1991 · Philips · Netherlands · console
Philips CD-i
The multimedia player remembered for its infamous Zelda and Mario games.
Mixed Easy to run ▶ Watch on YouTube ↗
Philips' 1991 CD-based console-cum-multimedia-player, sold as an educational appliance and remembered for almost the opposite. A licensing deal with Nintendo left it holding the rights to some infamous games.
Hotel Mario and the cartoon-cutscene Zelda titles were made here — the sort of thing later generations study as a warning.
Under the hood
- CPU
- Philips SCC68070 @ 15.5 MHz
- Memory
- 1 MB
What it cost
roughly a third of a month’s pay in 1991 · about $1,840 today
| US launch list price ($799 for CD-i 910/205) | $799 (1991) |
|---|---|
| Typical street price | — No verified mass-market street price recorded yet. |
| Units sold | ≈1,000,000 estimate Approximately 1 million units worldwide. |
Why it mattered
The CD-i is the definitive example of multimedia overreach, and its licensed Nintendo characters gave the world a set of games so bad they became a lasting cultural reference point.
Emulating it today
| Emulators | SAME CD-i (libretro), CD-i Emulator, MAME |
|---|---|
| Setup effort | Easy to run (2.5 on this site's scale) |
| Controls | A standard modern controller covers the ordinary controls, though unusual accessories may need custom mapping. |
| Runs on a handheld | Yes |
CD-i is genuinely hard to emulate: even the leading emulators report only around a quarter of the library working. CD-i Emulator has the best compatibility, with MAME and SAME CD-i as alternatives, and all of them require the Philips system BIOS. Treat it as a work in progress, not plug-and-play.
Philips CD-i System BIOS (cdimono1.zip)
The Philips CD-i requires system BIOS ROMs (cdimono1.zip for the standard CD-i 205/210/220 player). The archive contains the CD-RTOS operating system kernel (OS-9 based) and 68070 slave CPU controller firmware.
How many files you need: 1. One archive: cdimono1.zip in the system or MAME directory. Digital Video Cartridge titles also require cdidvc.zip.
Where it stands legally: Copyrighted by Philips Interactive Media.
Firmware details checked 2026-08. Emulator requirements change — see CD-i — Emulation General Wiki for the current list.
Where the software is
Preservation catalogues describe verified dumps; they do not grant permission to download commercial software. A curated, correctly matched set is easier to use than an undifferentiated archive.
Copyright: Commercial software remains copyrighted unless its owner explicitly released or relicensed it. Homebrew, public-domain programs and current reissues should be treated separately from abandoned commercial titles.
This site names preservation projects and explains what they are. It does not link to ROM downloads.
Where to start
- Hotel Mario 1994 platformer
Nintendo let Philips make Mario games; this is what happened.
- Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon 1993 action adventure
One of the infamous unofficial Zelda titles, cartoon cutscenes and all.
- Burn:Cycle 1994 adventure
The rare CD-i game people actually defend.
- The 7th Guest 1993 puzzle
- Link: The Faces of Evil 1993 action adventure
The verdict
Worth a look for Burn:Cycle and the infamous games everyone quotes; most of the library is dire.
The notorious titles are a joke you get to be in on — as actual games, almost nothing here holds up.
- Worth it if
- Players curious about the cd-rom false dawn and willing to learn how the original machine worked.
- Not for
- Anyone who wants a large, instantly accessible library and no model, firmware or control decisions.
Scored 3/5 for fun today and 3/5 for historical importance. Those two scores decide the label at the top — a machine can matter enormously and still be no fun.
Read more & watch
This page is 50% complete against the facts we try to record for every system. Gaps are shown as gaps.