The Zelda CD-i Games Weren't Always Hated
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 ต.ค. 2023
- Today is October 13th, 1993! New episode every single Friday!
Consider supporting the Patreon! -- / now90s
Welcome to Now in the 90s, where we rewind the clock exactly 30 years ago to see what new video games had just released! This week we had both Zelda: Wand of Gamelon & Link: Faces of Evil, Mad Dog McCree, and Dinosaurs For Hire!
Writers: Jared Knabenbauer, David Rota, & Dylan Lawrence
Editor: Dylan Lawrence
►Twitter ------------------------- / dylumz
►Twitch -------------------------- / thedrunkard
►TH-cam Channel --------- / gamedrunkard
🎽🎽🎽 Like the shirt in today's video? Get one yourself from Vapor 95 and use code PROJARED for 15% off! -- vapor95.com/projared
►New here? Subscribe! -- / @nowinthe90s
►Subscribe to the Gameplay Channel! -- bit.ly/2CWhLZi
►Follow me for instant updates on new videos!
Twitter -------------------------------------- / projared
Instagram -------------------------------- / projaredgram
Twitch -------------------------------------- / projared
TikTok -------------------------------------- / projaredtok
~~MUSIC BY WILLIAM BENCKERT & AGST~~
#retro #retrogaming #zelda - เกม
I honestly don't know what I find more disturbing and meme-worthy; the Zelda CD-i cutscenes, or Phil Hartman's various 90s AF "fellow kids" disguises.
Phil Hartman is a national treasure. Seek out the Ice Hockey commercial for the 2600, this ain't his first rodeo. 😂
Phil Hartman's commercials for the games are meme-worthy and are ripened to be used, just not many uses them.
@@alexwilliams3078Hello, I’m Phil Hartman! You might remember me from such video game commercials as Ice Hockey or CD-i!
@@andrewhudson7108May he rest in peace.
Omg I don’t remember any of those commercials haha I wish I did
I can't lie, I really want more of Jared and Dylan interacting in these videos. The entire Collector's Corner this week was great
Everybody loves the sound of life-shortening strain in Dylan's voice lol
What would you have to lie?
They got the original voice actors from the CD-i games?? That sounds amazing!
Totally
"Golly!"
Well Excuse me Princess 😂
Okay now I'm interested in Arzette.
Good
It's always fun to see someone discover Ranger X because almost no one knows about it and it's one of the best games of the generation. It pushes the hardware while still being a great game. Crazy visuals, great music, fun gameplay and it's super replayable.
IF ONLY THERE WAS A WAY TO LEGALLY ACQUIRE IT- since it was only re-released on the Genesis Mini 2, but never, before that. It's such a good game. I wish more people gave it a chance.
The Genesis Mini 2 is a hidden gem mini monster console. The first Genesis mini may have had the great games people know Sega, et al. put on the Genesis. But I found the Mini 2 had more games I keep coming back to play over and over.
When I was a kid, I had to spend something like 3-4 months in a hospital. In the entertainment room, they had Ranger X, where I played it and fell in love. When I got out, I got the game, and I have now beaten it so many times that I view using a continue on heavy as a failure.
That game is absolutely fantastic, I highly recommend everyone emulate it just to see one of the best genesis games ever made and one of the best of the generation.
@@SaturmornCarvilli Awesome! I wish it was easier to get, the game and the mini. Those Mini consoles kinda came and went.
@@uberpinkwarrior That's a heck of a way to find it!
Also: You play it the same way as me. I always get to the end and screw up once and that's it haha. It's so hard to get the shield at that difficulty that I've stopped caring.
Which is annoying because I only found out about that one because of a speed run I saw- I had NO idea there was a power up in that level because- WHO WOULD RAM A MECH TO DEATH WITH THEIR MONOCYCLE
Loads of people know about it you chunt
Guantlet 4's soundtrack was composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto and Masaharu Iwata who would later go on to compose such games as Tactics Ogre, Final Fantasy Tactics, Bloody Roar and Final Fantasy XII (and many more).
And Ranger X is such an underrated game. Definitely in my top 10 Genesis games.
For all the flak the Zelda games get, the idea of playing as the Princess to rescue Link instead is still a good one. Also the animation could be described as breathtaking, just not in the way they intended...
