Talking Point: Do You Miss Instruction Manuals?

YES I DO.

I used to love reading the manuals before playing NES/SNES games, it always increased my hype! For some of those older games, they were essential to learning the controls and such. Last thing I want in a game is a pop-up telling me how to crouch or something.

NINJA APPROVED

Yes, sometimes, they had cool art.

NES games had the best manuals. I loved it when they came with maps and guidebooks too!

I just bought a GBA copy of Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga with an instruction booklet...I'll snag a box when I see one cheaper.

I do yes. It seemed to give the physical assortment more character, lol. I barely ever flicked through them to be honest with you.

Oh yes, it was such a pleasure to read the instruction manuals on the bus/train journey home after going into town back in the day! Ditto CD sleeves that had lyrics in! (I know CD's still exist but I just use Spotify these days)

Yes of course, it’s much more fun than just looking stuff up on the internet. That said I still buy physical books so am probably considered somewhat of an oddity.

@quinnyboy58 Yeah, looking up information on another screen really takes me out of the game in a way looking at paper instructions doesn't.

Yeah, I really miss instruction manuals. Still, I appreciate the small steps done to reduce paper usage. Maybe just a digital equivalent with little animations would be cool instead!

Not really. I mostly buy digital nowadays.

I buy digital so I probably wouldn't get much out of manuals these days.

That said, I do miss a few of them (especially those with cool artwork). But I otherwise get my fill by buying art books / strategy guides for games that I really enjoy.

Absolutely, it's one of the biggest disappointments of collecting modern games and Nintendo in particular were great at them with fantastic artwork throughout. The GTA games were another that were really good and their maps are another thing I miss for relevant games. I've got the Cotton reboot and Alex Kidd pre ordered for Switch and I can't wait to check out their manuals

I'm conflicted honestly. On one hand, I did very much LOVE the manuals a whole lot. It was great just reading the manual on the way home in the backseat of your parent's car and already getting immersed into the game just from that and I do kinda miss that kind of feeling.

On the other hand... it's not entirely necessary anymore and not having them does save on needing to print them all which I'd guess saves some trees out there.

If I had the option to buy a game with or without a manual though I'd absolutely buy them with manual.

Yes!

I remember being a kid, getting a new game and on the way home in the car, looking through the manual several times. Something special about it, no doubt!

Modern games are more naratively driven so there isn't as much need for a manual with the background like we used to need.

As a child I used to enjoy reading the manual on the bus home but now as an adult I don't really miss them at all. I tend to buy digitally anyway and all the Information needed is online so I will just flick through a wiki or forum when on the toilet, usually trying to work out how to get that last hidden achievement.
I will buy a nice strategy guide though, especially for the Zelda games.

Not to reveal myself as completely tedious, but I think I write professionally because I loved a good game manual back in the day. If I couldn't be a magazine journo, I really wanted to be the one to describe the game world and the mechanics to people. A complete trajectory for obsolescence.

Enough of an enviro-bore to say it's probably better for them to be a thing of the past (don't hit me, but I'm ready for boxes to go away too) and acknowledge that games are just generally better at explaining themselves these days. Give me a nice hardback full of development art and discussion instead.

@BloodNinja Heck yeah, just made the games more exciting. Especially for those with siblings.
Being the youngest I was always the last to play a new game but got to read the instruction manual while my older brother or sister played. Still have all my old manuals and boxes going back from the TI-99 onwards.

miss them especially some had extra story a comic strip or some easter eggs.

physically? no way. i do miss the presentation, and seeing previously unannounced features or mechanics in the manual.

That said, anything notable from an instruction manual can all be found in-game, online, and in the marketing materials these days. Especially in nintendo's case, they tell you just about everything about the game in the weeks leading up to release.

Maybe times have changed, but a physical manual was a way you could continue to learn about a game's world when you weren't play the game. I have many fond memories of reading about Golden Sun and Pokemon during study hall in middle school! Some artwork was exclusively found in manuals too!

Digital Manuals are great for the environment, but it feels like so few companies put in the effort to make them anything special. I find myself every so often wishing I had a manual to glance at for newer games, but I suppose we do have the internet I can ask for help too...

The manual, if you can call it that, for combat flight simulator 2 was absolutely amazing. More like a book. As long as the manuals meaningful then physical is good otherwise digital is fine

What I really miss (along with manuals) is buying a finished game.

Very much so! Always gave the games a little more personality

Instruction manuals were necessary in an age when games had no tutorials and the pause screen had no option to see controls.

