Detailed pictures of the Gamester CD-i gamepad are rare, if not non-existent except for some pictures of our own unit here on Interactive Dreams. But that can't be the only one, right? We know CD-i member Omegalfa (The World of CD-i) owns one too, but he is very protective in sharing and everything appears online with big watermarks unfortunately. We want to preserve the art of CD-i in its original nature and thanks to the CD-i Community we see a lot of support for this.
Third party peripherals on CD-i, that's a rare thing. The way how we are treated with modern consoles by companies like Hyperkin and Retro-Bit is something completely different when it comes to CD-i. However, there were actually a few companies who developed CD-i peripherals. Thanks to our shout-out earlier CD-i member Fred (Kyenrod) shared with us some nice close ups of his Gamster CD-i Joypad (how it was officially called). Thank you so much!
The most notable one was Gamester who developed one of the coolest (and rarest) CD-i gamepads. The Gamester CD-i pad is shaped like a Sega Genesis gamepad and the button feedback is far better compared to the one that Philips released for CD-i. We have talked before about rare CD-i controllers, but I think the GT-i Joypad for CD-i made by Gamester LMP will still be my favorite. It's officially licensed, so it's an official CD-i product. Perfect for shooters like Steel Machine. The rapid fire feature is great to have for some games, although the rapid fire switches seem brittle and tough to move! It's not as accurate as the Touchpad, so not the best pad if you intend to complete Dimo's Quest!
This looks like a Honey Bee/Competition Pro for CD32 rip-off, although as you can see there are some clear differences. I don't think this gamepad was ever sold in The Netherlands. I got mine from ebay France years ago and I haven't seen it for a long time since. If you ever see this Gamester CD-i device, you should grab it, it's definitely a good gamepad to play CD-i games.
[Thanks, Fred (Kyenprod)]