erased from memory.
@NEStalgia the NES had terrible games too.
@Yosheel Every console has terrible games, but only one console has only terrible games
I mean even the 2600 had some gems.....
I would totally buy this. I never had the CD-i, so it would be nice to see what it was all about.
A interactive encyclopedia ca. 1991 would be so awesome to play around with today. I'm holding out for the 3DO Classic, though.
Does anyone remember the Amiga CD32 ? I was getting those two confused lol .
Would it be too much to pester NEC yo make a PC-engine or Turbogfx16 classic????
If they put all four legendarily bad Nintendo games on there, I would buy it for sheer novelty. YouTube isn't good enough to REALLY understand these titles, and they're too rare and expensive for everyone to buy.
Take this with a grain of Bowsers Sourpuss Bread, but it is just some employee on the twitter who knows nothing of whats actually going on. Because I already pre ordered all of them along with 100 rosalina amiibo.
Q) Would you like to see a Philips CD-i Classic?
A) It'd be an easy and affordable way to play on an obscure console and some of it's could well be hidden gems; or at least fun to simply experience. As such, I would very much like to see a Phillips CD-i Classic/Mini.
It doesn't necessarily need the Mario/Zelda games on it (though I would like to try out Hotel Mario; looks to be a decently enjoyable arcade styled experience) as there are other CD-i games I've heard good things about such as Apprentice, Plunderball, and Mutant Rampage: Bodyslam.
@saintayu Hey I like your Eva Profile Picture!
Didn't Philips sue Nintendo? Doubt their relationship is good enough to where Nintendo will allow them to have the Mario and Zelda games.
Mixed reviews? Really? Did some rate them as 2 out of 10 instead of 1?
What fans?
@NintendoFan4Lyf There was also a pinball game I really enjoyed playing on my Uncle's CD-i but I can't remember the name of it.
I just remember one of the tables had a radioactive symbol on it.
If they could work out the myriad of licensing problems this could actually be fairly fun depending how they handle the logistics of it all. If they could get a couple Nintendo titles, various others that were already multi-ported around still sold on GoG these days, and random other things it may be worth a peek.
It would be a treasure trove of games I've never even heard of. I'm interested in trying it out.
I'd have to get one of those on day one, just because I never got to play it and always wanted to, but, I can't imagine the games having a lot of replay value. They were way too expensive, and hard to find the real thing, so, just to be able to add cd-i to my games collection would be worth it to me (so long as they're under 100 bucks, and emulate the system good, but, I hope they reduce the loading times as I can imagine them not being great originally).
If this actually happened it would be totally awesome for both fans!!!
Philips, my boy!
If it wasn't for the documented proof of someone asking for it, I would have sworn no one asked for this.
I have a real CD-i....and I STILL would want this thing hardcore!
I have roughly 45 consoles spanning the history of gaming, maybe a few more, and about 25 or so of them are "indisputably retro". Do you know how many of them I would -NOT- put down money for a mini for? None of them! I want minis for all of them!!!
So bring on the CD-i mini! Hell, bring on the Odyssey 2 and TI99/4a minis! All the things!!!
@Orwellianson I wouldn’t say its bad to be a fan of the CD-I, as I personally have quite a bit of interest in it based on its strange history. Of course if people think the console was successful and amazing then yeah they may be wrong in the head. The console was garbage but still fascinating in a time where there were many different formats battling for superiority at the time.
@RazorThin hehe, true dat’. Insanity is indeed subjective, non?
This isn't going to happen because only a small number of people would buy it out of curiosity. But to be honest, I'd be tempted to get it. The mini consoles that are being made are mostly full of games readily available not just from ROM sites, but also Virtual Console and Sega's games are everywhere. It's like, "Oh, these games... AGAIN!" (OK, I wish Star Fox 2 was on Switch e-shop). A CD-I mini would be full of games I've never seen before, so it would be all new, something I've only heard rumors about. Would they be good? Well, I've heard it had a few pretty decent games.
"Is this actually happening?"
Lol: eh, no!
What about a collection for Switch? That might actually sell — I'd be curious enough to try the non-canonical Zelda titles to pick it up.
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