Topic: Who misses game manuals?

Really simple question, I miss them for a number of reasons and am wondering if anyone else feels the same way?

I can't say I looked at too many PS3 (or even PS2) manuals, but going back further I used to love them. We used to rent Mega Drive games quite often from a tiny little local place and I would always look through the manual on the way home.

I guess I do sort of miss them, but at the same time, I'm not sure I'd really bother with them much nowadays. Tutorials have more or less replaced them, and I'm buying fewer games on disc anyway.

I still buy physical a lot and the first thing I check for is a game manual and any other bits in the case. Bought YSVIII last month and that had a nice little art book/manual in it.

Also for some reason I also used to like smelling them when I was a kid.
I guess its the smell of freshly printed paper that I liked and not game manuals specifically .

I honestly do miss thumbing through them but from an environmental perspective I suppose it can only help. Of course there is a cost saving too which I guess would be money better spent on game development (of course the cynic would probably rightly argue that this saving goes into the pocket of the publisher instead).

So yeah, save the trees, man.

I was thinking about this as I’ve started playing Shadow of Mordor and I was getting annoyed that the in game tutorial seemed to be a little lacking and it took me a while to learn the moves. Funny how perspectives have changed and we expect a game to teach us the ropes where the old games used to make you read a game manual. We’re spoiled now I suppose.
But to answer your question, no — I don’t miss them

@Fight_Teza_Fight Haha the fresh print smell. I think that smell is pleasurable as its the smell of excited anticipation.

@Quintumply @kyleforrester87 @Th3solution Fair enough, I suppose its just me who misses them. I used to love reading the backstory and character bios. Oh well.

I have fond memories of being in the back of the car driving back from the Metro Centre and I'd read the instruction manual for the game I just got on the way. But I don't really miss it because a) reading in the car makes me feel sick, and b) we just don't seem to really need game manuals any more.

@themcnoisy I do as well. Feels a lot better when you hold a case that's packed with manuals and has a bit of weight to it. I enjoyed reading them. And it's always nice to see a manual these days.

@kyleforrester87 Recycled paper!

i do and i used to enjoy reading all the background story and character information they would have, it made you connect to the characters more

now a days you get a single piece of paper with the controls on them (and even that is sometimes not included) and it's just not the same

Could only hear this in Boruto's yelling voice

One surely misses them if used to the colorful Nintendo booklets, especially in the pre-Wii era; however first party games got coloured booklets even later. Were they useless? Maybe. Were they lovely? Sure!

I miss 'em, apart from for the obvious reason (toilet reading material - watch those heavy strategy games though or you'll be dead-legging it out of that room), some of them had genuinely interesting stuff in them. Not sure if anyone here ever played WoW back in the day, but that manual had loads of information on how they intended to develop the game and even had mention of a gang of low level players could take down a high level player. That never happened and was pretty much impossible, but it was still interesting to read (it was sort of the No Man's Sky of manuals tbh).

Also miss being able to figure out builds for characters in RPGs as most manuals used to have spell and skill lists with descriptions for each ability on top of loads of other information. Online FAQs just aren't the same.

@JoeBlogs I've noticed that Japanese games still often come with 'extras'. I feel like they like making the game a little more 'personal' or maybe they are trying to add value. Probably a bit of both. Disgaea 5 came with a art book and the soundtrack (CD), Yakuza Kiwami had a free steel case with preorder and NieR had the reversible box art.
Then again you've got the map in TW3 and GTA V, poster in Doom,...

Anyways it's nice to open a game and get more than just the game. Even if that something is a little booklet that I'll never read.

@andreoni79 thats a blast from the past seeing that. It's funny how small the world looks now compared to games these days too haha.

I miss how you could write your own notes in the back of some of them, as though the game developers assumed we didn't have access to a pen and paper.

Yep I miss the booklets too, but I can understand why they don't include anymore.

I mean other for the background information like story and enemies information was there any reason to read an instruction manual? Besides tell us what button does what the main purpose of the manual was to give us background story and explain to us what each object represented as back then not everything looked like it's sprite.

Now with games beginning the size they are they can tell the story in the game and things look like what they are suppose to. Not only that but most games have tutorials built in to tell us how to play the game.

I always enjoyed manuals that told you a bit about the lore, enemies, weapons vehicles of the world you were about to explore, always got a kick reading those!

The big thing for me is when you buy a modern game and you just hold the box and it feels really light because there's nothing in it other than the disc.

Go and pick up an older game and there's a weight to it from the booklets and other stuff they used to stuff in the box.

I miss manuals too TBH.

I was the only person I knew who enjoyed the game manuals. Guaranteed first thing I'd do after getting a game on the way home was open it and read the manual. I read a lot as a youth, so I loved the manuals. Whenever I wasn't playing, I was reading the manual, even away from home. Especially if it was something like Metal Gear Solid 4, which had a small comic explaining the controls. I also lost a lot booklets that way too.

I know tutorials are easier and more modern, but easy and modern sucks. I want my manuals back.

Also, surprise of the day: I went into my local GameStop a few days back, and the guy ahead of me was buying some JRPG I can't remember the name of, and the was a manual inside! A manual in a PS4 game! Whatever that game was, it should be GOTY.

Nintendo games always had the best manuals. They were usually in colour and full of artwork, character bios and backstory as well as the usual controls. Square-Enix manuals on the PS2 were also really nice. I especially loved the Dragon Quest VIII one.

I do miss manuals to a degree. Flicking through them in the car or bus on the way home from the game shop was always part of the ritual and something to savour until I eventually got home and could play the game itself. I am in full favour of games not having them if it helps the environment, however. That reasoning goes out the window with Nintendo though. Their games don't come with proper manuals anymore but the cases are still absolutely full of leaflets and safety warnings. Tsk tsk.