Hear me out here...

[Protoman85]

I consider Philips CD-i to be one of the worst consoles of all-time. I don't agree with the bashers, I do like the CD-i, but I don't think it can measure to almost any other console, really.
Amiga CD32 or Apple Bandai Pippin could maybe be considered worse, but they, especially the Pippin didn't have any time to even try to be good. CD-i had several years. CD-i isn't worthless and some games are decent but overall the enjoyment I get from it is to laugh at it, not with it. I like the FMV shooter games, because of the 90s estethic and laughable acting. But the games themselves can't hold a candle to Time Crisis or Virtua Cop. The best platformers on CD-i (imo) are Christmas Counry and The Apprentice, but if those were on Super Nintendo they would pale immediately to the competition, I mean they are nowhere near as good as Super Mario World for instance. Secret Mission is a good point and click adventure on CD-i, but PC adventures like Monkey Island, Police Quest, King's Quest etc are definately better. I find a bunch of games are good or very good on "The CD-i scale" but when compared to real competition, they fail. Mutant Rampage Bodyslam is a good beat-em up, but Turtles In Time or Streets of Rage are way better.
Then the CD-i of course has droves of edutainment titles and stuff, which only drag it down. Nintendo DS did that too actually, but CD-i still suffer more from it.

The other "bad" consoles all have something that makes them stand out..

Atari Jaguar: Alien vs Predator
Virtual Boy: Wario Land
3DO: Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo and Samurai Shodown, Wing Commander III
Sega CD: Sonic CD (plus, its an addon not a full console)
Sega 32X: Star Wars Arcade, Virtua Fighter(plus, its an add-on, not a full console)
Sega Saturn: Panzer Dragoon games, NiGHTS and more

The CD-i could have a fight with Atari 5200 I suppose, since that one also had mediocre games and a horrible controller (referring to the CD-i remotes)

Will I get banned now? I knew it was a bad idea to post something like this on a site made to defend and praise the CD-i...
I have a CD-i, I think there are some good games, some decent games, but no "great" games. No games that I could take off the "CD-i scale" and judge against the big ones from Nintendo or Sega or Sony('s own studios, Sony themselves don't make games...)

Now, tell me why I'm wrong and should perform harakiri!

[Gaara]

When the Deities feel like some gaming, they play the Sega Saturn. In fact, Planet Earth was gonna be destroyed so they could build a parking lot to park their DeSoto, 57 Chevy, and Packard cars while visiting the lovely Planet Jupiter, but after playing "Baku Baku", "Bug!", and many others, they decided to let Earth survive (if you see Planet Mars destroyed anytime soon, well, now you know why). It isn't a bad console in any shape, way, or form.

[Seb]

I'm uncertain if you're really out for a serious debate or if you're out for a provocation. It seems however, that you state your points with such force, that I'm thinking the latter.

Still... I'm not sure how others feel about this, but I see no need to 'defending' anything. There is a difference between defending and appreciating. The CD-i is a terrible games console. It lacked developers, and it was also technical incapable compared to true gaming machines. The system was however initially never intended to compete on the games market. For a new type of VCR like apparatus, I think it did fairly well when it came to games. They have DVD and Blu-Ray games now too, and they are nowhere near as sophisticated as CD-i was.

Apart from that, I appreciate the technology in general. It was the start of CD gaming and it stood on the forefront of many exiting technologies that came after it... like the PlayStation. I think it does deserve a notable spot in gaming history. Not for being a great gaming platform, but for advancing technology in the field and open doors for more capable parties to improve upon.

I also totally disagree with you on edutainment dragging it down. Yes, it's not for us 'true' gamers, but put a child in front of a CD-i and let them have an interactive 'clicky' adventure, and they'll have a great time! CD-i is one of the best systems for kids to get into contact with gaming in my opinion. Apart from that, some of the adult edutainment titles are also more fun than reading a book or even view a docu DVD. Having you actively interact with objects enhances learning and I still like that idea and find that unique in the CD-i format.

As it stands, everything is subjective though. Is CD-i the worst console out there? For many it probably is and as far as games goes, it's pretty low on my list as well. But I still do appreciate and enjoy the technology behind it.

