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The World of CD-i

Tag Archives: Nobelia

Interview with member CaptainJ plus big news!

We at The World of CD-i are very proud to bring you some big news in the CD-i community – as I discovered when I caught up recently with our member CaptainJ! Please read on….


Alan: What first got you interested in CD-i and for how long have you collected?

CaptainJ: I can tell you the exact date I was interested in the CD-i! One night in September of 1993, I couldn’t sleep and decided to watch TV. In the middle of the night an infomercial (remember those!?) came on about this new machine that could play games, movies, music, and more. That was of course the Philips CD-i! It was called the “Meaning Of Life” Infomercial and as I watched it I become obsessed with this machine and everything it could do! I am a huge FMV fan, and seeing games, movies and more come out of this with the visuals that it had, while my SNES and Genesis could not do anything close to that, made me want it even more!
The problem of course was the price at launch, and being 15 years old at the time, this wasn’t going to happen! Fast forward to Christmas of 1995, the CD-i at my local store had dropped to $299 (for the 450 model), and I finally got it with copies of Link: Faces Of Evil, Tetris, and Hanna Barbara Cartoon Carnival. From that moment on I have been a collector and have never looked back! I was even featured in a 2007 issue of Tips and Tricks magazine for my CD-i collection at the time!
Funny ending to the infomercial story, because this was the early 90’s, and because I would not have known to record it on my VCR, I never got to see it repeated again. I looked for it for years and in the early 2000’s I started an extensive search. Since YouTube and other video sites weren’t there yet to help me find the video, I put out a $200 reward to many video game websites to help me find it. Finally, a few years later, a TV station from Philadelphia called me and told me they had the original master tapes in their archives and sold it to me! I took that one, and the “Serviceman” Infomercial that I purchased from them as well, digitized them and got them out to the internet! Make sure you check it out on YouTube  😉


Alan: You used to run a store which stocked an extensive range of CD-i software and hardware. Please tell us more about it…

CaptainJ:
I have been in the video game industry since 1996, but in 2003 I opened a chain of stores in northeastern Ohio called World Of Games. At the time I was working with what was left of the CD-i, PmPro, to not only fill my own collection, but to buy in bulk for my stores as well. They sold me leftover games in bulk, as well as CD-i 470 models with DVCs included. I was getting titles like Burn: Cycle, Tell Me Why, Muzzy, Pecos Bill, and the Sesame Street titles for as little as $1.50 a copy if you can believe that!

CD-i had recently closed shop in the few years preceding that and it was great to not only cater to the existing fans that were still there and looking for products, but to educate a whole other generation of CD-i fans as well! I sold that company in 2006 and turned World Of Games into a consultant company for people that wanted to own their own video game store, but were not sure how to accomplish this. I would help them with locations, design, materials, distributing, and training and it was a great feeling to help other people realize a dream that I had myself many years prior.

After many years, World Of Games changed one last time to the publishing company we are today! You can visit us at World Of Games (worldofgamespublishing.com)

Alan: Why do you think that CD-i was not as popular in the US than in Europe?

CaptainJ:
As with most of the systems at that time, and there are many, nothing could stop the juggernaut that was Nintendo and Sega’s marketing and anything that tried to compete with the two in the States generally failed. This trend continued until the Playstation was released, which, if you know your lore, has to do with how the Nintendo games got on the CD-i (look it up!)
I think the European and Japanese markets were more open minded about new products and because of that they got to enjoy some great systems and titles that the US overlooked. In terms of the CD-i, because of this appreciation, the European market had a much better install base, and in turn more titles to be had.

Alan: You are about to launch an exciting new CD-i project. Please tell us about it and how our members can purchase it..

CaptainJ:
I am proud to announce today that World Of Games will be releasing its first title for the CD-i, Felix The Cat’s Giant Electronic Comic Book on 11/11/22! Many people have got to play the near completed versions that are available out there, but we purchased the complete version (known as 1.03) from a private collector and have published it in original CD-i packaging. I think everyone will be very happy with how it turned out and it looks identical to an official CD-i release from back in the day! You can pre-order starting today at worldofgamespublishing.com or, to honor all the collectors out there, philipscd-i.com!. We ship worldwide and we hope you enjoy our first title!

Alan: Why do you think CD-I remains so popular today, and can you foresee releasing more CD-i titles in the future?

