Positive aspects of the CDI and 3DO?

It's quite known that these consoles were received poorly and for the most part have a number of bad games. But do you see anything positive about them?



As the owner of both consoles, I've enjoyed hotel mario, burn cycle, and voyeur on the CDI, and some of the Zeldas aren't too bad. I'm curious if someone out there doesn't mind a number a games including the Zeldas?



I always saw 3DO as underratted, alone in the dark, MYST, Gex, Crash'n'Burn, Need for Speed, RoadRash, Killing time and so on were pretty innovative for their time on this console.



What do you think?
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Comments

  • I have no experience with the CD-I, but I enjoy my 3DO. There are a lot of good games for the system. It's just sort of expensive to collect for. I've been lucky enough to get some good deals on the consoles and games that I have. I've even been lucky enough to get some unique stuff like the wireless controllers and the adapter that allows you to use your SNES controller on the 3DO. I definitely recommend the system to anyone who can get a good deal on one. I really want to get the USB mod for one of my 3DO consoles, but damn they are expensive.
  • CD-I was a piece of shit. The 3DO was okay, but almost every single title released for it probably has a similar or better version on another system. Both of the priced themselves right out of the market.
  • I have never seen a reason to own either of them. Not to mention if I did, I'd never find games for it locally.
  • The 3DO had some interesting titles out for it and overall wasn't a bad machine for the time. I still play Samurai Shodown & Star Control II on it to this day. As for the CD-I, I don't hate mine, but there's honestly not much I can do with it due to the fact that it only came with a remote control as a controller and any additional controllers purchased online would run me $80-100 each, 4-5x what I have invested in the whole system. Hotel Mario was ok and the port of Flashback seemed pretty good, but a general lack of affordable controllers really shoot it down in my view. I thought it was neat that some models offered the option to install a RAM/VCD expansion which boosted/augmented its functionality, but as a game system it's pretty tough to evaluate without actual controllers.



    There used to be a guy who made adapters which would let people use regular Genesis controllers on the system, but, unfortunately, he stopped making and sold out of all of his cables about a month before I picked up my system. Kudos to anybody who managed to get on the CD-I bandwagon and have more fun with it than I did.
  • Originally posted by: pegboy



    CD-I was a piece of shit. The 3DO was okay, but almost every single title released for it probably has a similar or better version on another system. Both of the priced themselves right out of the market.

    I can't speak to the CD-I as I never saw one back in the 90's but the 3DO I remember seeing with a list price of $800!  Absolutely bonkers price point.

     
  • The 3DO is a bit more interesting to collect for than the CD-i (due to the game library), but they are both interesting niche products.

    I have memories going into Circuit City and drooling over the 3DO display. It really had a wow factor back when it came out.
  • I had played the CD-i before and didn't like it. Never had a 3D0 but I would always ask for one after reading about it in the gaming mags.



    The CD-i suffered more based on game quality. There are a few good ones, but not enough to justify the price. The 3D0 actually had a decent game library and was often seen as a possible heavy competitor, atleast from what I recall, but because the price point was ridiculously high, it failed. I may be wrong, but I also recall 3D0 having no (or little) first party support, which doesn't help with third parties dishing out games on multiple systems.
  • I have both. The CD-i is basically like having an early- to mid-1990s Mac Performa, with a similar game library. If you like puzzlers, strategy titles, and FMV games it actually excels at those, especially FMV games (it's got the best FMV of any console before the PlayStation).



    If you only like action gaming, it's best avoided. I need a decent controller for it, as all I have is the infrared remote, though I was able to beat Link: The Faces of Evil with just that. My console does have excellent AV out, and I'm impressed by the high quality of the graphic design in the menus, title screens, etc. -- noticeably better than many other 5th-gen games.



    The 3DO is a totally different kettle of fish. Unlike almost every other "failed" console, there's basically nothing fundamentally wrong with it: it's a strong piece of hardware for its time, with no obvious flaws. I think of it as a souped-up Sega CD + 32X combo, and in many ways that's how it comes off.



