Do you think Sega-CD achieved its primary purpose?

[segasonicfan]

That was achieved from HW point of view. From software point of view absolutely not in terms of number of games (PC Engine CD library is more tha 3 times Sega CD one) but, like it or not, FMV games, Myst-like stuff was a core part of CD revolution and these were present mostly on Sega CD due to the approach of Sega of America.

In terms of timeline of course not, SegaCD arrived few days after CD-I and both arrived almost three years later after NEC's CD-Rom2.

In terms of market penetration probably yes. NEC didn't succeed much outisde Japan and is Spring '91, few months before Mega-CD was released, it had only 500K add ons sold worldwide. CD-I died with LTD sales of barely 1 million.
SegaCD ended his four years of life witha total that is estimated around 2.5 millions ww.

So it was probably the most successful of all the three and deserves a highly regarded place in history.
Pity wasn't pushed enough internally by SEGA but, the overall impact, was absolutely solid for what in the end was an addon and that lasted 4 years with over 200 games. Some of them super solid even today like the two Lunars, Snatcher, Popful Mail, and allowed us to experiment the first usage of multimedia like Sewer Shark, Night Trap, etc... (ridiculus today but seminary back then), we had the chance to play Wing Commander (in the best version after PC), have titles like that masterpiece of Monkey Island, experiment with an adventure like House of Hidden Souls that allowed us to taste a gameplay that was usually provided only by the first CD Rom games on PC that were costing a fortune.

Sega-CD to me was a fantastic add-on, ruined by the rush of SEGA to jump on Saturn and all the wrong decisions of that fucking 1994 (32x, rushed Saturn, anticipated death of the Genesis/SegaCD).

If half of the unreleased titles for SEGA CD would have been released like Ultima underworld, Myst, Return to Zork, Power Drift, Chakan CD, Battletech, Darkseed, Ys IV, Phantasy Star IV CD, etc... the system would have been legendary.

This.

Also, it produced Sonic CD, the single greatest video game ever made (I see everyone nodding with approval! ) So, uh....I think "accomplished" is a good word. ^^

[Mega Drive Bowlsey]

This.

Also, it produced Sonic CD, the single greatest video game ever made (I see everyone nodding with approval! ) So, uh....I think "accomplished" is a good word. ^^

The Mega CD is one of my fave systems ever and boasts a great library of games to suit almost everyone's taste, but as to calling Sonic CD the greatest video game ever made...come on now. You can call it your personal favourite Sonic game of all time, I'll allow that.