CaptainJ:
I think CD-i remains popular because people hold a special place in their hearts for it. Whether it is someone that was able to purchase it in the very beginning and experience a whole new world of entertainment that had not been seen up to that point, to someone like me that had to wait in anticipation for the price to drop to happen to afford it, to someone that discovered the system long after it discontinued, everyone has their own special CD-i story.
And I want that story to continue – which is why World Of Games is going to be working on more titles to publish for the CD-i right away! One of those titles I will be announcing within a month or so and it is another completed original unreleased title that I bought from another private collector… so let the anticipation begin!  😀 As far as beyond that, World Of Games is looking to hire a part time designer for someone with CD-i developing experience to work on some original titles! This is a paid position – so if you have interest, please contact us through the website.

Alan: Ultimately, if Philips had focused more on the games market from the start, do you think it could have been more popular worldwide, and a contender to PSOne, N64 for market share?

CaptainJ:
I think it not only needed to focus on more games but ones that were easier to play when it came to the action, which was a big thing then. Those of you that have tried to play any Zelda CD-i title with the one-handed controller will know what I am talking about!
Not to say it didn’t need to have movies, edutainment, children’s etc, because that’s what made the system so special, but CD-i was so ahead of its time that people didn’t yet understand what they had before them. If you think about the PS5 and XBSX today, it can play games, it can play movies, it can go on the internet, all the things CD-i was doing 25+ years ago – but again no one related the true potential of this great piece of hardware.
It was all about getting the system into peoples’ hands, and while they still would have faced the challenges with the other systems as I mentioned above, I think there would have been a little more market share for Philips to pocket at that time. More games like Nobelia at or near the launch date could really have turned things around.


Alan: What did you think of TwBurn’s Nobelia game?

CaptainJ: I think it’s a true statement of what could have been on the system. Nobelia shows that CD-i was capable of doing things that it should have been doing more of, and why companies at that time didn’t pursue more of that we will never know. When the first original title from World Of Games comes out, I hope it’s half as good as this masterpiece! Thank you again TwBurn for all of your work!  😀


Alan: Finally, if you were forced to choose 1 CD-i title, 1 CD-i gadget/controller and 1 CD-i console to keep, which would they be and why?

CaptainJ:
The system and controller are easy, and that’s the original CD-i 220 and its thumbstick controller (22ER9051) from the very beginning! The awesome casing and futuristic drawer with the opening door is what got me hooked first up.
As far as the titles that’s a tough one but if I could only pick one it might have to be Tetris! I competed in the Nintendo World Championship in 1990 and that was one of the games we played in the tournament, so it has been a lifelong favorite. Combine that with the incredible backgrounds and soothing music on the CD-i and this makes it a version of Tetris everyone should try out!

Huge thanks to CaptainJ for talking to me, and I wish him all the very best with Felix the Cat and future releases  😀


Posted in Homebrew, Interview, New game | Tags: Homebrew, Nobelia, Tetris | 3 Comments |

Interview with TwBurn

Jeffrey aka TwBurn, our website member, creator of the USB2CDi adapter is working on a brand new CD-i homebrew game called Nobelia!
We are talking about a Bomberman styled but with a female character.
A demo version is coming with 4 playable levels and it is the perfect time for an interview with this man who came to CD-i scene to bring some fresh air!
Read it now!


Posted in Interview | Tags: Bomberman, cd-i, Homebrew, interview, Nobelia | Leave a comment |

New CD-i game Nobelia is finished!


This is it!
Jeffrey aka TwBurn has finished his 1st CD-i homebrew game! Congratulations!
The game is now under the test of several persons (including The World of CD-i mates) under the most CD-i players as possible to guarantee a full compatibility.
We are proud of him and proud for being part of it with cdifan knowledge improve a faster development.

This development started 1 year ago, and in May a demo was already available.
For someone that is not involved into the gaming industry… damn…  😎
He started from scratch, and even adapted a level editor specifically for this game.
The lucky ones who joined The Philips CD-i Community got the chance to watch all the evolution of this gem.

What kind of game is it?
You are Nobelia, a female character and will explore several zones in a top view reminding the firsts Zelda’s on NES to defeat enemies using bombs (like Bomberman).
The different soundtracks are wonderfully chosen, movements are fluids and the SFX well done.
Hours of fun will be present for you!

The game is awesome! If you have tested Demo 01, well, you will get surprised!

Jeffrey is now correcting some bugs already detected and at the same time, looking for the best way to release the game. Only a Digital release or a Digital and a Physical one. To define what to do, he has created a poll to know all the different opinions from the possible future buyers you can answer right here.

In addition, and this is something that didn’t happened for so long… Nobelia do have now an official trailer!

Congratulations!


Posted in New game, Uncategorized | Tags: Bomberman, cd-i, new game, Nobelia | Leave a comment |

Nobelia available now!

