The Forgotten Console - The Story of The Philips CD-I 's History & Its Strange Nintendo Games

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

This one ended up being a bit longer than the videos I usually post and that's with me cutting out about 5 more minutes from the script. I included some fabulously cringeworthy CD-I ads, game intros, and cutscenes that I think you guys will enjoy. I tried to be thorough with my research but it was difficult to get 100% confirmation on some dates and to always get 1st party source confirmation. If you find any errors please let me know. What did you guys think about the CD-I? Personally, I think the CD-I is a cool and strange little piece of gaming history.

[@jetsilveravenger]

Really well done and informative. I've always been fascinated by videogame history - particularly the "lost" generation of consoles the CD-I could be said to be part of - 3DO, Jaguar etc. I know every generation romanticizes their childhood but the early to mid nineties were a great time.

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+jetsilveravenger Thanks! I've actually really grown to love my CDI. Are the games perfect? No. A lot of them bad? Yes. But many have their own unique charm and quirks that make them fun to play. I usually live stream a few CDI games each month but I don't keep the livestreams up afterwards.

[@jetsilveravenger]

I'd love to get ahold of one some day.

[@sapphirejaxxgh8639]

Wrestling With Gaming idk this was amazing, and very informational . I'd play those Zelda games on the cdi lol..... I'd have to be a little tipsy but I'd do it.

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+Jacqueline Gutierrez Thanks! I actually live stream CDI games a couple times a month, including one of the zelda ones, and I've always been drinking when I do it lol. The hotel Mario game actually isn't that bad. It's very challenging though. Thanks for checking out the channel!

[@CidCDdrafts]

"How 'bout a kiss, for luck?" "You've got to be kidding." *SQ-*

[@roberte2945]

UADALA

[@StormsparkPegasus]

I actually saw a CD-i once. Only once. At Lowe's. In the concrete aisle. Being used to run an infomercial about different concrete products.

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+Akaihiryuu77 lol really? That's hilarious. I actually love my CDI . Don't get me wrong, a lot of the games are awful but they're just so very 90s craptastic that they have a certain charm to them.

[@pyramidhead0420]

Wrestling With Gaming a lot of my local department stores had these classic console, setup in those plastic display stand things. Neo geo, jaguar, 3do, cdi. It was cool to play these back then knowing if never be able to afford them. Just found the channel today and watched every single video, love the content

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+pyramidhead0420 thanks so much. Glad you like the videos. I know I'm in the minority but I got a CDI while researching this video and ended up playing a lot of it afterwards. I've really come to love it. Yeah, a lot of the games aren't great or good even good lol, but most have a certain charm about them. They're all very 90s, especially the FMV ones. It's actually the console I live stream the most. Wow, I went way off topic. Must be the beer talking. Thanks again for checking the channel out.

[@scottcharney1091]

I saw one of these displayed in (I think) a Sears store, but it wasn't playable, it just displayed a demo on loop. I think part of said demo was "Escape from Cyber City."

[@MrKeys57]

@@WrestlingWithGaming thats why i´am getting one!!

[@Shrapnel82]

When the commercials for a game have better writing, acting, and production values than the game itself, it's not a good sign.

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+Shrapnel82 that's unfortunately true of many CD-I games lol

[@Justagamerhere1]

I remember the Phillips CDI infomercials in my teens late at night on TV. but even being a Zelda fanboy, my mind thought something wasn't right.

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

Yeah. I don't think it helped that the much better animated Legend Of Zelda series had aired just a few years earlier. These cutscenes looked so terrible by comparison. Then there was the gameplay...it was just a mess all around.

[@TrainedOldSkool]

I remember watching cd-i commercials on the sci fi channel, they would advertise burn cycle with it

[@djwalruss4897]

Yup I remember those infomercials

[@joebaumgart1146]

"Hi, I'm Troy MacClure and you might remember me from such other terrible game commercials as-"

[@davidjames579]

Why's Phil Hartman doing a Homer voice on the husband character? Does Matt Groening know?

[@kaiokendo]

Dinner

[@oneminutefixed5003]

Found one of these in a dollar store announced as "Philips cd player" had to look twice to make sure my eyes were not mistaken

[@LevelUp_ErikJ]

OneMinuteFixed did you get one?

[@oneminutefixed5003]

NovaTheMighty yes minty mint and working

[@LevelUp_ErikJ]

OneMinuteFixed was the timekeeper chip dead?

[@ThomasSpychalski]

Great find!! Awesome...

[@MrLordpistoia]

Wtf kinda dollar stores do you go to?

[@pokesurvivor3271]

6:02 "*The great tremor plague of 2017 killed off most of the population*" Welp, we're screwed.

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+Pokesurvivor 😂 You know what's really crazy? Mutant Rampage Bodyslam really is a surprisingly decent beat 'em up. I usually live stream a couple hours of it every weekend.

