CDI Episode 24: Arcade Classics

[NESAtariSegaNerd]

The monsters are SUPPOSED to slow down in the wraparound tunnels. The colors are HORRIBLE in Ms. Pac-Man.

[paulspydar]

perhaps the two player will work if the CD-i port splitter/doubler is used? I have one & the game so I will give it a try & see? I will leave a comment to et you know what happened...

[HalfBlindGamer]

@paulspydar I believe it does work that way. I got a splitter after I made this video. Not sure if I tested it with it though.

[MattTheSaiyan]

Love the versions of "Galaxian" and "Ms Pac-Man" on this. Don't like the version of "Galaga" though. Good compilation, but I think it would have been nicer if they had taken advantage of the CD-i's multimedia capabilities and had some extras like old TV ads and stuff. Though that probably would have meant the requirement of the DVC. (then again, there were a few titles that had OK-ish video playback without needing the DVC...but still....)

[Emaline90]

This was released in the US. I owned it as a kid. We no longer have the CD but i still have the case. I think its currently housing Surf City

[superfroman]

@Emaline90 Was it an actual US version or an imported European version? The reason why I ask this is because I'm making the article for this game on Wikipedia.

[Emaline90]

@superfroman um I'm not exactly sure. I was very young and don't remember/ wouldn't have know what that meant. I would look for you but as I said i no longer have the disc. How would I be able to look on the case?

[superfroman]

@Emaline90 Do you have a scanner? If you do, scan both sides of the case and Personal message them to me. If you don't, I'll just just you both sides of the European box art so you can compare.

[Gorlokk666]

i have a question, how many CDi s do you have xD

[HalfBlindGamer]

@Gorlokk666 Not sure exactly at the moment to be honest, most of them are packed away for now. But around 8 is my guess.

[Gorlokk666]

@HalfBlindGamer cool! But how come you have so many?

[HalfBlindGamer]

@Gorlokk666 When looking for games sellers often throw the CD-i in with it! It's easy to find CD-i's here with a stack of games for under 20 euro's, so if that stack holds some titles I don't have yet, it's easily worth it.

[Gorlokk666]

@HalfBlindGamer Thats cool lucky xD

[smartlamppost]

Frankly, I think they shouldn't have included galaxian; I mean, there are already two shooters, and galaxian isn't nearly as fun as galaga, plus dig dug would have been awsome! Oh well. Say, what's up with the two controller problem on cd-i? I don't have any simultaneous two player games on cd-i (at the moment) so I don't really know whether my 220 will work or not; is it that only certain cd-i's 2nd port work for a second player, or what? Thanks man!

[HalfBlindGamer]

@smartlamppost As I understand it, the port on the back is simplex and cannot send input to the unit. I'm not actually to sure if there are any units that have two fully working ports anymore. It's kind of confusing me too lately, sorry.

[smartlamppost]

@HalfBlindGamer Bah, it's fine; the splitter has gone down in price to $15 (11,81 EURO); thanks, though!

[markvergeer]

Co-op mode with multiple machines is pretty innovative. I'm rather late viewing this again and commenting on it. :P

[superfroman]

You can pretty much say this is Namco Museum for the CD-i. :)

[Jprime777]

The SNES ms.pacman is my favorite version of pacman

[NukeOTron]

Galaxian: Sounds like the NES port.

Galaga: Good sounds, Mac font, and BIG border.

Ms. Pac-Man: Not chewing fast enough to compensate with the speed. Overdid the graphics. Oh, and in most versions, the enemies ALWAYS slow down in the wraparound sections. I've exploited that a lot.

[HalfBlindGamer]

Cool, thanks for the extra info and comparisons. I never knew that the slow down during the wraparound was common in other version!

[Sarato]

Awesome as usual!

I would love to see more soon. Will soon pick up the "let's play" show á la Spoony. =)

I love your show! Keep up the great work!

[HalfBlindGamer]

Thanks a lot! Glad you like these, I'm working on the next one.

Don't expect to much from my LP's if you're comming from the ones Spoony does lol. He's way better with words and more witty then I am.

[blacklily8]

Thanks for the overview. I don't have much knowledge of this system, so seeing these games in action was nice--fun commentary, too!

[HalfBlindGamer]

Thanks a lot for your comment and for watching!!!

[SuperDan88]

haha, Pac-Man the original survival horror game! Great review man :D

[HalfBlindGamer]

Thanks!

And yeah, it has long coridors, ghosts and (at least in this version) a limited view so...

But for real, I've never been a fan of any game where I'm getting chased down! Makes me so nervous.

[superchaosman]

dude how many cdis do you own?

[HalfBlindGamer]

I got a couple ;)

Not that's most of them really, people are just dumping them over here. Buy 1 game, get the system for free!

