Physical game manuals have been phased out over the years, but as part of the return of Super Mario RPG on the Switch next week, Nintendo is releasing a new one.
As highlighted by Game Watch, Nintendo has revealed an authentic SNES-style manual based on the original 1996 instruction booklet. It will be available from game retailers and department stores within Japan. Here's a bit more about what is featured inside of it, courtesy of Siliconera:
"The booklet will include an overview of the world of Super Mario RPG, as well as character introductions. It will also include guides for collecting treasure chests and defeating bosses that appear in the game, as well as battle mechanics and trivia."
The catch is it's only confirmed for Japan right now and there's no mention about whether or not an English version will be released. If we hear anything though, we'll let you know.
Super Mario RPG for Switch launches on 17th November. Any interest in a manual? Tell us below.
[source siliconera.com]
Comments 53
good, now do it for everything else, please.
I've said it before but this is the kind of goodies I'd buy (or pay more for) over any resin or plastic figure/keychain or steel box or other dust-catching, space-taking cr*p.
These would be great MyNintendo rewards.
God I would legit pay like five extra bucks for a game if it means it came with a manual. God please just bring them back!
How hard would it be to just put this in the case of every game? What a cool nostalgic throw back touch!!
Nintendo would be legendary if they reintroduced manuals for physical games.
We aren't just being weird nostalgic crummudgeons here. Manuals meant less tutorializing.
I wonder if these will be on Play-Asia.
my first physical purchase in quite a while.
looks like I chose a good one.
maybe silly question, but does it come with the game or separately? didn't seem wholly clear to me.
@LikelySatan
brilliant point.
That takes me back, miss those days. Still remember umboxing a link to the past box and opening that map that came with it, just taking it all in how big that world map was.
Probably only for Japan, all the cool stuff is...
@echoplex Paying more for an instruction manual and calling it a goodie 😄
So something that was standard for decades is now something you have to get separately, for more money, only for one game, and only in Japan. Absolutely pathetic. Feel sorry for kids today, seeing as how everything gets worse with every passing year.
Reading the instructions on the car ride home from the store was such an amazing part of my childhood.
It was a different time though. TV spots were rare. Box art was a lie. The box text told you nothing about game play. You generally didn't know anything about the game you just bought unless it was previewed in a magazine you happened to have access to, so it was real moment of discovery.
I don't know that a lot of people today really understand that in the past sometimes you would buy a game and it wasn't until you opened the manual that you realized it was top down or side scrolling, an RPG or a beat-em-up.
Now-a-days, you get full gameplay breakdowns a year before the game comes out most of the time.
@Frogspree it's easier and cheaper to find better games and entertainment now than ever, imo.
I miss manuals like crazy, I want this and I want it now!!!
@HeadPirate I bought so many bad games on the nes and SNES because on the boxart it seemed like the most epic game.
@Martijn87
so much misleading Game Boy box art.
NSO should include instruction manual scans for each title.
a proper manual would be a reason to buy them; i miss them so much
@DwaynesGames I love how herzog zwei sega ages did this too, making a new tutorial
@Frogspree Yeah, it does seem like that. Also most games are just copypaste mulch.
On the other hand, there are some great new titles every year, it's just that not many people know about them. Whenever a really good game comes out, there are like 5 people who buy or talk about such games.
We also have some great remakes of old games, like SoS Friends of Mineral Town which fixes HM More Friends of Mineral Town's only flaw that is no marriage option
I blame the media outlets, most sites/magazines are just ads for the corporate mulch. And people buy it because for them it's enough. They'll never know how fun video games can be, because for them, anything that isn't the newest, prettiest thing ever is not a video game
I want physical strategy guides back too!
Dang why you gotta hurt me like that. You could have said it was Japan-Only from the get go. I'll have to wait for a certain Etsy seller to make one.
I grew up during the manual "era", but I really don't understand this fixation with them. Sure, they were nice to leaf through on the way home, but aren't we past that now? I'm not going to waste time going through a manual that's merely going to go through the same old spiel. I don't mean to "flex", but I don't need a manual to tell me how to navigate a menu and follow basic in-game instructions. And if we really get stuck, we can jump online to find whatever we're looking for.
If anything, I don't understand why digital manuals like what we got on 3DS/Wii U are no longer a thing.
I'm a real sucker for that fresh DS game manual smell, I've got to admit.
@Don At this point I'd settle for having online text guides back, instead of everything being a useless video "walkthrough" (usually just a normal playthrough with no explanation), which you obviously can't search for keywords, and of course we can't forget the million unskippable ads.
@Sisilly_G It's not about actual utility, it's about getting a substantial products a tangible item, something somebody took care over. It's about not paying more to get less than we got 30 years ago. There is nothing special anymore about buying a game when it's got "download required" or "premium day one collector's edition for ultra super deluxe suckers" plastered over half the artwork, the inside is just plain white like I printed off the insert myself on an inkjet from 2003, and of course no manual.
Absolutely lovely, so much so that I'm really tempted to import a copy if I can find one at a reasonable price!
Definitely should try to get the Japanese official guidebook of the original game at least, it's one of the relatively few Mario ones missing from my collection.
Strange...I thought they stopped making these to cut down on manufacturing costs and save the trees...
It’s already available. I snagged a couple of these earlier today at Joshin. It’s a nice little promo item for sure!