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+Pokesurvivor by the way, the game has many more cut scenes and they're just as amazingly ridiculous.

[@TheCamSays]

Pokesurvivor Must’ve missed that.

[@ian_b]

I can't wait for this "cybernet"!

[@ThreeNinjaDucks]

Pokesurvivor yeah I rambler that

[@specterRaven]

The cursed 4 games. No wonder Nintendo refuses to acknowledge these... just terrible lol

[@TellyWashaSavalas]

Nintendo is the reason KZbin 💩 exist memes😂😂😂😂

[@OzymandiasWasRight]

Watching this again almost 8 years later. The best part of youtube is seeing your fave small channels find success. Excellent work!

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

Aw thanks. It's crazy, never thought I'd have 100k+ subs when I made this video.

[@Bhamloud47]

@@WrestlingWithGamingThis is really good stuff. I’m working my way through your catalogue and every video is done really well.

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

@Bhamloud47 thanks! I think half the reason I made this video was so that people could see the mutant rampage bodyslam intro

[@junko4166]

2017 and I'm still waiting for that great tremor to end my suffering.

[@nocturnalmayhem0]

we made it through 2017 without the great tremor lol

[@nathenhutchison6182]

I went back and listened to it three times, and every time I'm sure that I hear "Grey Tremor," not "Great Tremor." At first I thought I just wasn't paying attention, but even when I focus in on it and listen carefully, I still hear "grey." Anyway, I want a T-shirt that says, "I survived the Grey Tremor Plague of 2017."

[@Vickyorlo]

Only if we get the genetically engineered catgirls afterwards.

[@kbunzzzz]

Lol

[@HurrpyDurrDerp]

It's never coming, I hope you learn to enjoy the suffering.

[@frogmancometh1430]

holy shit. that cutscene for BODY SLAM is insane. i love when the baby mutant slashes the doctors face. great doc man, you do great work finding and compiling all this video and knowledge. cheers! i love CD-i and its hideousness

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

Thanks man! TECHNOLOGY ADVANCED... so naturally they show a mutant bending a metal bar. Because you know, that's technology advancing! haha! The game itself looks like a pretty crappy beat em' up. I didn't play it but I'm going to look into downloading a CD-I emulator this weekend and trying it out. Thanks again for the kind words. For whatever reason this video took me much longer than usual to edit so it's cool to hear that you liked it.

[@honkytonkydonkey6671]

I thought I was watching Aqua Teen Hunger Force for a minute there.

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

haha!

[@Buttington_Headerson]

that was the best thing I've ever seen

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+Eye Conqueror the game is actually a pretty good beat em up.

[@leocramptondazzara7707]

Born in 91, with my early years in Italy before moving to England - the Philips CD-i with Alice in Wonderland, Tetris and Zelda are some of my earliest memories. Excellent video! It's funny what nostalgia does for a person.. For most people the dodgy CD-i games are a running joke, yet if you were born at just the right moment in time, your perspective can be totally different. Cheers!

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

Very well said. I actually live streamed a couple of CDI games last night, Link: Faces Of Evil and Mutant Rampage Body Slam. The controls made Link very difficult to play but I had a lot of fun with Mutant Rampage Body Slam. It really was a pretty decent beat em’ up game, even if the controls weren’t very precise. Glad you liked the video, thanks for watching!

[@eval_is_evil]

Leo Crampton Dazzara I don't know...i never saw a CDi on sale in Italy (Trieste to be more exact ). I did get an Amiga 500+ ,man that thing had amazing games.

[@zcanime5997]

Wrestling With Gaming UNTIL THEY MADE KZbin POOPS ABOUT IT AND RUINED EVERYTHING!

[@leocramptondazzara7707]

@@eval_is_evil hah no way, my first 5 years were spent in Visogliano near Sistiana! Small world! Not sure where my family sourced the games from though... Although most of my later games came from a cool little shop along or near to Corso Italia... Maybe a bit further up...! Cheers for the replies... Seeing these 3 years later aha

[@Bhamloud47]

Yeah same. A friend had the cdi and we had fun with the Zelda games. They weren’t great, but a lot of the video games at the time weren’t. Zelda’s adventure isn’t terrible. By the time I was playing it the ps was out and it had horrendous loading times so it didn’t seem as annoying. Most people forget playing ffvii on ps entailed a ton of loading too.

[@Thebossstage1]

Woah the year 2017 sounds like a crazy time to be alive Millions die in a tremor and babies mutate?!

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+The Boss Stage1 haha. But hey, at least technology advanced!

[@gevelegian]

At least they got some parts right such as furries and fibre internet :D

[@thebananamelon5065]

"The millennial wars" oh shit

[@Sazandora123]

I'm still waiting for the animal-human hybrids

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+Neekerisanni123 aren't we all?