[superchaosman]

lol wow should it be the other way around

[SWAGshow]

Another great video, thanks!

[HalfBlindGamer]

Thank you SWAG!

[xxxriddick]

Nice review as always good to see you are still at it... =)

[HalfBlindGamer]

Thanks man, and yep, I'm not planning on stopping any time soon either!

[Johanzu]

Aaah Galaga. I remember that game. :)

Good review too! HBG, you must be one of the few in the world that has this extensive knowledge about the CD-i! Amazing stuff. :)

[HalfBlindGamer]

Thanks a lot man!

Not sure I should be to proud of that knowledge though haha.

[TigerClawTV]

Great job as always sab

[HalfBlindGamer]

Thanks, really appreciate it!

[mathowlett]

Oh I really don't like a scrolling screen in Pac Man :-(

Apart from that it looks like a pretty nice collection.

[HalfBlindGamer]

The scrolling makes the game a bit disorientating for sure, and it's a real shame the screen doesn't scroll up fast enough on the faster setting :(

[retromanpresents]

This was the only CD-i game I ever saw in a store, it was at a local harris scarfe back when namco museum came out.

I think this is one of the coolest ports I have seen of these games, looks way more fun than the gba version.

Keep up the great reviews, love em heaps.

[HalfBlindGamer]

Thanks a ton for the support! Really enjoy your feedback/comments.

These are decent ports, I really like how they were rebuild but retain the feel of the original. It did take them a while to get it right before NAMCO thought it was alright, they original had to rehash a few things like proposed mazes and even the front cover! I'm glad NAMCO did that, it turned out pretty well this way.

[ScrewAttackEurope]

What was with the CD-i having zoomed in graphics all the time (like with Dark castle too) did it have a problem with smaller sprites? maybe it had a low resolution or something.

Also it's very light for a CD game, I'm surprised Philips didn't fill the disc with loads of interactive history stuff (a bit like Namco Museum) that would have been cool!

Also how many CD-i's do you own? I have 2 of the console ones and that small one I was telling you about, half the size of the original.

[HalfBlindGamer]

Actually the CD-i has a very high resolution for it's time. With the Digital Video Cartridge installed it could use the full resolution of a standard definition TV, and is probably the first 'console' that could do that. However it's video memory is very limited making it crap with sprites in general, that's why Dark Caste is zo zoomed in I think, a cheap trick to limit the amount of sprites on screen.

I think I have one or 2 CD-i's more, also the 450 model. None function 100% though!

[ScrewAttackEurope]

Just found out, it's a 470 that I own.

[ScrewAttackEurope]

Sorry it's a 490. Also the video cart is hard wired in, you can't take it out of a 490.

[HalfBlindGamer]

That's correct, the 490 came standard with the DV cart, and I think also with some expanded memory. Very nice unit to have sir! Can it still save data alright, and load it after the power has been cut?

I'm trying to get a 470/90 myself since it'd take in less room on my desk haha.

[ScrewAttackEurope]

Yeah, the 490 is quite compact, only slightly larger and taller than the 450.

Only complaint is that the CD tray isn't secure, so it can slide out if you hold it on it's side. (but that might be my machine).

But yeah, data saves after a power down. I used it to record the Mad Dog McCree retro corner.

[HalfBlindGamer]

That sliding tray issue seems to be a common problem with pretty much every CD-i model from Philips I think! Well except the 450 and 'compact' models of course as they have a lid instead of a tray.

Do you also have the Peacekeeper gun to go alone with Mad Dog?

[ScrewAttackEurope]

I didn't have it when recording the video, But I have it now. Mine was still shrink wrapped, which was awesome.

Still not tried it yet, as being the genius that I am forgot that light guns only work on CRT TV's.

Oh, BTW, have you ever considered looking at Discworld for the CD-i? I thought you'd have covered it as you're a Terry Pratchett fan.

[HalfBlindGamer]

Hah, the CD-i light gun works on any TV as it works differently then most light guns. Kind of like the Wii actually, The way it works is also it's downfall though as it's not as responsive as the normal lightguns, but an interesting piece of hardware non the less!

As far as I know the Discworld game for the CD-i was never published, I'm not even sure if it was ever completed even.

[HalfBlindGamer]

I also fully agree with you that it's light for a CD game. Maybe Philips wanted to just push the game out since it was release past the CD-i's death, but yeah it would have been a pretty amazing piece would they have put on some extra stuff on the history and stuff.

By the way, this is one of the first titles I know of that gives NAMCO full credit for Ms Pac-Man, and NAMCO apperently didn't like the sexy Ms Pac-Man Atari comercialized hah. Look at the first proposed cover that got rejected!

