Cool CD-i Swag from Alan Bradford!

A good friend of mine from the UK, Alan (@Alan_Bradford on Twitter), apparently decided to send me a random gift in the mail.  I wasn’t sure what it was that he was going to send once he told me he had something on its way, but as it turns out he sent me some really nice collectible CD-i goodies!  Indeed, the package came with a product guide from 1994-95, the second issue of the UK CD-i Magazine (featuring a preview of “The Seventh Guest,” one of my favorite point-and-click games of the era and a game I have a CD-i prototype of!), and a special photo-CD from a photographer.

While all of that is neat, I think my absolute favorite part of it all is a toss-up between the article about “The Seventh Guest” and the reviews of “Link: The Faces of Evil” (1993) and “Zelda: Wand of Gamelon” (1993).  Both of those games are almost-universally panned by critics and players alike, especially those that are fans of the Nintendo franchise, but interestingly enough these games scored a 65/100 and a 75/100 respectively in this issue.  It’s obvious that the magazine was written by CD-i enthusiasts (potentially who did not know much about the original series) and may have been highly-influenced by Philips at the time, yet even so, it’s neat to see a review from people who didn’t absolutely hate those two titles.  

Now, I cannot help but wonder what they thought of the 1994 follow-up “Zelda’s Adventure.”

I must thank Alan for his awesome gift.  You may recall that I mentioned that he had a special CD-i fan-page, and so if you have not checked it out yet, you really should!

Here are three more images to enjoy (be sure to view the full-sized pics if you want!):

Check out the “Philips CD-i Zone!”

The Philips CD-i is a console that has become infamous for games like “Hotel Mario” and the three Legend of Zelda titles that appeared on it, but a lot of this negative attention is unfairly due.  For its time the console was very innovative and featured some really neat games, yet due to the system’s relative unpopularity amongst most gamers, many titles have fallen into relative obscurity.

One man, Alan Bradford (@Alan_Bradford on Twitter), has set out on a quest to locate all known (and unknown!) games for the console and has created a special Facebook group to discuss this journey at while bringing other CD-i fans together.  Even if you don’t use Facebook you can still check out his site, look at all the pictures, and read the comments that others have shared there.

So, if you ever wanted to find out more about the CD-i or even ask questions of someone who may know more about the system than the Philips company, here’s your chance!

“Hotel Mario” Covered at AS for This Week’s “Collector’s Curio!”

Since I wrote an article about the Philips CD-i last week, I figured doing a piece on “Hotel Mario” this week was a good follow-up.  Admittedly, the game is quite strange and has questionable production value, but it is a licensed product and still something that any serious collector (especially of Nintendo products) should consider purchasing.

To find out more about the game, head on over to Anjel Syndicate and give the article a read!

This Week’s “Collector’s Curio” Piece now Live on AS!

For this week’s article in the “Collector’s Curio” series, I decided to take Warren’s advice and try something a bit different, this time focusing on a piece of gaming hardware – the Philips CD-i.   It is certainly an interesting piece of hardware, and thus I think well worth the read!

Head on over to Anjel Syndicate and give it a read if you enjoy this type of stuff!