    If you like early 3D gaming the 3DO is a treat, and the library is surprisingly large, with a few very strong games (and, to be fair, a bunch of mediocre ones) and some intriguing Japanese exclusives. If you view early 3D as a dinosaur era only worthy of being mocked, well...you shouldn't own anything that came out between the SNES and the Dreamcast anyway.  



    I play my 3DO about as much as my PlayStation, and rather more than my Saturn or N64. It doesn't hurt that the system has no copy protection to speak of, though rumor has it a very late version of the GoldStar added some form of anti-piracy.
  • Both the CD-i and 3DO pioneered ideas and technologies popularized by the PS1, such as Full Motion Video (aka cutscenes), multimedia playback support, 3D graphics and of course video games tacked on. Consoles like the 360 and PS3 are descendants of the CD-i and 3DO.



    So next time you think of shitting on the CD-i, you should re-think your love for the PS3/360/PS4/Xbone.
  • Originally posted by: pixelsmash



    I always saw 3DO as underratted, alone in the dark, MYST, Gex, Crash'n'Burn, Need for Speed, RoadRash, Killing time and so on were pretty innovative for their time on this console.



    What do you think?

    Sounds like a list of early PS1 games that I absolutely never cared about back when I played and collected for that system



    If that's the cream of the crop then I surely will never have incentive to get a 3DO



     
  • I used to work at Service Merchandise as the "Sight & Sound" manager (aka, electronics dept) and we had a CD-i kiosk we'd play all the time. I remember all the less-than-great reactions customers had when they'd try out the first Zelda game, which was used as a demo for selling the unit. I really think they should've used a better game because I honestly don't recall selling even one unit. It was a total flop. We did play Myst and a few others I can't remember now and did enjoy it. So, for me, the best thing about the CD-i is the memories I had trying (without luck) to sell it.
  • CDI - Wand of Gamelon, my second favourite Zelda of all time.  

    3DO - Road Rash, enough said.
  • Originally posted by: bronzeshield



    I have both. The CD-i is basically like having an early- to mid-1990s Mac Performa, with a similar game library. If you like puzzlers, strategy titles, and FMV games it actually excels at those, especially FMV games (it's got the best FMV of any console before the PlayStation).



    If you only like action gaming, it's best avoided. I need a decent controller for it, as all I have is the infrared remote, though I was able to beat Link: The Faces of Evil with just that. My console does have excellent AV out, and I'm impressed by the high quality of the graphic design in the menus, title screens, etc. -- noticeably better than many other 5th-gen games.



    The 3DO is a totally different kettle of fish. Unlike almost every other "failed" console, there's basically nothing fundamentally wrong with it: it's a strong piece of hardware for its time, with no obvious flaws. I think of it as a souped-up Sega CD + 32X combo, and in many ways that's how it comes off.



    If you like early 3D gaming the 3DO is a treat, and the library is surprisingly large, with a few very strong games (and, to be fair, a bunch of mediocre ones) and some intriguing Japanese exclusives. If you view early 3D as a dinosaur era only worthy of being mocked, well...you shouldn't own anything that came out between the SNES and the Dreamcast anyway.  



    I play my 3DO about as much as my PlayStation, and rather more than my Saturn or N64. It doesn't hurt that the system has no copy protection to speak of, though rumor has it a very late version of the GoldStar added some form of anti-piracy.



    I have mostly every game i need on the 3do with the expection of a few, all in the long boxes .Funny you mentioned goldstar i had a ton of those mint in box, along with a few new gameguns a few years ago.



    The mac performa, which i've got up and running, has some pretty cool exclusive games like the marathon series. Abuse is fun as well.



    I still think there have to be people who can see past the bad aspects of the zelda games and actually enjoy them



     
  • Originally posted by: Bea_Iank



    CDI - Wand of Gamelon, my second favourite Zelda of all time.  

    3DO - Road Rash, enough said.



    I really like the grungey soundtrack of road rash.

