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Virtually Overlooked: Hotel Mario
Had it not been for the ill-advised deal between Nintendo and Philips, the CD-I system would just be a forgotten footnote, an expensive game system that ran decent versions of FMV games like Burn: Cycle* and Brain Dead 13, and also broke ground in the field of playing a tiny selection of low-resolution, expensive movies on CD. If, in 1995, you wanted to play Mad Dog McCree and then watch Top Gun, there was no better choice than the CD-I ... except maybe the 3D0. Thanks to Nintendo's contractually-obligated help, however, the CD-I will be remembered not as an also-ran in a race nobody cared about, but as the system that spawned Mario and Zelda games worse than anything committed to pink cartridge by Color Dreams.(*The best thing about Burn: Cycle was the box on the $2 PC copy I got a few years ago, which was covered in heat-sensitive material, so it changed colors like a mood ring. I think I gave the game away or something.)