Many instruction games thanked you for buying the game.

Growing up during the Wii era, I always really loved the instruction manuals. It was cool to learn about combos/techniques I wasn't smart enough to figure out myself!

I thought the interactive Wii U manuals were a good followup, especially the cool Mario Maker one, but Nintendo doesn't even do that anymore.

When I saw that Hades had an art book, I bought it immediately.

Cyberpunk had alot of stuff inside, so I wanted a new complete copy too.

Or even just interior artwork, like 3D All-Stars, is better than nothing.

But most games have nothing, so I'm in no rush to get them...

@nessisonett Then along came Nintendo Labo. It was never about reducing paper waste. It was cost cutting on Nintendo’s part. Much like how apple have people believing not including chargers on their phones are better for the planet..

Forget the paper ones, I miss the digital manuals the Wii U offered. Why did those have to go away??

99/100 manuals were completely useless. And for stuff like concept art, these days we have collectors editions or even merch artbooks.

There is no reason to ship more dead trees with games.

@LinktotheFuture I loaned out my pristine copy of the original Zelda when I was a kid. Of course I gave the guy the whole box with inserts. What a got back was a box that looked like it had been sat on, several inserts were missing, and the instruction book and map had things written all over them.

I don’t loan out my video games anymore.

Yes I do. It was something fun to read through before you could play the game, or even after you beat it. They were nice, and were only stopped being produced because of greed.

@codebored Old games had a lot of bugs as well. Only difference was that there was no way to download patches. So every game released was "finished" even if it worked for 70%.

Yes, for pure nostalgia reasons. My first system was an Atari 5200, so I grew up reading manuals (tutorials, lol). I loved the art, the manuals, the weight of that box, opening a new game and reading the manual on the way home in the car, all awesome memories.
Realistically, not anymore. Everything is going to way of digital. Less and less effort is put into any printed materials. This makes me sad but it is reality. I buy only digital now. Almost every physical game I have purchased in the last 5 or so years has had no manual whatsoever. I have no need for a bunch of empty switch/ps4/xbox sitting around anymore, and not having to get up to switch games is nice.

I really miss them. You are spot on with your comments about the glory of anticipation, reading through the manual on the car ride home and such. There is a home video of me and my two brothers visiting the easter bunny in the mall in like 1990 or something. In it you can see my brothers smiling and interacting with good old Peter Cottontail, but if you look past them you see me, off to the side, opening a copy of Gauntlet for the NES that we had just purchased in the mall, and reverently leafing through each page of the instruction manual with a look of rapture on my face, because I COULD NOT WAIT to get home before experiencing it.

Even years later, at 18, I remember hitting up the mall with family as I visited them on leave from the Air Force. I picked up Quest 64 and even though I was afraid of warping or creasing the manual, I just had to read through it on the car ride home.

The fact that those memories are still vivid 20 or 30 years later just goes to show how important the manual was to the experience of buying a new game.

In those days you knew that a Nintendo game was a premium purchase, a cut above the rest and a big part of that feeling were the thick, glossy, full color manuals when the second rate developers only gave you chintzy 5 page black and white leaflets. When you bought Nintendo, you were buying the BMW or Audi of the gaming world.

Even to this day, there is a little, helpless moment of disappointment when I open a new game only to be greeted by empty space or a single two sided instruction sheet.

@Grail_Quest
Nice comment, old guy (me too lol). It gave me those feels.

@BiscuitCrumbsInMyBed Nintendo Labo is made from 90% recycled materials.

@AgentGuapo That sucks! They should have replaced it. I don't lend anything out either. Nobody seems to respect other people's things.

The art MADE the manual. I was a kid during the era of NES and SNES manuals and the artwork inside was a huge draw. The first manual I remember clearly was from the original Legend of Zelda. That 2-page spread of what appeared to be a physical model of the overworld map. The animation cel images. Wish I'd kept my manuals. Thankfully, PDF resources exist for their preservation.

@sleepinglion Dude that gave me chills reading it lol. Same experience here.

As a kid it was utter joy reading the manual on the bus home after buying a new game!!! I miss those days and gaming is worse off without these wonderful additions.

