Philips CD-i emulators
Developer | Philips, Sony, Magnavox |
---|---|
Type | Home video game console |
Generation | Fourth generation |
Release date | 1991 |
Discontinued | 1998 |
Predecessor | Philips Videopac + G7400 |
Emulated | ✓ |
CD-I (Compact Disc Interactive), is a disk format developed and released by Philips in 1988. The first player aimed for home market was released on December 3, 1991.
The Main system ran on Microware OS-9 and had a Philips SCC68070 CPU at 15.5 MHz with 1MB of RAM. The CD-I was never meant to be a video game console, it was designed to be a "Interactive Multimedia" CD player, an expensive toy that people with money don't mind buying, using it a few times and forgetting they even bought it when something new catches their attention. When the system started to show signs of being a major flop for Philips, they pivoted the direction of the CD-I into the uncharted territories of video games.
CD-I is mainly known nowadays for having games based on Nintendo IP, such as Mario and Zelda, due to previously having tried to develop a CD add-on for the SNES. Their takes on Nintendo intellectual property were so infamously terrible that you would be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn't think of them when you mention the CD-i. However, there were a few cult classic games for the system.
Contents
Emulators
Name | Platform(s) | Latest Version | libretro | Accuracy | FLOSS | Active | Recommended |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Same CDi (same_cdi_libretro) |
libretro core | ✓ | Mid | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
MAME | 0.265 | ✓ | Mid | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
TinyCDi | 2009-10-28 | ✗ | Mid | ✗ | ✗ | ~ | |
CD-i Emulator | 0.5.3 beta 4 (Patched) | ✗ | Mid | ✗ | ~ | ~ | |
CeDImu | None (pre-alpha) | ✗ | Low | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ (WIP) | |
CD-iCE | 2001-08-20 | ✗ | Low | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
Comparisons
- MAME
- This multi-system emulator includes a driver for the CD-i, although support is incomplete as it still has no emulation for the Digital Video Cartridge as of July 2021.[1] Starting the game from disc is recommended; this can be done with the built-in frontend by picking the specific game or through a soft reset after mounting the disc. MAME is also currently the only program to provide CD-i emulation through a libretro core, which makes it the easiest and the most stable method of emulating the CD-i for now. Compared to CD-i Emulator 0.5.3 beta 4, MAME is generally easier to control and can better emulate the audio for some games.
- SAME CDi is a S(ingle) A(rcade) M(achine) E(mulator) for libretro, just like NeoCD (neocd_libretro) forked from MAME libretro, which is in turn a fork of MAME. It includes only the Philips CD-i driver, and simplifies the loading of CD content to provide a 'plug and play' experience.
- TinyCDi
Emulation issues
Digital Video Cartridge
At the moment, one of the biggest roadblocks to full compatibility with the CD-i library is proper emulation of the Gate Array MPEG Digital Video Cartridge (DVC), without which many games that use the chip to decode full-motion video are completely unplayable. Check MAME's CD-i hash list for games where the list includes <sharedfeat name="compatibility" value="DVC" />
.