     
  • I cant speak for 3do as ive never owned one, but i do have a cdi and rather large collection. Anyone who disses these systems fails to know all of the aspects. There are quite a few very good games for cdi that also happen to be exclusives. There will always be people who love fmv and those who hate it. I am very nostalgic for that era so therefore, cdi and sega cd compliment each other very nicely. Many of the best games have european releases only so Americans who moan about cdi often fail to know of a good portion of the library and seem hellbent on the zelda titles as if nothing else exists for the philips console.
  • Originally posted by: pegboy



    CD-I was a piece of shit. The 3DO was okay, but almost every single title released for it probably has a similar or better version on another system. Both of the priced themselves right out of the market.



    My thought to the tee.

     
  • Originally posted by: XYZ



    I cant speak for 3do as ive never owned one, but i do have a cdi and rather large collection. Anyone who disses these systems fails to know all of the aspects. There are quite a few very good games for cdi that also happen to be exclusives. There will always be people who love fmv and those who hate it. I am very nostalgic for that era so therefore, cdi and sega cd compliment each other very nicely. Many of the best games have european releases only so Americans who moan about cdi often fail to know of a good portion of the library and seem hellbent on the zelda titles as if nothing else exists for the philips console.

    Early FMV era games were done much better on the PC.  A much larger portion of "gamers" seems to pretend that PC gaming didn't or doesn't exist.



     
  • Originally posted by: pegboy

     
    Originally posted by: XYZ



    I cant speak for 3do as ive never owned one, but i do have a cdi and rather large collection. Anyone who disses these systems fails to know all of the aspects. There are quite a few very good games for cdi that also happen to be exclusives. There will always be people who love fmv and those who hate it. I am very nostalgic for that era so therefore, cdi and sega cd compliment each other very nicely. Many of the best games have european releases only so Americans who moan about cdi often fail to know of a good portion of the library and seem hellbent on the zelda titles as if nothing else exists for the philips console.

    Early FMV era games were done much better on the PC.  A much larger portion of "gamers" seems to pretend that PC gaming didn't or doesn't exist.



     





    You also needed the right graphics and sound card  for many fmv games and that didn't always work, or work well, even on new computers at the time. So it could be a pain the ass to run. Half my boxed dos fmv games wont even run on my old working dos machine because of this issue. You have to reinstall graphics cards, change settings many times just to run a single game.
  • Originally posted by: pegboy



    Early FMV era games were done much better on the PC.  A much larger portion of "gamers" seems to pretend that PC gaming didn't or doesn't exist.



    If you're going to bring the PC into it, you're going to either get pissed off or piss off a whole lot of people, as a lot of beloved console games are/were nearly always garbage compared to PC equivalents/counterparts.



    Having lived in a household which had an IBM PC compatible system since the early/mid-80s, I figured out DOS and played computer games long before I got my hands on an NES, let alone the follow up systems.  As such, I can say that compared to PC FPS games of the time, Goldeneye was and is comparatively absolute trash.  Neat characters, neat story, abysmal gameplay, controls, etc.  The same goes for StarFox -- LucasArts' X-Wing & TIE Fighter series and Elite/Elite Plus (as well as countless other flight sims) made me wonder why everybody was going nuts for the new, fancy "3D" SNES game.  Heck, those same games left me shaking my head at everybody who clamored over the Rebel Assult games--why would you want to play a space flight sim on rails when you could be free to fly wherever, however you wanted so long as you completed your mission?



    Comparing the capability of consoles (systems with usually limited, permanently defined specifications) to PCs (which could very nearly always be upgraded to perform better and usually had more horsepower than any console released around the same time) is hardly an apples to apples comparison and sort of misses the point of this discussion entirely.
  • Originally posted by: XYZ



    I cant speak for 3do as ive never owned one, but i do have a cdi and rather large collection. Anyone who disses these systems fails to know all of the aspects. There are quite a few very good games for cdi that also happen to be exclusives. There will always be people who love fmv and those who hate it. I am very nostalgic for that era so therefore, cdi and sega cd compliment each other very nicely. Many of the best games have european releases only so Americans who moan about cdi often fail to know of a good portion of the library and seem hellbent on the zelda titles as if nothing else exists for the philips console.



    In my experience, the vast majority of the CD-I complainers have never actually interacted with one.  These days, nearly every one that I run into basically regurgitates the AVGN's complaints about it without ever actually having played anything, let alone seen or handled a system.  I honestly think I'd have a higher opinion of the system were I actually able to plug some sort of moderately functional controller into it but still don't hate it.