I miss them so much!!! You could tell if it was gonna be a good game by looking at the booklet. If it had nice pictures and drawings, good explanations and different fonts, i.e., if they had put effort in it, that same effort would have gone into making the game. Lifia for instance came with a walkthrough with maps, explanations, the works, all with nic illustrations and such. The Zelda manuals were always very high qualitiy, as was the trainers manual that came with the pokemon games. While other games just had a standard booklet with some warnings and a button lay out (if you were lucky).
And while I was taking the game out of it's packaging, I was always anxious to see the booklet. Would it be a good memory in the making, or a bad purchase? The booklet would tell me, even before I booted up the game.
I bet Ys VIII would hsve had an amazing booklet, cause that was also a very awesome game (one of the best Switch games I played)

@AgentGuapo My blood pressure went up reading this.

I do miss them. I remember as a kid I would open the game in the car and just read the instruction manuals. Nintendo's manuals especially always had really cool artwork to go with it. It felt like a mini artbook/guide for the game which is why they are turning into collector's items now.

Are they necessary? Absolutely not. Are they fun collector's items? Absolutely yes.

That they are no longer around answers the question.

Yes and no. They are kinda obsolete now. Grown ups (I use the term loosely) are farrr too experienced to consult a manual of all things now THE NERVE! And kids these days would probably rip the plastic cases in to just to get to the game let alone read a manual.

And if every game had a manual how on earth would these limited release companies be able to sell us games with loads of unnecessary junk with them and make us feel like we are getting a good deal? that and full price chonkas of game related art books such as Zelda ones published by dark horse.

That being said I have a giddy excitement when I feel heft to a game, I don't think it has to be a manual, it just has to be stuff. The cards that come with YS 8 and the artbooks that come with the trails games on switch spring to mind. I am a child and I haven't opened them yet because its exciting (don't judge me)

I do relate to that feeling of looking through the book to build up hype for the game you just got though, I used to do that all the time. The original Pokemon game's manuals were beautiful that old art style was just gorgeous.

Tangent incoming:

But I feel that's emulated another way now, at least for me. Watching trailers of games, watching/reading reviews and talking about them, looking at them all sealed on your backlog shelf/sitting on your home screen and generally just taking a moment to appreciate what I have. Like I have such a big backlog but thinking about what I have to play genuinely fills me with happiness thinking about how much i'm looking forward to playing them eventually, heck sometimes If i'm particularly hyped about a game i will leave it for ages on purpose before I get around to playing it just to savour it for longer, I know that's weird but its what keeps me going and gives me things to look forward to.

Back on topic I think there should be 'stuff' in all game cases depending on the game. Maybe not a manual, but art of the characters, some lore some clues to puzzles if that's kind of game like the braille in pokemon RSE, maybe a map if its an open world game, you get the idea.

Dat ham ham manual though, that took me back so many years then.
Now I wanna play ham ham heartbreak again OOF.

Instruction manuals were never truly about how the game controls, but we’re explaining how the system itself worked. Unless you’re completely new to video games, I doubt you need to know start starts the game, select selects, and then one of the red buttons makes the little man jump, and the other makes him flick a flaming bogey.

The basics are bred into children now at a young age like counting to ten.

@Barbara001 Do you have a PC? Ys Memories of Celceta is an awesome YS game. It used to be only on PS Vita, but now you can get it on PC and maybe PlayStation. Highly recommend that one to YS lovers.

I live out in the country with the closest stores that sell video games being about 45 minutes away. So many drives home were spent scouring the manual of my new game in anticipation of playing it when I got home.

If one of the games I buy for my retro collection has a manual, i'll probably flip through it.

I grew up in the age of the instruction manual and I honestly think I have never read a single one in 25 years. I wouldn't buy a manual separately even for a favourite game but a more substantial guide I would consider yes.

Yes. Some of my fondest childhood gaming memories were finally finding a prized game at the store, and opening it up in the car so I could read the manual on the way home.

I still get the strangest feeling like something is missing every time I open up a fresh new Switch game. The little clips in there that should be holding documents just mocks me. I can't believe Nintendo doesn't put SOMETHING in there, even just a flyer or ad.

@nessisonett that maybe, I’m sure those small booklets were made from recycle paper. But let’s be honest, it was never about paper waste. They continued with their advertising pamphlets in the game cases after they removed the booklets, and what Nintendo might have achieved with taking away the paper, they have certainly made that up with plastic like that of amiibo which will eventually all end up in landfill.

Publishers should make the effort to have some kind of digital manual similar to what the 3DS and Wii U had.

I think the controls in many games are to much to want to learn. If I don't complete a game first time I tend not to bother coming back to it at a later date. I tend to un-remember the controls.

Most games have a learning curve or training level and if I return to the game say, six months later it's not the same.