[@clarenceboddicker6679]

It's incredible that two of the most well recognized and popular video game franchises of all time Mario and Zelda could fall into the hands of game developers who were total amateurs, it boggles my mind how such a thing could of happened. Mario and Zelda are the holy grail of video gaming, the ground they walk on should be worshiped. The CD-I games baring their names are extremely low quality and very poor.

[@lampini]

Man who remembers that tremor plague earlier this year? I still have nightmares about it.

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+lampini 😂

[@Mr.Atari2600]

"The Forgotten Console" I think it's far from forgotten ever since the craze of YTP's with the CD-I Zelda & Mario games.

[@gamebunkeradventures4575]

The CD-I is a very interesting console. Ironically enough I actually enjoy hotel Mario in short bursts. I've tried the Zelda games but the controls are beyond bad!

[@1978mackdaddy]

Really? Tell me all about it.

[@gangstamack8397]

This is reason why KZbin Poop even happened 😆😆😂😂

[@GrayArmyGaming]

Thanks so much for the shout-out! I appreciate it very much! And thanks, as well, for the great content that you have been putting out there. Ah, nostalgia... All the best to you!

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+Gray Army Gaming no problem man. I actually really enjoyed your videos even though I didn't really know a whole lot about that stuff to begin with. I think that says a lot about the quality of your stuff.

[@GrayArmyGaming]

Thanks so much! I am in the process of trying to acquire some new sound and flim equipment so that my content can become technically better. I am really impressed with the techincal quality that you put out there, and this is really a good standad to shoot for! Cheers!

[@darkfalzx]

CD-i was a weird beast. Even though it looks like the controller has four buttons, in reality it only has two. The remaining two buttons are a duplication of button 1 and buttons 1 and 2 pressed together. This seriously limits the kind of games that the system can handle. Another weirdness is the sound. It has just two PCM channels - left and right, so if you play music in stereo, any sound effect played at the same time will completely drown it out. The trick was to set console to output mono sound, then use one channel for music and one for sound effects to avoid games sounding glitchy and interrupted. The CD-i Zeldas were a product of its time, and as good as they could be. Remember, they were developed on the heels of Zelda II: Adventures of Link and the infamous "Well, EXCUUUSE ME Princess" episode of Captain N. Also, it was mandated that the games had to look unlike anything seen before, so all backgrounds were digitally hand-painted as opposed to being drawn out of tiles.

[@ensoniq2k]

The only place I ever saw a CDi in action was in driving school. The teacher had the theory lessons on a CDi. It was a good use for the device

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+ensoniq2k wow, that's pretty interesting. There are a lot of random educational titles for it so I figured I shouldn't be surprised. Pretty cool nonetheless.

[@ensoniq2k]

Wrestling With Gaming absolutely. To be honest I would never had thought of the CDi as a gaming device at that time

[@charliemartin-k7m]

I've only seen one in my life and its the one I own now that I got after my step dad died its the only one I've ever seen.

[@michaelswitzer2121]

RIP Mr Phil Hartmen

[@Antiformed]

I hope she made lotsa spaghetti!

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+Antiform Shakespearean level writing, huh?

[@Antiformed]

Hey man, I played Mario Teaches Typing. This is nothing

[@asandwhichandabagofchips931]

Luigi look

[@adamhovey407]

Fond memories of Mario teaches typing.

[@stefanurquelle7736]

😂😂😂

[@adamhovey407]

You know what they say. All toasters toast toast.

[@AmaroqStarwind]

"Gee, it sure is boring around here. I wonder what Sega's up to!"

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+Amaroqdricaldari haha!

[@tenchimod]

I'd totally buy BODY SLAM just for that amazingly 90s intro cinematic. Great documentary, what did you end up cutting out?

[@---777---]

6:25 bio engineers have created the fucking furries

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+Superportvein lol

[@machineofadream]

They had a playable CD-I at my local Macy's for a couple years in the 90s. I used to mess around with it every time I went to the mall, but it was obvious that the system was terrible. I never saw anything demoed on that unit that impressed me even a little bit, even as a kid, even when it was supposed to be a powerful new system. The non-games were the least impressive of all. The controller/remote was mind-boggling.

[@chrispham6599]

When I read that Nintendo refused partnership with, I was like “why the fuck would you do that!? Why would you let Phillips fuck up your iconic IPs”

[@stevenqbosell]

Bro, you can make these as long as you like, they're amazing and quite informative. Knocked this one out the park. When you get big, I can actually say I was here pretty early hahaha!! Great Video!

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+Steve Bosell haha, I don't know about me ever getting big. Sometimes people get turned off by the length of a video so I try to keep them around ten minutes. Although, my last few have gone over that so I'm not exactly following my own damn guidelines lol. Thanks for the compliment man, as always I appreciate it.

[@Danzin_Danzibar]

Wrestling With Gaming I'm cool with you making these videos longer. It's quite informative and it gives me something to listen to at work.

