What's worse is that the CD-I initially retailed for $799. Not adjusted for inflation
_pascalwittwer
"YOU KILLED ME..."
"Good."
jfbeast
This whole story is so bizarrely impressive. A team of devs with zero competence or experience in game design, working with no budget for a system that was basically a glorified CD player, and they still managed to create two functional games. Completely godawful games, sure, but their quality (or lack thereof) is almost beside the point, under the circumstances.
elfin
Can’t believe you made me grow some respect for these games. Considering the hardware limitations, time, and budget, I am shocked they managed to make these games at all.
UltimaShadowX
They should’ve turned the Zelda CDI games into a point and click adventure game. I actually think the graphics look pretty nice, and the cut scenes are entertaining in a so bad it’s good kind of way. The main thing about these games that are awful is the gameplay, so I think making it a puzzle game would’ve been more bearable
brianvaira
So basically...The collapse of the Berlin Wall resulted in the CD-I games???
Sozile
Nintendo lending out their licenses is just weird.
I mean, can you imagine, Koei Tecmo making Musou style games based on Zelda and Fire Emblem? Or Platinum making a Star Fox game? How about Ubisoft making a turn based strategy with Mario?
*_THAT WOULD BE WEIRD!_*
AirahsELL
I’m friends with Dale DeSharone’s son. Dale unfortunately passed away in 2008.
scribblewell
Mah boy, This game is what all true gamers strive for!
tophat
Hey, listen, the CD-i Zeldas may be rife with mediocre music, bland/static backgrounds, voices that almost never match the characters, and inconsistent level geometry, and were overall not even remotely close to the standard of quality of the Zelda franchise as a whole, but I think we can all agree that they were responsible for a massive positive contribution to the art of memes and the video sub-genre of YouTube Poops, so...you know, swings and roundabouts?
SuperNerdDaniel
I genuinely don't know what I'd be doing with my life if it wasn't for these glorious works of art
JimmyDPooper
Spiderman Turn off the Dark would be perfect for Matt to cover.
Still waiting for him to go Broadway
fromvault
"You killed
"Good."
SEiMEi_EXiSTS
Arc System making a Punch Out game actually sounds amazing lol
princesssweepzzt
"I WON!" ...but at whu cost?
Haysey_Draws
One good thing? Zelda and the King are actually going out DOING STUFF instead of sitting on their asses and getting in danger.
TheLastBabyMan
When I was 10, I remember seeing a CD-i kiosk in the wild at a Sears and was blown away by the Zelda animations. It sounds silly, but PCs were niche back then, and seeing the FMV on a 'console' was crazy. My father had to ask for a price on the system since he used to play games with me and went
Years later, when the games started to show up all over the internet, I was shocked to see how bad the actual gameplay was. Early Oculus VR kind of reminds me of those days, if you want a good comparison.
Kramdaddy
I’m expecting Link’s “What happened?” line to be used.
enlongjones
Who else enjoyed the Re-Animated Collab last week?
drakor
Nintendo should remake these in their style...
They can call it the "Link snorted too much magic powder" timeline...