Maybe a booklet would help.

I always read the manual cover to cover regardless of how long it was even the one for Falcon 4.0 which is hundreds of pages and basically a general reference on the F-16 that happens to include game info.

Manuals got the axe because game prices didn't keep up with inflation, but I wouldn't actually buy one. It might as well be a strategy guide if you're going to fork over money for one.

Ahhhh....good old days. The first think I was doing after the purchase of game, it was to read the manual and then I added the cartridge to the console to play. Manual it was really so important because it had many infos about the game and wonderful art some times.

I think with all the dlc and add on that developers do now have made it smarter to just send messages or alerts to you in game most of time the time the instructorion manual told you about the game and story but not about future events so when developers can just put a thing in the game for you with information on future dlc or updates it became to just do that at least from my view

@BiscuitCrumbsInMyBed Then they should make concerted efforts to tackle the other facets of the industry that negatively impact the environment too. It’s possible to be eco-conscious in this industry and if more companies made an effort then we’d all be in a better place.

Manuals were a fun way to interact with the game when not playing by reading the story and seeing the artwork, especially in the hours and days my parents wouldn't allow me to play.

The Super Mario Bros 3 manual shown in this article is one of my favorita manuals, along with Zelda 1-4.

But another fact is that in the late 90s, some manuals started to lose color pages, artworks and a detailed story, feeling boring as a result.

It also helped me to learn english, though of course never replaced an english course. So, "yes, I miss them dearly".

I liked them and often miss them. Beyond the nostalgia and their physicality, the manuals also affected gameplay and pacing — sometimes for the better.

Since so much information could be dumped into the manuals, that meant games could hit the ground running instead of spending their first two or three hours (or more) guiding you through every button press in lengthy tutorial areas or devoting entire rooms so you can learn how to jump and crouch.

Also, the lack of a handy manual means that, if you've forgotten how certain menu options or movements operate — in, say, a menu-driven game like Fire Emblem or a Platinum action game with lengthy move sets — you don't have a quick way to just consult the information you want by flipping through the manual. Instead, you have to dive into a series of nested in-game menus, which may not necessarily have the best UX design in the world.

I liked the manuals not only for containing valuable information about the gameplay and controls, but also for the artwork and the story they sometimes provided. I liked taking a look at the manual before going to sleep. Of all Zelda games, I liked the manual for A Link to the Past the most!

As a kid. if i couldn't bring my NES or my gameboy with me, somewhere I would take with me a manual to read

Manuals had largely moved away from the lore and mini artbooks of the 90s before they became obsolete. For instance most manuals for the 360 and ps3 were barebones, so I moved on before they were officially phased out. I do wish more games would include better tutorials and access to art and music. That would totally replace manuals to me.

@sanderev
True and I’m not saying otherwise.
But not being able to fix issues with a game via patches later has it’s benefits is what I’m saying.
I feel like the industry takes advantage of patches in a really bad way. Just look at the amount of day-one patches and barely playable games being released.
Back before patching was possible I feel like quality control standards were a lot higher. Simply due to the fact that if you shipped a broken game, that was it. No one would buy it, so devs needed to make sure that wouldn’t happen.
Then, there’s also the issue of unfinished games in terms of content now.

I miss the ones that mainly just had artwork and character/story/items info. It was a neat little extra. But at this point, the internet delivers that and more anyway

Back when they were around tho, as an actual manual, i probably used it maybe twice or 3 times for menus or mechanics i forgot about

I always thought that I was the only one who read the instructions before playing a game.

Miss them so bad. Everytime I open a box and encounter just a disc or a cartridge, I'm just disappointed. I loved opening up a present and flipping through the booklet, checking out the artwork.

Waste of paper.

If developers do their job properly with subtle, invisible tutorials then they are not needed eg The Great Plateau.

I like how "What sort of a monster do you think I am?" is one of the options and even the most picked one at that (I obviously also chose that option). ^^

I always read the manual in the car on the way home from getting a game... or sometimes on the toilet 🤣

Manuals were pretty cool, and I do miss them for their practical purposes. Sometimes I'll pick up a game I've stepped away from for a while and forget the controls and the game doesn't tell you the controls beyond the tutorial. But generally, their absence doesn't bother me as I've long since migrated to digital-only.

Back in the days manuals were almost a must read because the game itself didn't explain much of the game mechanics or even its story: I remember reading the plot for Strider Hiryu from the manual, just a few linea, but they were impressive for the 10 year old me. Nowadays you don't really need them, everything is usually well explained in the game, if you need more informations you can find them online anyway.