[Trev]

Any console has merit, including CD-i and the others you mentioned (most of which I don't consider bad btw (Sega Saturn, seriously? )

I think most here don't consider CD-i a great console, or even neccesarily a good console. (Is it even considered a console in the strictest sense?) Nevertheless, there are aspects of it that appeal to me/us. Whether it is nostalgia, the fact that its library is so different, or whatever something registers, or why would we even be on this forum?

While I agree the CD-i may not have a AAA title of mass appeal, I appreciate that it has interesting pc style games/ports, as well as superior versions of games that utilize the DVC. The edutainment stuff (though for the most part not for me) was still an interesting experiment that others copied to a degree.

You won't get banned for expressing an honest opinion, especially since much of what you said is probably true. But I don't think we are here to "defend and praise" CD-i ... rather it is to remember and have a record of its history (something you'll find very little of in accurate form when compared to other retro machines) We may be fans of CD-i, but our glasses aren't rose colored.

[Austin]

Seb and Trev basically summed up my thoughts for me.

[Gaara]

I also totally disagree with you on edutainment dragging it down. Yes, it's not for us 'true' gamers, but put a child in front of a CD-i and let them have an interactive 'clicky' adventure, and they'll have a great time! CD-i is one of the best systems for kids to get into contact with gaming in my opinion. Apart from that, some of the adult edutainment titles are also more fun than reading a book or even view a docu DVD.

Agreed. "Solar System" in particular is excellent edutainment.

Plus, CD-i has those fun (if limited) novelty titles like "Antistatic" that give the system a distinct, unique personality.

[K1ngArth3r]

For me the CD-i appealed because of the titles that no other system at the time could deliver...

Examples of this would be Mad Dog McCree, Mad Dog 2, Crime Patrol, Drug Wars, The Last Bounty Hunter, Dragons Lair, Dragons Lair 2, Space Ace, Thunder In Paradise, Burn Cycle, Voyeur, The 7th Guest there are several more but can't be bothered to look them up.

Each systems got it's benefits, it depends on what sort of games you like.

[highlandcattle]

For me the CDI was my very first home console and I loved it back then. We only had the Link: The faces of evil and the Micromachines demo disc. But I had serious fun playing it. Now I really can't play Link anymore the controls are just too crappy. My micromachines demo just stays awesome.

[ArfredHitchcacku]

I see your stance, that it has some good games but relative to other consoles it's one of the worst. However, I never even really saw the point in "ranking" systems, it's stupid considering pretty much all (that aren't like, Chinese Knockoffs and are actually real systems) have a decent amount of good or great games to warrant purchase. So I have a list handy on my hard drive that I'd like to share with you, omitting Multimedia discs:

7th Guest, The
Alice in Wonderland
Alien Gate
Arcade Classics - Namco Compilation
Backgammon
Braindead 13
Burn:Cycle
Christmas Country
Christmas Crisis
Clue
Connect Four
Crime Patrol
Crime Patrol 2
Dragon's Lair
Dragon's Lair 2
Flashback
Frog Feast
Go Special Edition
Golden Oldies 1: Guardian and Invaders
Golden Oldies 2: Blockbuster and Bughunt
Golgo 13
Hotel Mario
International Tennis Open
Lemmings
Link: The Faces of Evil
Lost Eden
Mad Dog Mcree
Mad Dog Mcree 2
Mah-Jong
Mega Maze
Mutant Rampage
Myst
Othello
Pac-Panic
Plunderball
Sargon Chess
Solitare
Tetris
Tetsuo Gaiden
The Apprentice
The Last Bounty Hunter
Thunder in Paradise
Titanic
Voyeur
Who Shot Johnny Rock
Zelda's Adventure
Zelda: Wand of Gamelon
Zenith

I gaurntee that, at least I, would get a decent amount of fun from all of these games, and probably a lot of fun for most. I guess a little small compared to, I dunno, the Super Nintendo, but that's a pretty hefty amount of great games for what's considered such an "awful" system for people who don't give it a chance. (And I'm talking about idiots at say IGN or Gametrailers, you actually know what you're talking about and are taking a serious, fair approach.)

[qw4tt0r]

The CD-i is by no means a good system but I like it because it's games are so much different than on other systems of that era.
Also it was the first system that was more a multimedia system than a gaming console, it had educational games, encyclopodias and even movies.
And it has a lot of nostalgic value for me as well since my parents and grandparents had CD-Is when I was a kid.

There are a lot of systems that I like much more, but it has a special place in my heart and it's one of my favorite systems to collect for.