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+Daniel Benjamin Thanks man! I'm not really worried about making them too long these days. Thankfully people seem to enjoy the longer, more in depth ones more. My next video is going to be on the Atari Jaguar and it'll be my longest one yet. Should be out in a week or two of all goes according to plan. Thanks again for checking out the videos!

[@jbriones4144]

Man, you are awesome. Don't stop making these history videos! Keep it up man!!

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+Zack Briones thanks man!

[@sebastiannolte1201]

At least here in Germany there were drivers education software for CD-i. When I made my drivers licence in 2000, my driving school had a CD-i and used it in the lessons. That was the only time I have ever seen a CD-i in real life.

[@aussieguy1012]

Well researched man.Didnt know about the peripherals.Phil Hartman was Lionel hutz and Troy mclure of the simpsons.Keep this content coming I say!

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+Aussie Guy Thanks! I had completely forgotten about the Phil Hartman ads myself until I started researching this.

[@adamhovey407]

Aussie Guy He was also the voice of Lyle Lanley in Marge vs the monorail. The man could act.

[@herpinkstilettos]

This was great. My dad worked for Philips and had the misfortune to market and attempt to sell the cd-i. We had the system, all the controls and many, many games. Sadly, I think the games marketed at young children were among the best (relative term) quality, but those controls were just horrible. There was a quick cut of a dinosaur game - I loved that one. You had to figure out the dinosaur and time period. Going to have to search around and find out what it was called.

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

That's awesome. I've actually really come to enjoy the CD-I over the year few years. Once I got the 3 button controller and CD-I mouse I found quite a few titles to be a lot of fun. The default infrared controllers do make it hard to enjoy using it though.

[@muddauberstudios8366]

@@WrestlingWithGaming Yes, the wired controller is a must!

[@catm4403]

-CD-i crew in the Meeting Room: Shall we do a "Hotel" Mario game set in a single screen or some sort of sequel to Super Mario World? -Project leader laying down on the couch while playing with a Slinky: The hotel or nothing.

[@TheSuperPlayer707]

I think Nintendo's executives was a pile of fools letting Phillips create the SNES CD (which can't be released because of creative and manufacturing reasons). If Sony would had continued developing the SNES CD, maybe we could get a Nintendo PlayStation, and that nefarious Mario and Zelda games wasn't never be released. Excellent analysis Guy!

[@andyenglish4303]

Oh hey it's almost time for the grey tremors epidemic.

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+Ben English oh yeah, between the mutants and the gray tremor plague we're definitely doomed sometime this year.

[@rizkaarifiandi5670]

i still hoped that one day, Miyamoto and Nintendo is willing to revisited Wand of Gamelon and Faces of Evil, and give them a Nintendo treatment and released them as a genuine Zelda games i mean wouldnt be interesting for a good 2D Zelda platfomer other than Zelda II (which is my fave)

[@MizoxNG]

"it's not a game console, it's a do-it-all set-top box" ah yes, and console makers will still sometimes try to pull this. how well did that work for the xbone at launch?

[@honkytonkydonkey6671]

Your whole theme and music reminds me of the old G4 Icons series. Well done, keep it up!

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

Wow, thanks so much for the compliment. I LOVED the G4 Icons show so I'm really floored and humbled by any comparison to it. Thanks again!

[@adamhovey407]

HonkyTonky Donkey that was a good show, although the narrator's voice was a little annoying. I spent a lot of time with G4TV as a teenager, and then it eventually went kind of off the deep end, although my understanding is that it did a lot better in Canada with keeping its original premise.

[@A-small-amount-of-peas]

My friend bought a cd-i but I think I ended up playing it more than he did. It definitely belongs in that FMV era where as kids we were all blown away by full motion video and then slowly realising that the games were very basic. Caesars world of boxing and 7th guest were probably the two I spent the most time on. Still nice to see Phil Hartman got a nice pay cheque out of it (RIP Phil)

[@ALM1GHTY.PEANUT]

8:34 - I think you meant spectacularly awesome live action video sequences!

[@tomservo5347]

You're high quality videos chalk full of information deserve my subscription. Keep up the great work! (Granted youtube doesn't screw things up. I wish there was an alternative everyone could go to send youtube a message about their censorship.)

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+James Robert thanks man, I appreciate. I think the KZbin adpocalypse stuff will eventually get sorted out. It's a huge pain right now though.

[@SpookyFan]

I still have my CD-i with Burn Cycle, Chaos Control, International Tennis Open, and 7th Guest games; also The Hunt for Red October movie which requires a disc change partway through. I thought live actors in games would be the future of the industry, they were better than the cartoonish or simplistic graphics of the time.

[@ScottKasprick]

There were a lot of bad video cut scenes in "multimedia DVDs" back then, but I agree, they were impressive at the time!

[@fringeelements]

CD-I Nintendo canon overrides all other canon.