Most people probably know this, but this site has a mess of old manuals available for free download. ...

http://www.replacementdocs.com/news.php

I like games not including manuals. It's more eco friendly particularly when they can put manuals online in PDF format....it's just a waste of paper.

The manuals were such a hype up and preparatory tool in that "game pak". Some of the additional material even had occasional surprises like the Hyrule map. (Zelda I), Master Sword Poster (Zelda:ALttP) or Dr. Jones' letter with a secret code (StarTropics). Good in your face fun and interaction.

Back in the old days, I liked manuals, especially when I wasn't familiar with control layout. These days, with intro levels, internet, and game menus offering this information, I have no need for them anymore.

The current games I wish the most had manuals are Tetris and Pac*man 99

I use to love pouring through the instruction manual before starting a new game and checking out the artwork. It's such a shame they got dropped.

I like the moment i take a look to the manual before i start up the game. I do miss them in new games, but to be honest we are better this way. Every little thing we can save in paper and for extension deforestation, should be taken.

I don't think instruction manuals is really a hill to die on with everything else going on in the industry

Absolute pinnacle of consumerism. They made sense in an age without the internet and digital manuals, sure we love them but ultimately like getting a dummy thicc phonebook for every place you move to. Sure you use it once or twice but then it just sits there 99% of the time only to serve as a fleeting memory of ownership for a product you already know how to use.

Intruction Manuals give the game not only to help you in the game, but personality, at least all 3 big hardware publisher/developers should give us a digital intruction manual when we press + on the icon of the game and select manual.

Absolutely! A few of the ones I've had over the years (mainly OoT's and [I think I had it?] Majora's Mask ones come to my mind!) were always a blast to read!

I really don't miss them. In the age of high speed internet they just aren't necessary.

Yes I miss them a lot!

The manual and inserts complete the package. A game used to have three components: Game cartridge, Case + Cover Art, and Manual + Inserts. It really feels like something is missing now that it's only the first two components.

The manual represents a important part of the "new game experience": The anticipation before playing. They're also really fun to read and look for tidbits and hints if you're stuck in a game.

@Gavin Lane
i literally just put up a message board post about this yesterday

I was pleasantly surprised last week when I picked up Rune Factory 4 and it had one. The effort they put into it was was not lost on me.

Instruction manuals would connect you to the game in a way the game itself could not. It wasn't about the instructions though. It was the art and the lore that was sometimes included, or even anticipating certain abilities or enemies you wouldn't encounter until much later. It gave games more depth.

There was a piece here a few weeks ago about inhabiting a game's internal space. Not playing or beating it necessarily, but immersing yourself in the world. Instruction manuals help with this.

@Zeropulse See Nintendo? We would love manuals, again! lol

NINJA APPROVED

I loved manuals that came with games I bought. I still love manuals.

The trouble with including manuals now, is that games generally get updates/patches to fix errors and/or include new features, which depending on the game, and code, might also include changing variables for current in-game code. An example would be Smash Ultimate getting changes to character moveset damage every time new dlc is released). The solution to this problem is for developers to know in advance dlc that is going to be released. Also, releasing manuals that can be purchased, that include the old data, and the changes.

Do I miss game manuals? Yes. Yes I do.

I kinda like manuals and I don't remember deliberately throwing any away. I don't miss them terribly though and they often seemed like another thing to keep track of, although that wasn't as much of a problem with plastic cases. I wish at least digital manuals would be included with more re-releases of old games though. Most pre-2000 games didn't have in-game tutorials so the manuals were often essential. Wii U, 3DS, PS3, and even Wii had directions for retro games so I don't know why they're not included for the NES and SNES libraries on Switch. I guess Nintendo thinks the only people who want to play them already did back when they were new so they should know how anyway?

I used to really enjoy fighting game manuals. I liked to look over each character's move list and in some games it was the pretty much the only story content you would get.

A lot. I enjoyed so much read manuals before play since the Master System. I would buy a box with external art and manual with only a download code

I wrote passwords in manuals at the start, then ended up buying a notebook and wrote stuff in there. It was easier to access and obviously had more pages. I also began writing the date I bought each game. I started with Gran Turismo on 10 May 1998 and the most recent entries were last week with PES 2017 and Deus Ex on PS4 that I bought for $5 and $9 respectively. I don't do it for digital games.

