Pioneer CLD-A100

Pioneer’s CLD-A100 LaserActive player will go down in video games history as one of the most ill-conceived pieces of technology, the priciest and biggest (in size and weight) gaming device of all time. With dimensions that could fit 4 x Sega Mega Drives in the same footprint and weighing in at several kilos, this behemoth was huge to say the least. To match its hefty size, the LaserActive came in at a whopping pricetag of $1,000USD (and this was in 1993!)! Only someone with Trump’s bank balance would even contemplate splurging on this Pioneer bling.

Make sure the cart label is facing down!

The LaserActive was an attempt to converge the latest and hottest electronic technologies (at the time) into the one set-top device! The unit was a Laserdisc player primarily, enabling its owner the luxury of watching movies – laserdiscs weren’t cheap either! The device could also play audio compact discs, karaoke and video games based on Sega’s Genesis/Mega Drive/MegaCD and NEC’s PC-Engine systems via add-on expansion modules called PACs. Once you invested in the CLD-A100, you had to seek a further bank overdraft to purchase the PACs to enable you to enjoy some karaoke and play your 16-bit (Sega and/or NEC) games. These PACs were $600USD each, so all up, the machine and it’s karaoke, Sega and NEC PACs would set you back $2,800USD! Mind you, there were also PACs to allow the LaserActive player to connect to a computer (MAC / MS-DOS or NEC PC98) and 3D Glasses too. Which ever way you looked at it, the Pioneer LaserActive made the Neo Geo AES and its games seem like pocket-change!

Get your vocal chords ready! Just slot the PAC-K1 in your LaserActive player!

Ready your HuCards!

We are assuming that Pioneer wanted to join the converged device market and get a jump on their competition like the 3DO, Philips’ CD-i , Memorex VIS and Commodore’s aging Amiga-in-a-box, the CDTV. Hindsight is always 20/20 when looking at failed technologies, and we bet Pioneer wishes that it never even entertained the idea of the LaserActive!

So why were we drawn to this albatross of the video games market? Just like anything that was deemed bad (remember the Power Glove?), we were intrigued to find out for ourselves how terrible this device was. Having the Pioneer CLD-A100 LaserActive in our collection, we have found that we use it mainly to play our Sega Genesis (NTSC-A) games and a few laser-disc movies we had lying around from the early 90s. Apart from that, can we recommend the machine that promised: One Machine. Infinite Possibilities? Absolutely not! Nice try Pioneer!

3D Glasses! You better have strong neck muscles!