A Closer Look at The Evolution of the Instruction Manual

[gamerz]

Stan has once again delivered a must read article!

 

A Closer Look : The Evolution of the Instruction Manual

 

Thanks for looking!

Edited May 1, 2010 by gamerz

[Atari2600Lives]

Stan has once again delivered a must read article!

 

A Closer Look : The Evolution of the Instruction Manual

 

Thanks for looking!

 

 

Good stuff , thanks for posting

[DickNixonArisen]

Good article. Not really true for me though, I tend to read the manual of every game I buy... if it's a fighter or something, it's still quite useful to get the basic movelist down etc. Also RPG's and tacticals often have features or conditions that aren't obvious.

 

More importantly, the notes section! Where will I write my notes? There will be armed struggle in the streets if they get rid of my notes section!

[shadow460]

The three most recent game manuals I've read (along with game play) are Willow for NES, Hot Shots Golf Open Tee for PSP, and FFXII for the PS2. Without a strategy guide, the FFXII manual was a crucial read. I'm not going to think to look into the status screens when I realize Ashe can't be healed above her current HP. Instead, I'm going to pause the game, grab the book, and look my question up. Everything I needed to know for an 18 hit mist chain was in the book as well. I skipped the in game scenes that explained it.

Reading the book for Willow didn't help much this time, but it was also critical the very first time I played through the game.

Even Hot Shots Golf's book explained a few things that I was not able to figure out on my own. It explained what causes a hook or slice. I knew if I didn't get a good impact that the shot would be bad, but I never connected that to a hook or slice.

 

There are several manuals that broke from the norm, IMO:

The Legend of Zelda has maps and strategy hints included. If you read the book, I believe it'll tell you how to solve just about every single puzzle in the game. The same strategies apply to many Zelda games. Though I haven't actually played the NES Zelda games, I noticed with Link's Awakening that any question I had could be answered by simply reading the book.

Sa Ga 3 has a list of weapons, armor, and magic on the back of the world map. It tells the MP cost of the spells, and there's other info on there that I've long since forgotten. It doesn't show everything (the future shipwrecks aren't on the map), but it's a great help in planning what you want to do next.

Gran Turismo 1 comes packed with a second book to explain the driving basics.

FF7 was the first game where I noticed an in game tutorial of nearly everything that was in the instruction book.

FF11 has a thick book with info about PlayOnline as well as the game itself. I haven't seen a book like that for anything other than a PC game that was focused mainly on online play, such as Red Alert.

Edited May 1, 2010 by shadow460

[Emehr]

That article makes me want to go into my basement of doom and read through my manuals. I love manuals for the older systems. And even though newer games have crappy manuals, I still insist on getting them when I buy used. The artwork in the Atari manuals were/still are fantastic. They really helped to get the imagination going and rounded out the whole experience. The original Atari and silver label games had cool manuals. The red label game manuals are when they started going downhill.

 

When the NES came out the manuals were a mixed bag. The artwork in Legend of Zelda, for example, was fantastic but the manual for Metroid looked like it was drawn by a sixth grader. A lot of manuals from that era (the ones I have, at least) only have line drawings inside with little or no color. Anyway, that was a cool read. Thanks for posting! Nice article, Stan.

[StanJr]

Thanks, folks!

 

The Ubisoft thing really drove the whole point of this article home for me. I was already well into my research on the topic when that announcement came out and I thought "yep, this is a timely piece indeed."

 

As I have said, the manual was just as much a part of my gaming life as the games themselves.

[RARusk]

MicroProse put out some awesome game manuals especially for "Red Storm Rising". You felt you could command a real sub after reading through it.

 

"Wings" also had a book that came included with the game, and also served as copy protection, that did a nice job in explaining World War I and the pilots that helped pioneer air warfare.

 

Another reason that may help in the decline of instruction manuals is sites like GameFAQs. I usually include control instructions in my guides for those who end up acquiring used copies from GameStop without the manual.

