It's happening, CD-i Emulator 0.53 is in the works (again) and with the current beta 5 it looks like we can soon find out ourselves. V0.53 was published years back but due to issues it was not available for a long time. It is a promising new version, as it will support keyboard control and digital video!
As always, we still need to have a lot of more patience, but The World of CD-i already updated new CD-i Emulator support lists which make us wanting more of course!
Let's have a look at the games it will support with at least limited play: We'll start with the first half of the alphabet:
A Great Day at the Races: Not working – Crashes after menu option.
Accelerator: Partially working – Crashes at some point
Alice in Wonderland: Working – No issues (Limited play)
Arcade Classics: Working – Start menu with black background.
Asterix: Caesar' s Challenge: Working – No issues (Limited play)
Atlantis: The Last Resort: Working – No issues (Limited play)
Axis & Allies: Working – No issues (Limited play)
Backgammon: Working – No issues (Limited play)
Battle Ship: Working – No Issues (Limited play)
Brain Dead 13: Not Working – Hangs on loading
Burn:Cycle: Working – No Issues (very slight sound delay)
Caesar's World of Boxing: Working – No Issues (Limited play)
Caesar's World of Gambling: Working – No Issues (Limited play)
CD Shoot: Working – No Issues (Limited play)
Chaos Control: Not Working – No mouse pointer at main menu
Christmas Country: Working – No Issues (Limited play)
Christmas Crisis: Working – Some black screen videos
Cluedo: Black Background makes the game unplayable
Cluedo 2: Black Background makes the game unplayable
Connect 4: Partially Working – Hangs after quiting a game
Creature Shock: Working – No Issues (Limited play)
Dark Castle: Working – No issues? (Some trouble with the controls)
Defender of the Crown: Working – No Issues (Limited play)
Domino: Working – No Issues (Limited play)
Dragon's Lair: Not Working (?) – Doesn’t react
Dragon's Lair 2: Not Working (?) – Doesn’t react
Drug Wars: Working – No Issues (Limited play)
Earth Command: Not Working – Hangs after loading screen
Effacer: Working – No Issues (Limited play)
Escape from Cybercity: Not Working – Hangs after difficulty selection
Family Games 1: Not Working – Hangs after difficulty selection
Family Games 2: Not Working
Flashback: Working – No issues (Limited play)
Girl's Club: Working – No issues (Limited play)
Golden Oldies 1: Working – No issues (Limited play)
Golden Oldies 2: Working – Black background on games start screen
Hotel Mario: Working – No issues (Limited play)
Inca: Partially Working – Random? hangs at the middle of the game
International Tennis Open: Working – Some black screen menus
Jeopardy: Not Working – Hangs at name selection
Jigsaw: Working – minor glitchy images when about to change screen
Kether: Working – No issues (Limited play)
L'Affair Morlov: Working – Small sound glitches
Laser Lords: Partially Working – Crashes when using the Gamean Crystal.
Les Guignols de L'Info: Partially Working – Some crashes, sound issues
More testing is currently under supervision of The World of CD-i and it looks very promising. Although we might still have to wait a very long time for the release, it's exciting to know it's possible and eventually happening.
[Thanks, the guys behind The World of CD-i and of course cdifan, the author of the CD-i Emulator]