Instruction Booklets: A Eulogy

[XZero]

Way back when I was just a little boy of 4 circa 1990, my uncle gave me a Christmas gift that would forever change my life. I didn't know it then, of course, but that gift would be a turning point for me. Was it my first football or basketball? No. Was it my first set of golf clubs or a tennis racquet? No. (Though I did get my first tennis racquet around then, but I didn't start playing for real until I was 7.) It was my NES Power Deck with Duck Hunt and Super Mario Bros.

To be honest, I don't remember much beyond just opening the system, and I didn't fully comprehend it's awesomeness at the time, but I quickly grew to know and love its power. There were so many cool things in that box, too. The console, the controllers (2 controllers plus the Zapper; Nintendo could kind of learn from the past on this one, huh?), the double-game cartridge. It was all bliss. But among them, there's something else that stood out: the games' dual instruction manual.

On the Duck Hunt side, things weren't overly impressive. As I recall, just a few screenshots and the basic instructions. But the same wasn't true of the Mario side. Oh no. There were pixelated images of every enemy in the game, accompanied by descriptions of the characters. That was the first time I met "King Koopa." That was my first exposure to a "Goomba." And who knew there was such a thing as a "Koopa Troopa" before then? I sure didn't.

***

Okay, that's a little overblown. The point I'm getting at is there's an inherent coolness to a video game's instruction booklet. There are various uses for it: have it by your side during the early hours of the game so you can learn controls or be reminded of how to do stuff; have a mini-walkthrough in the back (Final Fantasy I); have beautiful artwork to view(Zelda, and countless others). Instruction booklets are a key component of gaming. I know whenever I buy a game used at GameStop now that I don't work there anymore, I always ask for a used copy with a case in good condition, no scratches or blemishes on the disc, and a clean instruction manual in the case.

As you may or may not have heard, EA and other companies are doing away with instruction booklets. EA was already on the verge of doing so last year, and I think whoever publishes the Assassin's Creed games (Ubisoft?) had this half-assed manual for AC: Brotherhood. Why must we do away with instruction manuals?

I suspect a lot of people who aren't in the "gaming community," but who still deem themselves "gamers" are indifferent to the presence or absence of an instruction booklet. A lot of my customers at GameStop didn't care about instructions. Many people probably don't read them in the first place, so why include them?

Here are a few reasons to do so:

(1) In-game manuals, even intuitive ones, are not particularly intuitive. They get in the way and may not contain all of the information you need. Also, you necessarily can't read them outside of the context of the game. In other words, you can't take a break from gaming to watch TV and read the instruction manual while doing so if the instruction manual is a purely digital entity.

(2) Artwork, written story, etc. breathe life into a game in a way that cannot be replicated on the TV screen

(3) Booklets can be valuable collector's items, or can otherwise significantly enhance the value of a game. I guess publishers are indifferent to this from an economic standpoint, but I guarantee you a used copy of any rare game is worth 10-15% more with its instruction booklet intact

(4) People DO read them

(5) There's something missing when you buy a game and, upon opening the DVD or Blu-ray case, there's just a disc and nothing on the other side

As one of the comments on IGN noted, first they give us cases with giant holes punched into them, then they take away the instruction booklets. The next step, obviously, is a purely digital market. This is somewhere down the road in all likelihood, and it'll be around that time that I stop playing games (I like going to a store, looking at a physical product, and taking it home to display on my shelf).

For now, however, let us take a moment to mourn the passing of instruction booklets in games. We probably did not read all of you, and we probably didn't give you as much credit as you deserved, but you will be greatly missed.*

[*and yeah, this is partially a joke, but I'm still pissed about companies doing away with these things. Seriously, I really like looking through instruction booklets.]

[Geeky Stoner]

Ah the good old days of flipping through a new game's instruction booklet while riding home in anticipation of playing said game.

Reading the little prologues, looking at all the artwork, finding some tips on how to play the game.

I still have old instruction booklets to games that I've lost or don't own anymore.

It will be a sad day indeed when instruction booklets do finally go extinct.

[relyanCe]

replace instruction manuals with art-of-the-game booklets and I'd be satisfied

that's all I ever read em for anyway

[SpacePirateGrenadier]

I agree with XZero on the fact that game manuals have become half-assed, I recall a time that Nintendo and it's costars had very nicely detailed instruction booklets that went beyond basic controls and told a part of the story that otherwise wasn't there. Now, all you get are instructions in 3 different languages, two of which I can't read.

[Moseph]

The next step, obviously, is a purely digital market. This is somewhere down the road in all likelihood, and it'll be around that time that I stop playing games (I like going to a store, looking at a physical product, and taking it home to display on my shelf).

Hey.

Some of us like Steam.

And really, most games have had obnoxious tutorial levels explaining how to press A to jump since ... I don't know when, really. The Nintendo 64 days? And with games becoming more cinematic, there's really no point to printing the story in a separate booklet anymore in most cases.

I guess what I'm saying is death to the instruction booklet.

[Monobrow]

My favorite instruction booklets, I actually cut out pages or parts or drawings and pasted them into compilations on typing paper and put them in a little notebook, with my own descriptors when I was around ten years old. I did this for both DQIV and Final Fantasy IV... I still have that notebook somewhere lol.

I had whatever posters on my wall that were provided when I bought the games, like Secret of Mana and Chrono Trigger. I loved that stuff.

And yeah, I miss those days, along with basically everything about mystical feeling I had when I played them.

Also on a side note, Steam is awesome, and Valve is super awesome and smart for creating that venue.

[Late Mistakes]

Booklets are also being as you said purely digital, so now they are PDFs, which can contain more information, better images, updates for any damage of original, and even some links that may lead to web pages and the like for extra info or storyline/bonuses.