     
  • Originally posted by: darkchylde28

     
    Originally posted by: pegboy



    Early FMV era games were done much better on the PC.  A much larger portion of "gamers" seems to pretend that PC gaming didn't or doesn't exist.



    If you're going to bring the PC into it, you're going to either get pissed off or piss off a whole lot of people, as a lot of beloved console games are/were nearly always garbage compared to PC equivalents/counterparts.



    Having lived in a household which had an IBM PC compatible system since the early/mid-80s, I figured out DOS and played computer games long before I got my hands on an NES, let alone the follow up systems.  As such, I can say that compared to PC FPS games of the time, Goldeneye was and is comparatively absolute trash.  Neat characters, neat story, abysmal gameplay, controls, etc.  The same goes for StarFox -- LucasArts' X-Wing & TIE Fighter series and Elite/Elite Plus (as well as countless other flight sims) made me wonder why everybody was going nuts for the new, fancy "3D" SNES game.  Heck, those same games left me shaking my head at everybody who clamored over the Rebel Assult games--why would you want to play a space flight sim on rails when you could be free to fly wherever, however you wanted so long as you completed your mission?



    Comparing the capability of consoles (systems with usually limited, permanently defined specifications) to PCs (which could very nearly always be upgraded to perform better and usually had more horsepower than any console released around the same time) is hardly an apples to apples comparison and sort of misses the point of this discussion entirely.

    I agree, and I've been one of the few people around here that would says Goldeneye was a steaming peice of shit compared to the PC FPS games that came out even years before.  Goldeneye was only good to people who didn't know any better.  Yeah and I know that will piss off a whole bunch of people too.



    I also think it's perfectly acceptable to compare consoles to PC gaming, especailly when the console costs $700+ like the CD-I and 3DO did.

     

  • Originally posted by: pegboy




    Originally posted by: darkchylde28

     

    Originally posted by: pegboy



    Early FMV era games were done much better on the PC.  A much larger portion of "gamers" seems to pretend that PC gaming didn't or doesn't exist.



    If you're going to bring the PC into it, you're going to either get pissed off or piss off a whole lot of people, as a lot of beloved console games are/were nearly always garbage compared to PC equivalents/counterparts.



    Having lived in a household which had an IBM PC compatible system since the early/mid-80s, I figured out DOS and played computer games long before I got my hands on an NES, let alone the follow up systems.  As such, I can say that compared to PC FPS games of the time, Goldeneye was and is comparatively absolute trash.  Neat characters, neat story, abysmal gameplay, controls, etc.  The same goes for StarFox -- LucasArts' X-Wing & TIE Fighter series and Elite/Elite Plus (as well as countless other flight sims) made me wonder why everybody was going nuts for the new, fancy "3D" SNES game.  Heck, those same games left me shaking my head at everybody who clamored over the Rebel Assult games--why would you want to play a space flight sim on rails when you could be free to fly wherever, however you wanted so long as you completed your mission?



    Comparing the capability of consoles (systems with usually limited, permanently defined specifications) to PCs (which could very nearly always be upgraded to perform better and usually had more horsepower than any console released around the same time) is hardly an apples to apples comparison and sort of misses the point of this discussion entirely.

    I agree, and I've been one of the few people around here that would says Goldeneye was a steaming peice of shit compared to the PC FPS games that came out even years before.  Goldeneye was only good to people who didn't know any better.  Yeah and I know that will piss off a whole bunch of people too.



    I also think it's perfectly acceptable to compare consoles to PC gaming, especailly when the console costs $700+ like the CD-I and 3DO did.

     



    How many copies did Goldeneye sell? A lot of people didn't know any better, myself included. PC gaming did not exist for many people during that time. 



    The N64 was much cheaper than a PC (and internet) back then so it was a perfect game for that console/era. You can't beat the local multiplayer.



    I also think that the misson structure and objectives were very detailed and fresh at the time. I can still boot it up and have a blast, even with the control scheme (which I never really thought was an issue). Plus the music is phenomenal. 