[StanJr]

yeah, and for classic gaming alternate resources like that are extremely helpful when the manual isn't easy found elsewhere.

 

Activision's Space Shuttle also had one hell of an instruction manual.

[Dittohead Servbot #24]

yeah, and for classic gaming alternate resources like that are extremely helpful when the manual isn't easy found elsewhere.

 

Activision's Space Shuttle also had one hell of an instruction manual.

 

As for the part about not putting too much info/tips in the instruction manual when you can sell the strategy guide for more money, would you believe Cranky Kong ADMITS that in the Donkey Kong 64 manual, saying something along the lines of that they won't tell you too much in the manual as "they're saving the really good stuff for an award winning strategy guide".

[DickNixonArisen]

The illusion of Gaia "manual" was a mini-strategy guide... which was funny, since it was a pretty linear game.

 

I spend a lot of time in the G.G.X.X.A.C.P. manual and also in phantom brave.

 

 

sounds like a comic book monster

 

 

GGXXACP: the monster from beyond the moon!

[wavelflack]

"Nowadays the manual is as superfluous as the comparative simile."

 

Heh heh. That's a pretty good line.

[wavelflack]

Also, in my experience, the manual was what you read in the car ride home from the game store. It was a bit like an appetizer.

[jhd]

In addition to the basic manual, Phantasy Star II also included a very detailed strategy guide/walkthrough -- the maps are especially helpful.

 

Was this the first console RPG to have a seperate strategy guide (albeit not published seperately)?

[StanJr]

Depends on how you define "RPG." LoZ, Dragon Warrior II and Magic of Scheherazade all had maps/walkthrough/strategy guides with them.

[Eltigro]

With me, if I buy a new game, I usually pop it in the system and play it for about thirty minutes, then... well... the manual and I go to the bathroom... I do my best reading there.

 

But I always read the manual, cover to cover. Some of my older games, I go back through and look at the manual again just for nostalgia purposes.

[StanJr]

With modern games, I find that sometimes the games are so complex that reading the manual actually adds to my confusion (particularly with RPGs and their endless menu screens). So I find it's almost better to use the manual as a reference if something doesn't make sense.

Edited May 5, 2010 by StanJr

[DickNixonArisen]

A lot of the manuals to the wii games i've been buying lately tend to confuse rather than help, yeah... still though as a collector I hate not having the manual. I lost the killer7 manual in my car for a year and then it showed up again. After I'd scrounged the car top to bottom like 3 times. I need to find the GCN ikaruga manual, actually, especially since I love that game's aesthetic so much.

[figgler]

This thread, and moreover, Stan's article inspired me to read the manual for Bart vs the Space Mutants last night.

I always thought that game was crap, but somehow reading the manual has made me see it in a better light.

Kind of can't wait to get home tonight and play a couple games in fact.

Who knew?

[phaxda]

My favorite manual is for Ballblazer. I had (and have) the 5200 version and will never forget cracking it open for the first time on a hot summer day and reading all about this futuristic game played in Rotofoils from every corner of the galaxy... I loved the game before I even put it into the console. There's a section in there where it's set up like a sporting broadcast and I remember reading it aloud to my buddy in a Howard Cosell voice, a la the drag racing guys in Better Off Dead.

 

Ballblazer is a pretty easy game to play, but the manual made it that much better. Still one of the best. I was fairly pleased when I bought Ballblazer Champions for the PS1 because the instruction manual still had a little bit of the charm. Too bad the game itself kind of sucked.

[StanJr]

This thread, and moreover, Stan's article inspired me to read the manual for Bart vs the Space Mutants last night.

I always thought that game was crap, but somehow reading the manual has made me see it in a better light.

Kind of can't wait to get home tonight and play a couple games in fact.

Who knew?

 

 

SCORE!!!! And yeah, Bart v. Space Mutants isn't that bad, but the second level has some vicious jumping that has to go on. Practice makes perfect! Enjoy!