[ScrewAttackEurope]

Namco didn't like Ms. Pac-Man as it was actually a hack Midway made of the game behind their back when they were desperate to make a sequel to Pac-Man.

Pac and Pal is the official sequel to Pac-Man, even though it bombed.

[YoureWrongImRight]

Sweet video, dude. Keep them coming.

Loved it when you were looking for a player 2 port. lol.

And your audio sounds just fine.

[HalfBlindGamer]

Thanks for your feedback man, glad it sounds alright :)

I think what's really funny is that Philips made that smaller unit to look more like a games console, and it's about the only model to feature just one input port... whoever came up with that idea is a marketing genius as it required another splitter to be bought lol. Luckily for the consumer a second controller was very rarely used.

[theshak06]

Another Class review as always :). Im just curious do you ever reckon you will make another series with games that arent CDi?

[HalfBlindGamer]

Thanks a lot!

I'd really like to go over some other stuff, both in this series and in potential other ideas I have. I'm working on something new now and I'll see how that goes, but time is a bit of an issue unfortunately!

[theshak06]

I guessing its that training you said you were doig that holding you back?

[HalfBlindGamer]

That too, but also a new part time job.

[puppetmaster983]

I kinda want to get this now... also that new mike is working really well Seb! Great job!

[HalfBlindGamer]

Thanks a lot man, glad it sounds better :)

And yeah, for the CD-i this game is pretty good, especially if you like these arcade games it's worth a pick up. However it's not the most common title to come acros unfortunately.

[chupapicosconchetuma]

Hoy many CD-i's do you have? give me one!

[HalfBlindGamer]

That was about all I have really, but to be honenst none work 100% correct anymore, and I got most together with some games I wanted.

[chupapicosconchetuma]

Wow, the CD-I is so shitty that maybe i can find one looking into someone else's trash in out there in Europe.

[HalfBlindGamer]

Hah, you know you might. I've gotten some CD-i systems with over 30 discs for under 15 euro's, people really don't care for these things over here indeed. I've gotten some great titles that way that can really fetch a nice price on ebay, some titles (like this one) are pretty rare collector items apperently. It's weird what kinda stuff people won't collect huh.

[SPac316]

This was unexpected indeed. Never thought that a couple Namco classics were made for the CD-i. It's cool though. But I've seen better ports.

As for the video, it does sound and look better to me.

[HalfBlindGamer]

Thanks man, glad that some hard work payed off!

Also, I think it's really interesting to see NAMCO went with Philips, it's really strange to see these big developers go with such lack buster systems, but it does happen. I'm glad they were tracking the project a bit though. As you say, there are better version of these games out there for sure, but the development team still had to do some revisions before NAMCO aproved it, imagine what the first installment was like! Ouch!

[alexisironman]

the original survival horrer lol

[HalfBlindGamer]

I swear I never liked Pac Man games as a kid, those ghosts used to freak me out and made me so nervous "Go away!!!".

My parents never had to rent a movie, all they need was me with a Pac-Man game, excelent entertainment right there lol.

[fijberto]

Amazing review as usual!

[HalfBlindGamer]

Amazing comment as usual!

Thanks a ton man, really appreciate it!

[HalfBlindGamer]

Thanks man, appriciate you saying that :)

And for most titles it's not worth the hassle to hook it up haha.

[DeimosComaBlack]

Galaga was amazing. Although strangely, most of my memories of playing it come from...

...wait for it...

...Tekken on the PSX.

[DeimosComaBlack]

Also:

Rolling Thunder music when screwing with the second controller! Was this to keep with the Namco arcade theme, or just a happy co-incidence?

(Speaking of which, RT has to be one of the most frustrating arcade games I've ever played!)

[HalfBlindGamer]

You're totally right, and it was to stay with NAMCO yes. You're also completely right on it being a very frustrating arcade game, way to hard even for arcade standards! I quite liked the c64 version though. It was slower paced which made it easier.

NAMCO is awesome for including some of their old games in their newer games, I really liked that, especially in the Ridge Racer series where they are playable during loading times, clever!

[DeimosComaBlack]

The worst thing about RT was getting game over.

Staring at that ugly green laughing face... Made me want to scream and break open the machine to get my 30 seconds worth of credits back!

Agreed though, Namco FTW. Amazing arcade delevopers.

[HalfBlindGamer]

lol oh yeah, Rolling Thunder was mean. That green head was the icing on the cake, that just makes me say "oh I'll show you!" and there goes another coin... and another 30 seconds!

NAMCO did bring a lot of great classics though. Current games owe a lot to their pioneering games in the 80s.

[DeimosComaBlack]

I am so going to record an attempted playthrough of Rolling Thunder now!

So that'll be me uploading a 4mb video lasting 30 seconds...