[@MalabarTheGreat]

Great video! Good to see some obscure gaming history being covered. I recently have gotten the chance to play Faces of Evil and Wand of Gamelon, and they're actually solid games. FoE has an absolutely kickass OST.

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

Thanks! I love my CD-I. Chaos Control, Mutant Rampage Body Slam, Thunder In Paradise, Myst, Burn Cycle, I could go on. There's some great stuff on it.

[@MalabarTheGreat]

@@WrestlingWithGaming Myst was on CD-I?! Mind blown. I'll have to see if I can get the other games you mentioned running on MAME. BTW, don't FoE and WoG sorta remind you of a classic Lucasarts point-and-click adventure game?

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

Now that you mention it, they do remind me of them a bit. 7th guest was on CD-I too. I think Chaos Control on the CD-I is better than the PS it Saturn port. I think it requires the digital video cartridge which I don't think emulates currently.

[@davidbauler3159]

The CD-i had an actual "adult" FMV adventure game. Beyond that, I remember the Zelda games being poorly designed.

[@TrainedOldSkool]

I feel like hotel Mario would do well in today's mobile market

[@Buttington_Headerson]

yeah it's shit like most mobile games

[@drunkensailor112]

@@Buttington_Headerson it's actually pretty good.

[@waifu_png_pl6854]

@@drunkensailor112 tbh no microtransactions plot toasters it would do great

[@neo-didact9285]

Has a better plot than most mobile games to be sure!

[@Exigentable]

Dope videos dude, the longer the better IMO. You do clear, thorough research that I enjoy a shitload.

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+Exigentable Thanks man, I appreciate it. It looks like the video I'm editing right now on the atari jaguar will be my longest yet.

[@danhulson8703]

this was a strange time in gaming a remember all these strange consoles coming out and thinking how expensive they were,im loving your series mate good work

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+daniel hulson thanks man. Yeah, it really was a weird time in gaming.

[@imKazahkstan]

Imagine this- it's circa 1991-1992, and you're in the market for a new game system. You could buy a CD-i, with its lackluster catalogue of games, most of the best of them playing out more like interactive movies than full-fledged video games. Or, you could buy a SNES, a second controller, and SEVEN games out of one of the best selection of games on any console then or since. You could buy a SNES, a Genesis, and still have $300 left over. The CD-i was an insane proposition, especially so for the VHS-quality games it offered.

[@ultrairrelevantnobody1862]

10:55 - 11.07 After doing a fair chunk of digging, I managed to find a couple of magazine reviews for Zelda's Adventure. Power Unlimited, a Dutch magazine, gave it a 7.3 out of 10. A favourable score even though it's the same mag that gave the other two games 9 out of 10. In Issue 17 of the UK's CD-i Magazine, the game was given a high 84% score. Much higher than 65 and 75 for the other two games respectively. Best yet is in 2004, some site called The CD-i Collector gave it 4 stars out of 5 which was much more positive than 2.5 stars that The Wand of Gamelon received. While not many, Zelda's Adventure was nonetheless a well received game at the time by those who've played it, with CD-i Magazine praising it for having such a large game world to roam around in. These reviews were hard to find for the most part, so I understand how you and many others didn't know of their existence. Fascinating research nonetheless.

[@Ramkumatic]

Thank you so much for mentioning The Room!

[@clarenceboddicker6679]

The advertising campaign for the CD-I was unique in that, during 1993 when it was clear that sales of the console were dwindling, the advertisements began to portray the customers as being idiots, idiots for not having already bought a CD-I no doubt. It's almost as if Philips were blaming the public for its failures and in return portrayed them as being total idiots.

[@adamhovey407]

Clarence Boddicker the weird thing is, that kind of abusive advertising was actually quite common in the nineties, watch some Atari Jaguar commercials.

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+Adam Hovey Yeah, it was this really weird time where marketing people for some video game companies thought a good strategy would be to insult potential customers. Sou strange.

[@HellaFunnyShorts]

This channel is a hidden gem. Good content and well produced. SUBSCRIBED@

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+HellaFunnyShorts Thanks! Appreciate you saying so and subscribing. Next video is going to be on the Atari Jaguar and it'll probably be out in one to two weeks. Probably lol.

[@HellaFunnyShorts]

Wrestling With Gaming Awesome!

[@gcnelite5983]

4:00 PORTABLE CDI SYSTEMS?!!?!?!?!?!?! THAT MEANS THAT I CAN BRING MAH BOY ON THE GO!!!!1!1!!1!1!1!!1!1!

[@flopypingas9766]

I WONDER WHATS FOR DINNER

[@adamhovey407]

Flopy Pingas97 Lotsa Spaghetti.

[@thomaaten]

*S P A H G E T T I*

[@fortymcmeme3846]

How about a quiche, for lunch

[@lilg8017]

6:46 I still have one of those particular tv's. Lost the remote though and it only has composite video.

