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LaserActive
The LaserActive (Japanese: レーザーアクティブ, Hepburn: Rēzā Akutibu) is a hybrid LaserDisc player and home video game console released by Pioneer Corporation in 1993. Marketed as a high-end, modular entertainment system, it was designed to combine movies, music, and video games into a single unit. Out of the box, the base unit could natively play standard LaserDiscs and compact discs, but support for video games required optional expansion modules known as PACs. Each PAC enabled compatibility with a specific gaming platform and its media formats.
With the Mega-LD PAC, the system could play exclusive Mega-LD discs (a proprietary LD-ROM format), as well as Sega Genesis/Mega Drive cartridges and Sega CD/Mega-CD discs. With the LD-ROM² PAC, it supported exclusive LD-ROM² discs, along with HuCard cartridges and CD-ROM² discs for the PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16. The LaserActive was the only system capable of playing LD-ROM game discs, which were not cross-compatible between PACs.
Pioneer released LaserActive model CLD-A100 in Japan on August 20, 1993, for ¥89,800 (equivalent to ¥102,220 in 2024), and in North America on September 13, 1993, for US$970 (equivalent to $2,162 in 2025). An NEC-branded version of the player, the LD-ROM² System (model PCE-LD1), launched in December 1993 at the same price and was fully compatible with Pioneer's PAC modules. The LaserActive was discontinued in 1996, with approximately 10,000 units sold.
Pioneer released several expansion modules, known as "PACs," which enabled the LaserActive to play software from other platforms and expand its capabilities. In each case, the Japanese model number is listed first, followed by the North American version.
The LaserActive 3-D Goggles (model GOL-1) used an active shutter 3D system compatible with several LD-ROM titles, including 3-D Museum (1994), Vajra 2 (1994), Virtual Cameraman 2 (1994), Dr. Paolo no Totteoki Video (1994), Goku (1995), and 3D Virtual Australia (1996), the last official LaserActive release.
The goggles could also display 3D autostereogram images. A separate goggle adapter (model ADP-1) allowed one or two goggles to connect to the CLD-A100.
The LaserActive uses a unique disc format called LD-ROM (LaserDisc Read-Only Memory). Like the LV-ROM format on which it is based, the LD-ROM is an optical disc format that can store analog video, analog audio, and computer files (in a file system) on the same side of a disc. LD-ROMs do not use the same file system as LV-ROMs, however; also, an LD-ROM can store up to 540 megabytes of file data, compared with LV-ROM's 324. An LD-ROM can store up to 60 minutes of analog audio and video alongside the digital file system.[citation needed]
The tables below list 31 software titles released on LD-ROM for the LaserActive; of these, 13 were released only in Japan. 23 of the 31 were made for the Mega LD PAC, and 15 were made for the LD-ROM² PAC. Only a handful of titles were released in both formats.
Hub AI
LaserActive AI simulator
(@LaserActive_simulator)
LaserActive
The LaserActive (Japanese: レーザーアクティブ, Hepburn: Rēzā Akutibu) is a hybrid LaserDisc player and home video game console released by Pioneer Corporation in 1993. Marketed as a high-end, modular entertainment system, it was designed to combine movies, music, and video games into a single unit. Out of the box, the base unit could natively play standard LaserDiscs and compact discs, but support for video games required optional expansion modules known as PACs. Each PAC enabled compatibility with a specific gaming platform and its media formats.
With the Mega-LD PAC, the system could play exclusive Mega-LD discs (a proprietary LD-ROM format), as well as Sega Genesis/Mega Drive cartridges and Sega CD/Mega-CD discs. With the LD-ROM² PAC, it supported exclusive LD-ROM² discs, along with HuCard cartridges and CD-ROM² discs for the PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16. The LaserActive was the only system capable of playing LD-ROM game discs, which were not cross-compatible between PACs.
Pioneer released LaserActive model CLD-A100 in Japan on August 20, 1993, for ¥89,800 (equivalent to ¥102,220 in 2024), and in North America on September 13, 1993, for US$970 (equivalent to $2,162 in 2025). An NEC-branded version of the player, the LD-ROM² System (model PCE-LD1), launched in December 1993 at the same price and was fully compatible with Pioneer's PAC modules. The LaserActive was discontinued in 1996, with approximately 10,000 units sold.
Pioneer released several expansion modules, known as "PACs," which enabled the LaserActive to play software from other platforms and expand its capabilities. In each case, the Japanese model number is listed first, followed by the North American version.
The LaserActive 3-D Goggles (model GOL-1) used an active shutter 3D system compatible with several LD-ROM titles, including 3-D Museum (1994), Vajra 2 (1994), Virtual Cameraman 2 (1994), Dr. Paolo no Totteoki Video (1994), Goku (1995), and 3D Virtual Australia (1996), the last official LaserActive release.
The goggles could also display 3D autostereogram images. A separate goggle adapter (model ADP-1) allowed one or two goggles to connect to the CLD-A100.
The LaserActive uses a unique disc format called LD-ROM (LaserDisc Read-Only Memory). Like the LV-ROM format on which it is based, the LD-ROM is an optical disc format that can store analog video, analog audio, and computer files (in a file system) on the same side of a disc. LD-ROMs do not use the same file system as LV-ROMs, however; also, an LD-ROM can store up to 540 megabytes of file data, compared with LV-ROM's 324. An LD-ROM can store up to 60 minutes of analog audio and video alongside the digital file system.[citation needed]
The tables below list 31 software titles released on LD-ROM for the LaserActive; of these, 13 were released only in Japan. 23 of the 31 were made for the Mega LD PAC, and 15 were made for the LD-ROM² PAC. Only a handful of titles were released in both formats.