I mean, for 1993 the animated cutscenes were considered impressive and innovative, and critics reviewed them as such. Most people didn't know that the CD-i Zelda and Mario games existed until the late 2000s, over a decade after they came out and well after cinematic storytelling had become a key feature of video games. During the 16-bit era, hand drawn gameplay art was a totally different feel from regular sprites (we're a long time before Rayman Origins), and the animated cutscenes were like having an episode of the cartoon integrated into the game. But if you're a kid who discovers them for the first time around 2010 via TH-cam Poop, after growing up with the 2000s era of games, you're going to have a totally different impression. And you're probably not going to realize that, within historical context, Hotel Mario's cutscenes were a lot more novel for the video game industry in 1994 than, for example, Super Mario Sunshine's were in 2002, whose cutscenes were more heavily criticized for already being outdated on release.
That commercial with Phil Hartman was just amazing. He has never failed to hit it out of the park in anything he’s done.
Lionel Hutz is my favorite.
Even random guest spots like in "3rd Rock from the Sun," too - "There could be money with this. OH YEAH!"
Except picking a wife….
I can imagine Jared and Dylan having a retro game podcast or in-person show: 'Live in the 90's'. I'd definitely listen, contribute, and participate
Ranger X is exceptional. What a game!
"Kids love dinosaurs."
Me, nearing 40, still love dinosaurs.
My dad, over 65, still loves dinosaurs.
I think the real constant here is that dinosaurs are just fucking awesome.
Damn they managed to get Phil Hartman to be in their ad? That's actually pretty impressive considering how much that console failed. RIP Phil Hartman. I still love looking up footage of Lionel huts and Troy McClure on The Simpsons with that iconic voice of Phil Hartman
Thanks a lot, Jared.
The thing I remember about Dinosaurs For Hire more than anything is that Malibu Comics really wanted it to be a thing and heavily advertised it in comic stores. I saw the poster with the triceratops with a huge gun, sunglasses and a cigarette staring out at you in like every single comic store and inside seemingly every comic Malibu put out in that era.
Despite this, I've never read a single issue.
The best part about Fridays.
Killed it once again Jared and Dylan
Phil Hartman's CD-i ads have brought me much joy, both back then and in the innernette age. Love that wonderful man. RIP you comedic genius.
Ranger X is one of the patron saints of Hidden Gem games alongside Crash N' The Boys and Chameleon Twist. It's tough (especially considering I didn't have the six-button controller), but it is incredibly spectacular and has the greatest Genesis Explosion Sound (TM). I strongly recommend listening to the boss theme, it's so hype.
"Transparent Obstacle" is trippy, it's the music that I assume would play if I was traveling through time.
It looks incredible, I'm happy to have learned about this game today! Wish I had it when I was a kid, haha.
Holy crap, someone else who played chameleon twist. Did you play the sequel too?
@@davidhoffman1826 I did! I used to rent them both from Blockbuster all the time
You both had great impressions. Clearly a tie. You must do the king now as a tiebreaker.
One thing I really enjoyed about this episode was the one thing I've been saying this show should have more of: Back and forth banter between Jared and Dylan! Like when the segments transition between you both. Keep this dynamic guys! KEEP IT! Feels so much more organic and less a simple case of Jared sending his footage off for editing.
Jared won the impression part of the impression. But Dillan’s made up line was funny!
Also, i really hope you guys keep record of the hidden gems (& jams), and make a compilation video of them, for some special thing.
It's not made up. The "demo mode" has Link giving a little voiced tutorial for the game.
You can see it for yourself by just looking up Link duck walk. (The 7 second one. The 12 second one has added in quack sounds for lols.)
Definitely agree with the Hidden Gem special!
Ranger X was the best game in this video and I shall hear no arguments to the contrary. No joke, it's one of the top 20 games of the 16-bit generation
I see you there, sneaking into this videos end credits.
@@alanbalan3539 Oh lol I missed that. Thank you for pointing it out
Hey st1ka, nice to see you around!
@@g0mf ohai!
One of the reasons that Gauntlet 4 has amazing music is it was composed by Hitoshi Sakamoto, who went on to compose the music for Final Fantasy Tactics, which will blow Jared's mind, because it blew my mind too!