[@twanroijmans3840]

In the Netherlands the Philips CD-I was heavily promoted, since it was our homegrown interactive plaything and all. Never had the urge to buy it, but I knew a few people who had one. Never understood why there where Mario and Link games on it, Interesting to hear how this Nintendo/ Philips partnership came to be. But how the game-industry would have changed if Nintendo sticked with Sony.

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+Twan Roijmans I actually really enjoy several CD-I games. A lot of them, even though not technically great, have their charm to them. Thanks for checking the video out.

[@vicrattlehead6386]

The CD-I Zelda game should be titled "I AM ERROR"

[@stefan-x9g]

6:03 *2017...* they missed 2020 by about 3 years

[@markusTegelane]

yet another case of games predicting the future

[@HumorousLOL]

When Link uses the rope to climb platform, I am almost certain that animation is taken right from Rygar on the NES.

[@cherubin7th]

14:09 predicted Coronavirus

[@kunstsein]

I have profound memories of one particular day during the summer holidays of 93 or 94, when my father and i were visiting the big annual book fair of the city, located in the townhall as usual. I was nine or ten years old, and everything went as expected(they had a large segment with children literature). But then there was this lonely "booth" nobody attended, sitting lonely away from everything else in a aisle between show rooms. Nobody is there, no kids, no adults. A VHS looking device sitting there in a plexiglass box and a big Display, but it also had a joypad esque device, almost like a gaming consle, strange....and a Link and a Zelda game on display. What the F!?! I tried my hardest for at least half an hour to get something going, but failed at the Menu screen. There was probably no game in the machine, when i now think about it. Anyway, I left that booth very confused and disappointed. That was a real strange encounter back then, since it was also the only electronic entertainment machine at the book fair.

[@dirkjewitt5037]

what is that weird music at the beginning? Its in all your videos and it sounds like something you would hear in a bizarre 80's software commercial.

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+Dirk Jewitt it was just some intro/our music. I haven't used it the last few videos

[@shinmiroku]

My friend had a CD-i, I was so jealous he had perfect versions of Dragon's Lair and Space Ace and I had the crappy Sega CD versions lol

[@muddauberstudios8366]

Yeah, video based games were a huge strength of the CD-i, Dragons lair, Space Ace, Burn Cycle, 7th Guest, ect

[@dragonzilla6482]

Them CD-I Zelda and Mario games are now memes.

[@Scent_Library]

This just made me miss the brilliant Phil Hartman.

[@jameswilson9661]

This is a great video, I was one of the few people who had a cd-i console growing up. The controller was my biggest issue with the system. Apart from that I enjoyed some of the games like lost Eden, mad dog macree, little devil and cesars world of boxing. Although when I got a Sega mega drive I can't I ever played the cd-i much again!!! It did have a very good save system at least. 😊

[@jurijkratz4792]

For me, the CD-i is the weirdest and strangest Piece of Gaming History ever. It's almost bizarre and surrealistic.

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+Jurij Kratz yeah, it's a weird one. There are a handful of fun games on it but a ton of weird ones.

[@adamhovey407]

Jurij Kratz I think that's what makes it interesting though. I'm not sure I've ever even played one, and I've played some pretty obscure consoles.

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+Adam Hovey I've really come to love it. I played the CD-I more than my ps4 this year. Which is really strange lol.

[@adamhovey407]

Wrestling With Gaming you have to do the research for the videos!

[@mleskoyeah1464]

Oh wow I remember playing both Zelda and Link games often when I'd go shopping with mom and Macy's still had an official electronics department with a CDi display demo lol. They are every much as horrible to play and watch as the negative comments say...only positive was for mom cause she got a free 15 minute babysitter while she went shoe shopping lol

[@chrissmith8128]

Yes!!! This was awesome. I remember my dad picked one of these up when they were released and as a kid I thought it was amazing. The wacky world of miniature golf was my favorite game and I still wish to this day I could find a emulator to play it. Thanks for taking me back to my childhood. Some good memories.

[@Doug_Gilmour]

There is a cdi emulator

[@PandinusRex]

Why didn't they just make ports of the NES and SNES games with CD sound?

[@TellyWashaSavalas]

Exactly 💯

[@Mrmhibbert]

My grandparents had a cdi for us grandchildren... I loved it and had some great games on it. Burn Cycle, 7th Guest, Myst and some golf games just to start with

[@sebKern91]

I know CD-i from the "KZbin poop" video game parodies. They feature those CD-i cutscenes (but also some hilarious scenes from elsewhere (e.g. Sonic), e.g. displaying Robotnik (search for "pingas"). I watched a lot of YT poop ~10 years ago. It was interesting to now see a history video about the CD-i. btw: You must try out the parody game "Super Robotnik Land".