Mostly I miss about manuals is that in-game manuals are becoming non existent. One example is Pac Man 99, I have no idea what the Standard, Speed, Train, etc, options means, nor whether eating all the pellets matters or when do new fruit appear. This sort of information should be readily available.

What I miss are games that do not force you to go through a ton of tutorials about every single detail in them (even the secondary or easy to figure out parts). This became a trend in part because manuals stopped being a thing.

I miss them in a nostalgic way...but I don't think they are necessary anymore.

I miss strategy guides

Yes especially when they were full color and had extra art and character info

Pretty much one of the best things the Wii U VC improved was having digital versions of the original manuals, these weren't amateur scans, they were the source assets for those printed files! The quality was incredible and in a few years it'll all vanish once Nintendo snaps their theoretical fingers.

After some digging it seems people have bothered to secure these files though, so cool.

I think manuals are outdated, the best feature to keep would be to show character/game art and story prologues, etc.
GBA and DS did this really well so that's some of my favorite manuals.

The ominous message of Amy Rose being in the Sonic Advance 2 manual but nowhere in the game, what are you trying to say?!

Manuals...how I wish they come back. The ones where Wario shows up are some of the funniest!

I do, my first console was my Master System 2 with Sonic built in, as I was poor back then, I played that game over and over. Then put my score at the end of the game in the notes in the back of the manual.

Also sometimes you needed a manual to pull off certain moves

I loved instruction booklets and print extras.

Many of my favorite PC games arrived with a bunch of such stuff.

I read the every page of every instruction manual for all of my games back in ancient times before I went all-digital. Probably not more than once for most of them. I do miss that part of the experience, though it's not vital. It's the same with with CDs, I guess... I hear people don't buy those things anymore, but I absolutely LOVE adding to my CD collection. Though in all honesty, I immediately rip every new CD to digital format and look at the liner notes once and probably never again after that. But man oh jeez they look so good lined up on a shelf.

@LinktotheFuture While I loved my NES manuals, you clearly dont remember Capcom NES games manuals. Those where awful.... bad translations and really bad drawings! Megaman, Ducktales, Bionic Commando... those manuals where the worst!

@Zequio I didn't have many Capcom manuals, but now that I think about it, you are right. The Mega Man manuals were pretty weak. I remember Zelda, Final Fantasy, Ultima having great manuals though.

@LinktotheFuture indeed, Final Fantasy had a great manual, and a great printed map!
And as Zelda, most Nintendo published games had great manuals.

I think I write professionally because I loved a good game manual back in the day. If I couldn't be a magazine journo, I really wanted to be the one to describe the game world and the mechanics to people.

Enough of an enviro-bore to say it's probably better for them to be a thing of the past

@kupocake Well-made instruction manuals did, and still do, increase the value of the package you are purchasing. As a young furball who read gamebooks (Choose Your Own Adventure, Fighting Fantasy &c.) and, you know, actual fiction throughout childhood...

... how could I not be impressed by the veritable strategy guides that they called "manuals" for games like Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest III? How could one not appreciate the world-building in the manuals for Zelda, Metroid, or Crystalis? Somehow, it made us take the whole affair more seriously, as if there were people somewhere who saw these as more than just trivial toys, as if we young gamers were being addressed more respectfully, in a way.

And then there was the freaking mini-encyclopedia that came with the NES Carmen Sandiego game...

Waste of paper.

If developers do their job properly with subtle, invisible tutorials then they are not needed eg The Great Plateau.

@RadioHedgeFund How many games has the Legend of Zelda series had before the release of BOTW?

I miss manuals, but wish that more companies used the reverse side of the cover art. It probably costs next to nothing for them to print a map, quick guide or something else handy or creative on the reverse side.

@codebored You got that right!

Manuals do have some practical use for me, as I quickly forget how to play games and the way many games 'teach' you how to play feels intrusive. Breath of the Wild is one of the few to do that very well, though I still forget how to do certain things after a few days not playing - perhaps ironic given I can pick up and play so many games from 20+ years ago without needing to look at the manual, where the controls have stuck in my muscle memory.

I also appreciate the artwork in manuals. And that physical feeling and having something to look through is good too - I enjoyed buying 3DS and DS games last year much more than Switch games thanks to the manuals (though it was even more disappointing when a game didn't have a manual).

@Pixel-Jockey19 thnx for the tip!!!! I'm gonna download it right away!!!

I think manuals should still exist in digital form. Should be included with every game in start menu as an option to view the manual.

@Hikingguy Working Designs was legendary. Their like shall never be seen again.