Mad Dog McCree seemed like the coolest thing in the world to young me, up until the Time Traveler "hologram" game caught my eye
What an awesome episode!!! One of my childhood favorites was showcased, Dylan and Jared interacting for the first time and Phil Hartman, cant ask for anything more
I found and played Transparent Obstacles immediately after watching and yup, it's a jam. Thanks for the great video and recommendation! Have a wonderful weekend everybody!
Listening to it now, and yeah. This is good stuff. The various drum samples are surprisingly clean, given the MegaDrive's sad little DAC. It almost sounds like Amiga tracker music.
7:16 I remember X-men 2: Clone Wars did something similar where the instant you turned the game on (even before the splash screens IIRC) you started playing a full level as a random member of the X-men. I actually remember liking that as a kid, and wishing more games would try to do something like that, just dumping you into the game without explaining anything to you.
The absolute Peak that the Zelda series never reached ever again.
based
That Phil Hartman CD-I commercial was actually pretty awesome (RIP Phil)
I consider Gauntlet 4 the best of the 2D-style version of the game. Between the excellent port of the arcade mode, the Quest Mode, the 4 player co-op, and what might be one of the best soundtracks on the Genesis, it has remained the top of my personal Sega collection all these years (alongside Shining Force, Landstalker, and a few others).
Thankfully, back in the 90s, I had the multitap, several controllers, and three friends who joined me (in different combinations based on who stayed over for the weekend) on eventually beating Quest Mode twice.
Link: Faces of Evil is, honestly, one of the best games on the CD-I. Compared to things like Escape from CyberCity or The Wacky World of Miniature Golf, Face of Evil actually has things like platforming, item usage, and saving your game. Also, the music is great and the backgrounds are nice to look at, though difficult to navigate.
And it has Morshu, perhaps the most iconic character in gaming history.
Yeah, compared to most CD-i "games" FoE & WoG are among the best.
But how do they compare to Hotel Mario or Zelda's Adventure?
I saw the Game Grumps play The Wacky World of Miniature Gold (featuring Eugene Levy) and I... can't really imagine how that's even a game since it seems... impossible.
@@OtakuMan26 You're absolutely right. It's not much of a game. What it is, in fact, is a series of extremely tight quicktime events with no pop-up to indicate when to press the button. There are a bunch of repeating animations going on, so I based the timing of my shots off of those animation sequences. You do get to choose between one of three angles to putt the ball, so I guess there's that.
Best part about this series? Those moments when you see a game that you forgot the name of, and then you get to pop off with Jared and/or Dylan when it shows up.
Tonight’s pop off? RANGER X BABY!
More Jared + Dylan together, please.
Yes vote for the CD-i troubleshoot stream! Loved seeing you cover the Zelda games today!
I love the story of why that show is called The Real Ghostbusters. In the 60's, there was a live action TV series called The Ghost Busters. The movie Ghostbusters has nothing to do with that show. They just have similar titles. The owners of the show wanted to capitalize on the movie's popularity so they made a cartoon based off the old show. Kids would turn it on, expecting a cartoon based on the movie, and get disappointed. So, when the Ghostbusters movie got a cartoon, they had to give it a title that would let kids know it was what they wanted this time, so they called it The Real Ghostbusters even though that's arguably not true.
Ranger X was and still is an AMAZING game. Great graphics, great music and awesome atmosphere, love the cut scenes!
Hell yea. Wish Dylan could've mentioned how your weapons are solar powered and how the game handles that mechanic, and the FUCK OFF mega laser cannon that was one of my favorite weapons. You didn't see huge weapons like that in games very often back then.
Hm, not a single game this week that I ever played. Wasn't expecting that to even be possible, it's nice to see some obscure gems here! Have fun on your trip Dylan, hope you'll still get all the stuff you're looking for!
My boy!
Those Zelda CD games are responsible for some of my fav memes
Same
I’m very good excited for Arzette. Not only it’s inspired by the CD-I Zelda game, but also brought the same voice actors to be in this upcoming game. I love the video game community.
I found out about Arzette only last week and was floored that someone has made a brand new game in the CDI style. The YTPs are gonna come thick and fast once that game releases.
This was one of the best episodes. I loved the hidden gems and the interactions between you two.
Awesome episode! Really fun energy with the banter. I am sure it was hard to pull off too. You guys all rock, thank you so much!
Ranger X was BY FAR my favorite game as a kid, glad to see dylan hyping it up.