[@muddauberstudios8366]

I Had all three Zelda games, and beat them all. Yeah, they were clunky compared to the Nintendo version, but they get a much worse rep than they deserve.They are easy to make fun of 30 years later, but mostly because so few actually experienced them at the time. Keep in mind Nintendo was only at the SNES at this point, Link to the past was the most recent Zelda game released 2 years prior, and it would be another 5 years before Ocarina was released. So it was pretty cool to play new Zelda games that were using the cartoon as character models. Full motion video, and character models that were more detailed than anything we had seen in a Zelda game before. Most people had no idea they even existed until KZbin became a thing. Looking back, yeah they look pretty cheesy, But it was neat to experience them when they came out.

[@canis966]

I can distinctly remember watching a CDI infomercial with my parents as a kid and being amazed with it. The price was just far too high though and it would just remain a dream that one day I could play with graphics as good as what they showed. Of course now I can play a game with a 1000x better graphics and think nothing of it.

[@mrjones29]

A legendary failure looking back. I remember seeing one in the old Virgin Megastore in my home town priced at nearly a £1000 pounds and one educational disc. Free to play demo on it's stand, it was interesting but ultimately terrible. I stuck with my Sega Mega Drive and aging ZX Spectrum.

[@johneygd]

That’s what i found sooo cool about this story,eventrough the deal between philips & nintendo didn’t gor finalized,but it atleast did let to philips to allow make zelda & a mario games for their CDI,and whether those games were bad or not,philips did what they could to try make their console stond out,and considering how philips was able to make 4 nintendo games for it within a year all for just a budget for over an $ half million,i consider this as an incredible feat.

[@stuntman45666]

Well I just found me a new channel to watch

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+Dj Zeroblade this makes me happy

[@bradleyjames1340]

You gotta wonder how things like Hotel Mario ever get made. The concept alone you think wouldve gotten shot down as super lame the moment someone pitched it yet clearly it beat out other ideas and was greenlighted at many levels prior to production. Not that its a unique phenomenon countless products that nobody ever liked or asked for have reached market but it just boggles the mind how they get so far especially from major companys like Phillips who spend millions on market research.

[@crewrangergaming9582]

6:33 Spot on about Cybernet (Internet) and Fiber optics.

[@allnamesaretakenful]

I used to see commercials for the CD-I in the mornings before I would leave to catch the school bus.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

I never saw the CD-I player as a game system simply because it felt more like it was sticking computer apps and the ability to play music CD's and the eventual movie CD's in one unit. They were somewhat forward thinking in that respect. Too bad Japan didn't hop on board with this though they did dabble with the "3DO" system.

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

I LOVE my CD-I. Is it the greatest system in the world? No. Does it have some terrible games? Yes. But so do lots of other systems. I usually live stream a couple CDI games a month. My favorite is probably Mutant Rampage Body Slam but Burn Cycle is fun too but doesn't have much replay value. Some CD-I games have really unique and quirky features, probably to make up for hardware limitations, that make some of the games really fun to play. I think everyone just hates on CDI because of AVGN's video on it. His video is great but I don't think it really puts it into perspective. Like you said, playing games was just a small part of the many things they wanted it to do. It was like a jack of all trades and a master of none. I also love my 3DO. It was definitely the better game console of the two by far.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

I remember seeing demos of the 3DO when that was out. Sad it didn't stick around long. I remember seeing CD-I demos as well but didn't think much about what was on it, a lot of it looked the same to me when it came to how they were doing "interactive" CD-Rom stuff in those days. Even Radio Shack had a CD-Rom device as well called the VIS, though they didn't push it as a game machine anyway. kzbin.info/www/bejne/r2iWiaWfrK19rrM

[@paulcarlton598]

The history of technology is so interesting. I'm a little addicted to watching these. How competitive technology companies were back in the 90's is very interesting, a bit back stabby and kinda brutal from a business standpoint. Reminds me a little of docs I've seen on the history of computing in general with Apple and Microsoft coming to mind, which was hair raising for me at least. So it's neat, Sega, Nintendo and others duking it out for console dominance that I was oblivious to as a kid. I loved the Sega Genesis. I liked it over the SNES, but Sega seem to hold as much weight for others and everyone got the SNES over the Sega it seemed like. I miss Sega as a console giant. Sega Genesis will always be my favorite 16bit system.

[@castor9907]

My boy these subs are what all KZbinrs strive for!

[@RetroIslandGaming]

Jimmy Hapa recommended I check out your channel. Great video dude! I never got to play the CD-i in person, but I've seen plenty of game play to be aware of the system. Hotel Mario is crap, but the Zelda games are more interesting. Animation Magic really left a mark on the gaming world. I've talked to one of the lead designers from the company a few times and he told me the company was split into two, one in Boston, and another in Russia. That Russian team handled all the wacky animation, but they definitely improved over time. I M Meen never made it to the CD-i, but you can see how the artwork got better since the Zelda CD-i days. Anyway, again, I really liked this video. I'll stick around and see what else you got coming next. Keep it up, man!