Time has come my dear CD-i… It is now time to read something new, something exciting!
Yes, this is it, TwBurn’s is now selling his first Philips CD-i homebrew game Nobelia, right here.
It all started on February 2021, when he became curious about what he could do for the CD-i, beside his USB2CDi, he jumped into an adventure many of us would though it was impossible…
In September of the same year a playable demo was ready and now in March 2022 the game is complete! In just 1 year…
A handful of testers including us did a massive bug hunt in a very short time, it was almost an online tracking and solving issues with many builds released and burned discs for the good of the Community. We can now guarantee compatibility with most part (to not say all of them) for PAL and NTSC players.

Purchase now:
35€ for Europe, 37,50€ for Europe (non-UE) and 40€ for Worldwide (here).
If you are from the USA, you can go directly to our friends at Good Deal Games.

Buy the physical release and you will also get access to a digital copy to burn on a CD-R.

After all tested and working properly, TwBurn begun the game’s artwork and showed to the world he is not only good in hardware and programming, but also in digital design, and the final result is just astonishing! Look at that…

Let’s talk a little bit about the game:
I’ve got the privilege to play the complete game along the tests, and I am still amazed how cool it is… I stil wonder why back in the 90’s, nobody got a similar idea…?

Nobelia is a Bomberman game into a Legend of Zelda’s looking world.
“After investigating a portal that has opened up in your backyard, you find yourself transported to a new land. All of your wit and courage is needed to explore this place and seek out the tools needed to return home. And maybe, if you’re skilled and observant enough, you can find the seven golden coins that have been scattered throughout the world according to some legends.”
This is how he resumes the game.

https://youtu.be/ISqvzJca8qg
The game does not need a Digital Video Cartridge, play 30 levels, get different power-ups and collect hidden coins and 4 worlds! Enough things to make anyone happy!

CONTEST

Find all the coins and win a signed copy!
“The first person to find all seven coins, open all the chests and complete the game 100% will win a signed copy of Nobelia, as well as a yet to be determined small prize. In order to be eligible, a screenshot or photo of the ending screen and/or highscore screen at the “100%” tab must be supplied, together with a (small) description where, and how each of the seven coins were found in game. These can be mailed to nobelia@nmotion.nl.”

Thank you TwBurn, and thank you all testers!


Posted in New game | Tags: Homebrew, Nobelia, oder now | 2 Comments |

Nobelia Demo v0.1 free download

Nobelia, the latest CD-i homebrew game by TwBurn is now available for download!
You will enjoy for sure this incredible game! And the music… oh the music…
Just try and be delighted!

Read TwBurn interview here.
Get more info about the game here.
TwBurn GitHub page.

Download the BIN/CUE Demo 0.1 (09-05-2021)
(Burn it on a CD-R and play on your CD-i player)
Play the 4 levels of the demo!

Controls

Up/Down/Left/Right

  • Move character

Button 1

  • Start game on titlescreen
  • Place bomb (tile in front of you needs to be empty)
  • Activate chests/switches
  • Restart level after death

Button 2

  • Detonate remote bombs (when you have this powerup)
  • Resurrect after death (debug option)

Known Issues

  • Game might not (correctly) run on all NTSC machines
  • There is game/audio stutter in some cases, for example after destroying objects with a bomb or opening chests
  • Titlescreen is unfinished, there is no “exit” function

Posted in News | Tags: cd-i, Demo, Homebrew, Nobelia | Leave a comment |

Nobelia selling like hot cakes!!

We at The World of CD-i are very pleased to report that Nobelia has sold over 150 copies to date, since we published details in March of how to get your hands on a copy. This is a tremendous achievement, and speaking to TwBurn, he has been quite surprised at the level of interest:
”The response has been great, better than I dared to hope. The reviews were extremely positive, with some fair and constructive criticism here and there, just as one would expect.”
You can read one of these reviews here: ‘Zelda Meets Bomberman’ In Nobelia, A New Philips CD-i Game – Nintendo Life.

We asked TwBurn: What was the best thing about making this game for CD-i, for you?
”It was a fun project, got to learn a lot of new skills and stuff about the system itself, gave me a whole new perspective on the CD-i.”
Having played CD-i games for 28 years now, I can honestly say that the game has blown me away and kept me coming back for more. The goal to collect all 7 gold coins reminds me of trying to collect all of the Chaos Emeralds in Sonic the Hedgehog, back when I had a Sega Game Gear! We are also pleased to announce that the prize for completing the game and collecting all of the coins has now been claimed, and the winner will be announced soon 🙂

TwBurn has created a true masterpiece on CD-i, complete with cute graphics, a toe-tapping soundtrack, challenging puzzles and a unique style of game for CD-i. The packaging is SOOOO professional – and I’m very excited for the future of CD-i in its ‘2nd life’. Big fans of CD-i will remember back to 2002, when Oldergames announced 4 ‘new’ CD-i games would be released, and we were treated to GO – Special Edition, Plunderball, Jack Sprite and Space Ranger. But TwBurn, having no prior game development experience, has produced Nobelia ‘from the ground up’ and delivered something incredibly special for us – which will be exclusive to CD-i. How unbelievably cool. And we’re confident at The World of CD-i that there will be more to come, so please stay tuned. Also, please do get interactive and post comments on your experience to date with Nobelia – we’d love to read them.