@15:47 it’s so surreal (but welcome) to hear them talk to eachother since the process of these makes that difficult.
13:19 Gauntlet II, for the NES, was also a four player game. It was very prominently advertised as a FOUR SCORE NES game in Nintendo Power. Gauntlet IV is the fourth main Gauntlet game. The main part of this game is a completely new adventure mode, where, one-to-four-players play Gauntlet as an action adventure maze game. Complete with a storyline and level bosses. The music is also incredible. As a side note, this was developer M²'s very first project.
Thanks for the episode guys!
Gauntlet 4 was one of the first (if not THE first) game given to us by now legendary developers, and creators of the gold standard for porting retro games to modern systems, M2. What started out as a simple port of the first Gauntlet became the phenomenal Gauntlet 4 and the start of their career.
Loved the Jared Dylan interaction :D you guys are too funny!
16:13 Mah boi, it's not about who did it best. Imitating Link is what all true warriors strive for.
Thank you Dylan for speaking up about Gauntlet 4's OST. It's god tier genesis stuff
You both won with that zelda voice overs.
Btw can't wait to play that new zelda cdi inspired game
Ranger X has different endings depending on the difficulty! Music, graphics, and gameplay are all superb. I showed it to a friend of mine who programs games and he said that Ranger X is what the Sega Genesis was made for.
So I actually played the CD-i in it's heyday. My friend had it along with faces of evil. I have to say, while the TV remote controller was terrible, particularly since you had to constantly hold it up and aim at the system - which my friends dad had above the TV. Your arm would get tired and you'd constantly have missed button presses.
The game itself was awesome. Keep in mind, most kids like me at the time only had NES and SNES to compare to. Seeing a game with fluid cartoon style animation and real voices was damned impressive
"transparent obstacle" was absolutely amazing. Thank you very much for introducing it to me...
That picture of the dude with CDs as eyes is going to give me nightmares.
I think Jared won the Link impression. He got the weird emphasis on words down.
I played the pc versions of Link and Zelda, and, honestly, I had a good time. It was probably due to the QoL improvements, but it was really interesting. The fact that the same guy is one of the people responsible for Arzette is kind of mind blowing. And, yeah, I'm looking forward to that as well!
I'm kinda curious about those versions.
Do you happen to know where to find those versions? The original link posted in Twitter does not seem to work anymore
Sorry, Jared. Dylan's "duck walk" line caught me off guard and had me laughing harder than it should have.
"Cool, huh?"
I'm the Ranger X comment guy.
On the one hand, HOLY HELL Ranger X got an awesome review! and I was mentioned! 8D
...on the other hand...oh god I was mentioned...
I am SOOO SOORRRY for my mistake! I really am! Ranger X was one of my favorite games that I STILL go back to that upset me no one ever knew, and I thought for sure it got overlooked -again-...
...I am sorry if I cost you an N64...
I'm an extreme fiend for Now In The 90's! Awesome show! Please keep something on that shelf to the left...OCD. ❤
I think I mentioned it when Jared was playing the Zelda games earlier this year, but the animation studio that did the CD-I games also did animation for Kings Quest VII.
As for The Real Ghostbusters, for those who may not know, budget animation studio Filmation (most famous for He-Man) ran its own Ghostbusters cartoon that started the same year as the cartoon based on the movies. The Filmation show had nothing to do with the movies, instead being based on a 70s live action show Filmation had made called The Ghost Busters. Their cartoon was basically a sequel to the live action show, starring the kids of the original protagonists. The Real Ghostbusters was titled such to make sure people knew it was based on the movies.
Thanks for recommending good soundtracks from the games you guys have checked out. I got into writing music as a kid because of video games and I love to find more from ones I've never gotten a chance to play and probably would've never discovered on my own.
Oct 13 is my birthday and i just finished watching all 79 of your videos. I'm now 40 and was taking notes while watching your vids. I play on my Miyoo mini plus which has 512gb of games. Great job on the channel, dylan is hilarious. Thank you.
Thanks for exploring the release of the Zelda CD-i games. Their infamy throughout time has clouded their initial release.
I'm so glad Jared and Dylan finally spoke to one another!
How convenient that the Zelda CDI gameshave their 30th Anniversaries on Friday, October 13th
I hope they get to interact more, that simple bit was gold, got me smiling. Editor Dylan was hilarious as always and Jared's was informative about games I thought I already knew what to expect.