  • Originally posted by: darkchylde28

     
    Originally posted by: pegboy



    Early FMV era games were done much better on the PC.  A much larger portion of "gamers" seems to pretend that PC gaming didn't or doesn't exist.



    If you're going to bring the PC into it, you're going to either get pissed off or piss off a whole lot of people, as a lot of beloved console games are/were nearly always garbage compared to PC equivalents/counterparts.



    Having lived in a household which had an IBM PC compatible system since the early/mid-80s, I figured out DOS and played computer games long before I got my hands on an NES, let alone the follow up systems.  As such, I can say that compared to PC FPS games of the time, Goldeneye was and is comparatively absolute trash.  Neat characters, neat story, abysmal gameplay, controls, etc.  The same goes for StarFox -- LucasArts' X-Wing & TIE Fighter series and Elite/Elite Plus (as well as countless other flight sims) made me wonder why everybody was going nuts for the new, fancy "3D" SNES game.  Heck, those same games left me shaking my head at everybody who clamored over the Rebel Assult games--why would you want to play a space flight sim on rails when you could be free to fly wherever, however you wanted so long as you completed your mission?



    Comparing the capability of consoles (systems with usually limited, permanently defined specifications) to PCs (which could very nearly always be upgraded to perform better and usually had more horsepower than any console released around the same time) is hardly an apples to apples comparison and sort of misses the point of this discussion entirely.



    As someone who has pretty big retro collections of both retro computers and consoles, in my personal opinion, I would say retro consoles, with the flaws considered, had better games overall due to stronger titles and gameplay elements, the ability to load games with ease, and they were just dedicated for games, whereas computers, which had many specific superior games to consoles, still weren't solely made for gaming, had a lot more issues with comptability and quality control overall.



     
  • The CD-i architecture was apparently horrible to work with, and featured a woefully underpowered processor among other things. You had to be a real whiz-kid developer to get strong results out of it, and even then you were faced with choices between e.g. having sound FX or having music, but not both. That said, I was surprised by how much fun I had with mine when I got it last year.



    The 3DO price dropped pretty quickly, IIRC, even before the PlayStation debuted in the US. It didn't stay at $699 for more than 6 months, and I've read that when the PlayStation came out, they were the same price. Of course, the PlayStation has a huge hardware advantage over the 3DO in most aspects, though surprisingly not all.
  • Don't care about either. We have a 3DO, complete in box, but it hasn't been hooked up in years. Been thinking about selling it, because it's so useless. The only reason we have it is because my husband's uncle gave it to us.



    Just not any worthwhile games. I think the only reason we haven't sold the 3DO yet is because my husband has some fondness for Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo. I say sell it.
  • CD-i is interesting for me because it's from a Dutch compoany (Philips) and has a tiny bit of nostalgia to it.

    It's also quite easy to find here and pretty cheap.
  • When I started to go for my Zelda collection I got the CDI out of the way pretty quickly. The unit I got complete in the box for $150 and I picked up Faces of Evil and Wand Of Gamelon for under $70 each. Zelda's adventure I got for $280. While collecting these I ended up getting more for the CD-i since I was already so invested. I currently have around 70 games or so complete for the system as well as tons of in box controllers and other stuff. I had a few friends come over and they were actually excited to come over and play the new stuff I would get for it. We had a lot of fun playing mostly garbage but there are a few games that are actually fun. Zelda's Adventure gets a bad rap but I had fun playing it with friends and a few laughters that turned into tears. The prices are pretty dumb on a lot of stuff and its impossible to find anything locally for the most part. A lot of the stuff I have was sealed too and I cracked them open as they are not worth much more new lol.



    I would bet if any of you came over to my house and had a couple beers while playing the CD-i with me, you would have an amazing time. It is a great attention grabber and a real challenge to collect for.
  • 3DO's are actually quite common in Canada. I own a local video game ad and i get one every month or so
  • Slayer on the 3DO is something I still want, mostly due to the case boxart
  • Originally posted by: Ozzy_98



    Slayer on the 3DO is something I still want, mostly due to the case boxart



    I heard that's one of the best games on the 3DO

     
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