I like both, however I am more partial to the digital. Being I can have an image of 5000x5000 pixels in a pdf to display on a massive resolution, or a booklet with a 3 inch by 3 inch image of the same thing.

[Tyler Gill]

I agree that instruction booklets have gone downhill in recent years, but not necessarily because of becoming digital. They just don't put any effort into them, when they can become awesome supplements to the game.

Example: Donkey Kong Country's manual. I stumbled upon it, but it is awesome! Rather than just being a boring guide to the controls, it introduces the characters, the first few areas, a few enemies and their abilities, and foreshadows what will come. And the best part? Cranky Kong. Every few pages, there's a picture of him complaining about how things were better in the good ol' days. He starts off with "Look at the fancy box. Look at the size of this instruction manual. You don't think they would have gone to all this trouble of the game was any good, do you?!", and keeps on going. (Full text here: http://vgchat.info/forum/threads/23079-Donkey-Kong-Country-Instruction-Manual for any interested. Search for all the occurrences of cranky to find his quotes).

That right there is proof that an instruction manual (done right), can be an asset to a game, rather than just a set of instructions.

[Brushfire]

Versus a new game that is black and white and does little to cover anyone in game.

Fucking game tutorials, always ruining the printed word.

[The Coop]

Dragon Age II has a manual, but it's not much beyond the basics. The Witcher: Enhanced Edition is the last game I got that actually came with a meaty instruction manual. Nice little maps, lots of info... good stuff.

Granted, it doesn't compare to things like the booklet for Might & Magic: Gates to Another World on the Genesis (damn near 140 pages, filled with insane amounts of info), but TW:EE's was still a much more encompassing manual than what I've seen with a lot of other games in recent years.

[Murmeli Walan]

I agree that instruction booklets have gone downhill in recent years, but not necessarily because of becoming digital. They just don't put any effort into them, when they can become awesome supplements to the game.

Example: Donkey Kong Country's manual. I stumbled upon it, but it is awesome! Rather than just being a boring guide to the controls, it introduces the characters, the first few areas, a few enemies and their abilities, and foreshadows what will come. And the best part? Cranky Kong. Every few pages, there's a picture of him complaining about how things were better in the good ol' days. He starts off with "Look at the fancy box. Look at the size of this instruction manual. You don't think they would have gone to all this trouble of the game was any good, do you?!", and keeps on going. (Full text here: http://vgchat.info/forum/threads/23079-Donkey-Kong-Country-Instruction-Manual for any interested. Search for all the occurrences of cranky to find his quotes).

That right there is proof that an instruction manual (done right), can be an asset to a game, rather than just a set of instructions.

I love that manual. My favorite part is at the end when Cranky asks if anybody out there actually uses the Notes section at the back of instruction manuals. (For the record, some of my booklets still have passwords and cheats written in the Notes section from when I was a kid.)

[EC2151]

Or how Warcraft III's manual had a 60 page backstory that I loved reading.

Or how Zelda's manual had great descriptions and artwork for EVERYTHING.

But the winner is clearly Working Designs. Look up any one of their manuals, and they are by far just works of art and love. They have maps, they have descriptions and art of EVERY MAJOR CHARACTER, they have charts and lists and all that shit...

And best of all, they have translator notes, and publisher notes and stuff like that, with really touching things like "Remember, we brought this game over because YOU asked for it. YOU wanted it and we delivered, because we're nothing without YOU! Thanks for all the feedback, and remember, we care about what YOU have to say!"

You just don't see stuff like that in the boring manuals these days.

The last manual that really had me captivated was Metroid Prime's manual, because of Retro's awesome story telling skills. I was not able to beat that game for years, but I still kept on coming back because of how cool the manual made the game sound.

Maybe that type of gamer is a dying breed, doom and gloom, etc etc.

[Benjamin Briggs]

oh man good topic

remember the pokemon red/blue instruction manual? that shit was like 50 pages! I didn't read a single word of it before booting up the game, however, and that probably explains why my first playthrough ended up with me getting stuck having not caught any pokemon and raised my charizard to level 56

as far as instruction manuals dying out... I'm looking through my wii library here and a lot of the most recent games have pretty badass and informative instruction booklets, as well as pokemon black and platinum

guess nintendo's got their shit together

[Kureejii Lea]

As a kid, I was always immensely disappointed when a game's booklet didn't have character profiles or artwork. Nowadays, you can at least find a lot of the cool official art online, but back then all you had was either in the booklet or maybe in a magazine article. Games are supposed to be an immersive experience, so it was always nice when the booklet took that extra step to draw you in.

[Benjamin Briggs]

player's guides used to be fucking badass too

I remember the guide for zelda a link to the past had 100% watercolor maps of the dungeons and everything was written like a story

"link discovered the large chest after navigating a dark and treacherous maze, but had to return later with the big key"

[Darklink42]

I really love instruction manuals. My favorite part is to read the story and setting page before even diving into the instructions. Even though these days, a lot of them have just resorted to using tiny screenshots instead of hand drawn artwork, there were and are still some out there that really kick ass. I hope, at the very least, that Nintendo keeps putting out quality booklets. They've always done them right.

Some of my favorites include:

-FF7, because of how in depth it was covering the characters, the world, and even providing a brief walkthrough for the first reactor.

-Startropics. Anyone who ever played it knows about the radio code and the water. Genius way to make use of every part that came with the game.

-Link's Awakening. I can still remember reading through the manual as a 6 year old and loving every second of it. A lot of the abilities are given their own pictures, and the first two pages have a whole work of art just to show the scene of Link being found on the beach. Later on, both of the Oracles games did a good job overall as well.