Another promising brand new game for CD-i is Super Quartet, released in demo form in late 2018. Sadly there is no news on whether this game will have a full release like Nobelia, but we will do our best to bring you news on this title.

For many years, I have been jealous of other retro consoles that have been given a new lease of life through homebrew development. Thanks to TwBurn, CD-i is now in on the act – and long may this continue – to make up for the multitude of games that were promised for our beloved system, but sadly never saw the light of day.

Keep enjoying Nobelia – we can’t get enough of it here!!! 🙂

You are still in time to buy Nobelia!


Posted in Homebrew | Tags: cd-i, Nobelia | 1 Comment |

Nobelia winning prize claimed!

Huge congratulations to our member RetroChris who has claimed the winning prize for completing Nobelia in the quickest time, collecting all 7 gold coins on the way!

Alan_CDiZone caught up with Chris recently, to ask him about his achievement, his prize, and his love of Philips CD-i.

Alan: What are your thoughts on Nobelia as a whole, your favourite aspects of it, things you found most difficult (without giving anything away of course in terms of solutions 🙂)?

Chris: Since Philips pulled the plug on the CD-i back in 1997, we as long-suffering fans were given a final few titles that were worth playing such as Solar Crusade and Tetsuo Gaiden . Although we’ve had some new releases since then, when the Nobelia demo was released, I knew I was playing something of real quality.  Buying the full version was a no brainer and even at that point of pre-ordering it I was wondering about the physical quality of the game case etc.  A few weeks later the post arrived and when I opened it up I was absolutely amazed with just how high quality the whole packaging was and couldn’t wait to play it.  I went straight upstairs to the retro room and settled down to play the first CD-i game I had been excited about playing for what must be 24 years….ish.  The graphics are great, the soundtrack is bang on and the challenge was good enough to keep me glued to the game until I collected all the gold coins the game had to offer and with the announcement that TwBurn would be giving away a special prize to the person who collected the gold coins the quickest I was pleased to submit my time to him with the screenshots of the gold coins’ collection.  What a game!

Alan: How long have you collected for CD-i?

Chris:
I have been collecting CD-i since 1994.  My parents bought us a CD-i after seeing ‘Palm Springs Open’ in Dixons and our package was the 450 with DV complete with Tennis, 7th Guest and Palm Springs Open.  I’m still collecting now in 2022 and must have over 500 titles now including the films and reference disks.

Alan: Did you enter any CD-i magazine competitions and did you win any? And/or did you ever apply to appear on Gamesmaster, to win a coveted Golden Joystick?

Chris:
No I never entered any competitions back in the day to be honest.  Although would love to win a Golden Joystick! I’ve been doing well on the CD-i version of Tetris lately so perhaps Gamesmaster could honour my commitment with one 🤣

Alan: What prize did you win for being the first to complete Nobelia? 🙂 And what was your completion time?

Chris:
I won a signed copy of the game and on top of that TwBurn sent me some amazing Nobelia models that were hand made by his girlfriend – something very cool that I will cherish. (TwBurn describes the prize as ”clay figurines of the protagonist, coin and a bomb – each beautifully modelled by my talented girlfriend”).

Alan: What is your favourite all time CD-i game and why?
Chris:
This is a difficult one to answer as I have a few shall we say ‘core’ CD-i games that I still play to this day. I strongly believe that if more money had been spent at developing further titles based on these then the CD-i story would be very different today.  Here are my Top 5 in no particular order:

The Apprentice, The 7th Guest, Tetris, Dimo’s Quest, Hotel Mario.

Alan: If you could have any game produced for CD-i, what would it be?
Chris:
It would have to be along the lines of The Apprentice 2; we know a sequel was mooted, so would love to see someone release a physical version.

My huge thanks to Chris, and of course to TwBurn for producing such an incredible CD-i game, and TwBurn’s girlfriend for creating the stunning prize.

Will there be a prize for TwBurn’s forthcoming new CD-i game I wonder…?  😉 Can’t wait to find out!

 


Posted in Homebrew | Tags: Nobelia | Leave a comment |

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