I love this show.
Holy Hell.... Just looked up Transparent Obstacle. That track SLAPS!
im glad you talked about ranger x, a fun game from my childhood
Speaking of non-working CD-i consoles, the one I have works but only because one of my friends is a professor of electrical engineering and he fixed whatever was wrong with mine. I only have it in the first place because a collector was bummed that his CD-i was broken and he didn't feel like looking for another, so he sold his CD-i collection to me at the media pawn shop I used to work at. I have the Zelda trilogy and Hotel Mario and a bunch of other titles, but they rarely get played anymore.
Ranger X was one of those forgotten games that I played a handful of times as a kid, loved every second of it, but then I forgot the name for 25 years so I couldn't find it or play it again. No joke, I just re-learned what it was a couple of years ago, that game is awesome! Pretty hard, though, which was the style at the time.
So I just listened to Gauntlet's "Transparent Obstacle" soundtrack and holy hell that track rocks! You were one _hundred_ percent right, that is a journey.
I never got to play the fourth Gauntlet, so now think I have to give the rest of that soundtrack a listen.
It's because of these games that we still to this day can't have a Zelda game where we play as Zelda. 😢
thank god it's friday
Oh man, I love Ranger X. A hidden gem for sure! The falcon subweapon was always my favorite XD
Also, one of my friends was a tester for Arzette, but she had to bite her toungh till the game was actually anounced XD
That is the correct way to talk about Ranger X. Nailed it!
Ranger X is more than a hidden gem, is one of my favorite Genesis games of all time and one of my favorite shooters of all time.
Great video as always! I remember renting a CDi with The Faces of Evil and actually being impressed that the system showed full animations with voice acting and not just still images with some scrolling text during cutscenes. The fact that they were pretty bad didn't really matter at the time.
By the way Dylan, don't diss the Real Ghostbusters. That series was actually pretty good, especially the first 2 seasons. Lorenzo Music is awesome as Peter Venkman.
Loved the impersonation bit at the end! Both are winners to me!
The covers for the Zelda games are amazing tho
Mario land 1 was great. A totally different vibe than anything else, but good level design, great control, and I love the pixel vibe.
The weird license stuff from "The Real Ghostbuster" reminds me on "The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle 2" (1991/EU 1992), which got in Europe a reskin version in 1995 with "Hugo".
Neven beaten as child, but finished the last levels a couple of years ago.
that CD-i commercial hits hard: RIP Phil Hartman, you will never be forgotten
Jared And Dylan are brilliant together. This show has continuously been improving upon its content, but now as they interact directly with each other; this is next level.
Jared and editor Dylan are the best combo
Dinosaurs for hire is one of the most 90's ass things I've ever seen
Man PRGE was fantastic! This was my first year and I scored a sweet OoT Collectors edition CIB. I saw Jared but was not able to say hi then so... Hello retroactive Jared! Hope you and Dillan were able to score some sweet stuff too!
Been waiting for this one.
Loved the commercial with Phil Hartman. That guy was hilarious. I miss him.
Oh god. It’s gonna be Super Empire Strikes Back. That game was awesome but brutally hard.
Every week is the best way to close the weeks
Dylan definitely won that Link impression contest.
Having Jerd and Dyln chatting was the cherry on top such tasty episode. Also it seems Jared made a better impression but it wouldn't be fair because he got waaayyy too much exposure to it. So kudos both 😅✌🏼
Was a bit worried Ranger X might get shafted, but we got hidden gem justice. One of the many great mecha games on the genesis, a lot of variety to the visuals and mechanic gimmicks with every stage. One of the greatest visual showcases on the console.
Tom & Jerry for the Game Boy is not the first time you got to play as Tom. That was Tom & Jerry for the Master System, which came out in 1992.
That Phillips CDI commercial was a nightmare lmao.
No way!! Thank you YTP for being recognized and making Arzette a thing! :D
These episodes are so good
Wow that Ranger X for Genesis is truly a hidden gem!
sorry Dylan, but Jared’s higher voice captured the “want to punch him in the face” of Link but yours was a great choice of words
Dylan is absolutely hilarious!
Ever since childhood, Ranger X was always a favorite of mine.
Jared did the best Link impersonation. Sorry Dylan but you didn't finish your line with "KEWL HUH?"