I am ripping this off from another thread but a commenter said they missed instruction manuals. I do too. What is the best or most memorable you ever saw. I think the Metal Gear Solid ones were amazing.
Definitely holding the MGS manuals up. MGS4 had full comic panels for control tutorials. I always loved the Ratchet Manuals because they were long ways and had high res renders of all the weapons
I’m older than most of you duders but I remember buying a game on my lunch break and then reading the manual during work just getting so hyped for the game when I got home. On another note, is there a database out there with a lot of old manuals scanned to pdfs?
@efesell: I remember visiting relatives in the winter of '97 and buying Warcraft II while there. Since they had no computer to install the game on, I just spent what free time I had reading through the manual and just soaking in the lore. Learning about Orgrim Doomhammer and Killrog Deadeye, the fall of Stormwind, the betrayal of the Alliance by Alterac to the Horde, all of it. I did the same when I got the Warcraft II expansion, Boyond the Dark Portal. Gobbled that stuff up.
I also got familiar with a name that showed up on a lot of the art that looked pretty damn cool, Metzen. Didn't know anything more than the name at the time though. It wasn't until much later that I learned he was involved in the making of the game more than just making artwork for the manual.
Official F1 Racing - Terrible F1 game from Videosystem. The manual had lap breakdowns of each track and stats and figures from the races. It was thick.
Championship Manager: Season 2001-2002 - 66 pages of 'Here's what the numbers mean'.
Half-Life: Opposing Force - Had the Murphy's Laws of Combat in them. My personal favourite being: If the enemy is in range, so are you.
The spiral notebook for the original Fallout was always one of my favorites. Working Designs did some high quality manuals on heavy stock paper with images behind the text on the pages, but they did look too busy at times. Original Zelda manual is super helpful plus has awesome art.
I remember the Mech Warrior 3 manual well because it came with a giant keyboard layout showing all the functions. It made me feel like I was gaining my mech pilots licence!
Most manuals for the 1980s for PC were pretty good. I know some of the flight simulator programs came with 3-ring binders and hundred of pages of instructions and datasheets.
I think, for me, part of the appeal of old manual was that with either so many buttons (computer keyboards) or so few buttons (average joypad for a console) games has to explain the arcane button presses to do anything in a game. Games often has menus to do things, but included quick shortcuts that you would not know about unless you READ the manual.
The original Legend of Zelda (NES) manual still holds a dear place in my heart.
Tunic's manual is also great. I wish the game came with a printed copy. Obviously, that would spoil the game, so maybe they could print black sheets over each page that you could tear off somehow when you find the page in-game.
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