Yes please bring them back. I love them for the flavour text, pictures, maps and such.
Old game packages and cartridges simply feel real and gamy, unlike the empty plastic boxes we get nowadays.. I really hope games will get there again.
Wait, Nintendo is actually using the little holders in the game box for the reason they were made like that? Wow. Oh Japan only. Ah wait that's where I am at the moment. Hmm might have to go to Nintendo Osaka after all
I really hope that this will be released in the U.S. As it will be the best thing to go with a remake of the first Mario RPG game.
I do hope that this treatment happens to the TTYD remake.
On the one hand, selling these separately would be another profit-generator for Nintendo. On the other hand, it would encourage physical game purchases where profit margins are lower.
I would not be surprised if this ends up Japan only.
I still somewhere have the "replacement" manual I ordered from Nintendo's online store. It was printed on extra large paper, probably from the quality drop resultant of clearly bring reprinted from a scan, but it was an official reprint.
@Sisilly_G Maybe part of it is the nostalgia. Good manuals are filled with art and design that's just pleasant to look at.
Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts... I've seen a scan of the Japanese manual and it was so colorful and an example of why people like manuals. Capcom USA's boring utilitarian manuals are an example of why people are against manuals.
I'd like to have the EarthBound strategy guide manual again, even though I finished the game enough I don't need advice, just because it had a lot of extra flavor text. But the prices...
Maybe just them testing the water, if this works then I hope we're getting manuals with our physical games again.
The physical editions of Hollow Knight and Celeste came with proper manuals like this, and they're awesome. Nice to see Nintendo thinks so too, though I'm guessing this won't be a norm with them, and they're only including it here because it's a remake of a game whose original version had a manual too.
@KingMike The next best thing is a digital version of the guide from Nintendo itself, available on their regional website here:
https://www.nintendo.co.jp/clvs/manuals/en_us/index.html
It’s just one of the many manuals they made available when the SNES Classic Edition launched. I’ve downloaded everything because I love print design (it’s the reason I became a graphic designer). They used original assets where possible. Great stuff. I think they did the same for the NES Classic, but I don’t have a link handy.
Want want want want want
It seems unclear, between this and similar posts on other sites, whether this is a separate purchase from the game or not; I hope it isn’t, because then that means it could come with import copies of the game? I usually import (and indeed am importing this already), and would love to have this be a little extra surprise with it!
I just sold my mario rpg manual earlier this year. Beat up with a rental sticker for 20 bucks.
So I do like my Pikmin tea towel and I love my Brewster coasters but I would spend my Platinum coins on a manual like this for certain games. Or maybe make it a preorder bonus? Some of the stuff that they add extra is nice like steel books or the Pikachu mug, but the acrylic stand they’re offering with Mario RPG is not my thing. I’d much rather have this manual, even untranslated.
@Uncle_Franklin What are you talking about? Castlevania: The Adventure TOTALLY lived up to its metal-as-heck box art.
@HeadPirate
there was usually a screenshot or two on the back of the box where you could somewhat discern the genre, no?
but yes, there was a lot more mystery to it overall.
@Uncle_Franklin
Yes and no. Sometimes you would get a screen shot and sometimes the text would include actual descriptions of game play, but it was hit or miss.
To peek behind the curtain, it really came down to where you lived. Nintendo famously didn't trust NOA with any info, so often they would publish a game, which included putting together the box art, promotional art, and promotional text, with minimal information from Nintendo. It's why Kurby is grey in NOA promotional material; they only info they had on the game was some Game Boy screens.
The screenshots would almost always be the most impressive graphical areas with the biggest sprits ... and often that wasn't gameplay! Sometimes you would get a screen shot of a cut scene and another of a select screen or something.
Not to mention how young gaming was as a whole. Metroid looks like a run and gun shooter! Simon's quest looks identical to the first Castlevania. Adventure's of Link had a screen shot of the overworld map and another of the Hallway where the Zelda is sleeping ... wtf were we supposed to takeaway from that!!
Haha, it was a really deferent time.
@HeadPirate
I would buy second hand magazines for tips.
@Uncle_Franklin I do remember Flipull for the Famicom (and likely the Japanese Game Boy version) had nothing on the boxart about the game itself. Because Taito is a weird company.
However, Virtual Lab, arguably one of the worst Virtual Boy games, nothing about the game on the box. The only text is the legal stuff. Kind of famous as a game that is practically guaranteed to have been through out the door before it was finished to meet Nintendo's deadline. (not the least because the box also somehow managed to misspell Nintendo in like three different ways)
Alas the game is now one the bank-account destroying Elite Four of VB collectors. (pretty much, just the final four Japanese releases. Jeremy Parish reviewed a complete VB collection on loan which he said cost its owner about 20 grand, for 22 games.)
This is great, They should also do a digital manual like the 3DS & Wii U did. I like the physical for sure, But I also like Having it directly accessible in the game too. People lose stuff.
so do we know if this'll be something you can buy with the game separately, comes with the game while stock lasts, or is it gonna be in every copy they make?
Hope they do this for the US and European versions of Mario RPG as well.
In my opinion, ANY game that costs $60 or more SHOULD include a physical instruction manual. These are things that we gamers need to be much more vocal about.
@Frogspree gamefaqs.com seems to still be going pretty strong.
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