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

Ah, good ol Jimmy Happa. Thanks for checking the video out man, glad you liked it. I actually really enjoy my CD-i. A lot of the games on it aren't exactly great but there are some decent titles on there and they all have a certain charm to them. I'm the opposite on the Nintendo CD-i games. I've found the Zelda side scrolling games to be nearly unplayable due to the poor controls. I haven't played the top down Zelda game yet but I hear it's not much better. The worlds in them look interesting enough but I just can't get very far at all. I think Hotel Mario is a decent little game. It's not a great Mario game per se but as far as a little puzzle/strategy game I think it's pretty well done. It becomes incredibly difficult starting around level 7 though. My favorite CD-i game is also by Animation Magic. It's called Mutant Rampage Body Slam. It's a pretty fun beat 'em up and the animation in it is drastically improved from the Nintendo games. I actually want to do a video covering Animation Magic or at the very least Mutant Rampage Body Slam at some point. I just need to reach out to some of the people involved to get the full story. I bet those games had really interested development cycles.

[@RetroIslandGaming]

I think the Zelda games just had more of a lasting impact because of the cutscenes. I'll have to check out Mutant Rampage Body Slam! Animation Magic video would be really cool. The team watched one of my video reviews and they reached out to me. So they're very good people, even if their games weren't always good! Matt Sughrue, if you can get a hold of him on Facebook, should be able to get you information or names of others to talk to. He was super down to earth. Andrey Purtov was a Russian animator who was pretty open and cool too. I don't know if this info helps, but there you go!

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+Retro Island Gaming Oh yeah, I think you're 100% right about those Zelda cutscenes. Thanks so much for their names man. That's actually a huge help. Hoping to get to Mutant Rampage in the next couple of months.

[@gtx-808]

Even their commercials were weird lol.

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

I believe you misspelled “perfect.” 😂

[@TheSonsofAtreus]

fantastic vid. great job. I like your voice, but you sound sick here. Thanks for making the vid anyway. thanks, g00p

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+g00p Thanks man. I actually do believe I was a little under the weather when I recorded most of the voiceover for this one. At least I think this was the video I was sick during the VO lol. Thanks for checking out the channel!

[@HistoricNerd]

Thanks for the share! great stuff as always.

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+HistoricNerd thanks man. Appreciate it!

[@farlado5459]

2017 getting a plague would be pretty okay tbh

[@amogus8844]

why?

[@ddkin1937]

Welcome to May 2020. Wish has been granted...

[@farlado5459]

@@ddkin1937 ow

[@ddkin1937]

Lol

[@ravenclawtom]

this comment aged like a fine wine

[@AshNonokPlays]

Nintendo: I'm sticking with cartridges. Sony & Philipps: Why? Years later. News: Many pirated Sony PlayStation games were sold for a cheap price! Nintendo: Do you get it now!

[@dstinnettmusic]

I survived the Grey Tremor Plague of 2017

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+David Stinnett Just barely! Lol

[@DarkLordDiablos]

That Nintendo Sony Playstation is a work of art and would have sold like hot cakes. How stupid were Nintendo for not going with it and switching to Philips.

[@somethingsomething9008]

Well nintndeoo read the contract and saw thats sony would be making most of the money so they sorta had a right to

[@skurinski]

^^ actually they agreed to the contract, it was only after that they realized that they made a mistake. Still, they should've told Sony they wanted out, or renegotiated the contract. They backstabbed Sony, and Sony returned with a vengeance

[@b1ueocean]

I was well invested in the Famicom (Japanese SNES) at age 15 having saved to buy it myself with no games. First was Final Fight, then Street Fighter 2. I used to follow the CD add on news in EGM and other mags. Had money saving to get it, then nothing. PS1 landed with Namco games like Ridge Racer but by then I was spending less time gaming and more time learning to program serious applications on my dad’s PC. Always admired the way Sony went from Walkmans to serious Video Gaming. Sega and Nintendo were run by morons, game development companies made the systems popular to consumers, including Sega’s in-house gaming teams and the Super Mario units at Nintendo.

[@christophersica2379]

Not stupid at all considering they would given up alot control of there systems they maintained themselves without there tech and we have the ,64

[@lisamariefan]

...is that Phil Hartman in that ad near the end of the video? Edit: Commented this before you said it was in the video. It was more of a case of "Hey, it's that voice!" more than anything.

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+lisamariefan Sure is.

[@SnakePlissken73]

Hipster console CDi... had casual games before it was cool.

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+SnakePlissken73 lol this is actually a great point.

[@KC-bg1th]

‘Cybernet’ is such an embarrassingly 90’s word.

[@Ruudos]

Finally a video that gets the facts straight. Excellent job.

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

+Ruudos thanks a lot, I appreciate it!

[@odnewdylee]

I bought a house and found one of these with some games, never heard of it thanks for the video