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A Short History of Game Manuals
Nintendogs
Often these moments can be found in the most unexpected places. Microprose’s F-19 Stealth Fighter for DOS may sound boring, but this deep, challenging title came with a cleverly pitched manual demonstrating many of the company’s favourite tricks when talking to its consumers. A basic one was a section about the team that arguably inculcated the cult of personality that surrounds many of its former developers to this day: ‘A large number of features in this product started with Sid [Meier] saying: “Wouldn’t it be neat if…” The neat part is that Sid then goes and implements the code that very day!’ Little in-jokes abound about the manual itself: ‘The rumor that marketing’s office furniture was pawned to pay for the extra paper is entirely unfounded’. Perhaps the most important technique here, however, was to point out the tricks that a real F-19 might use (if it existed) – which, of course, were a part of the game. Their default status as reference manuals correspondingly allowed them to make the user aware of the depth of simulation.
This is one of the most under-appreciated arts in the manual: filling it with information that, while not strictly necessary, serves to further contextualise a simulation or world. It’s something at which Blizzard is a dab hand. Its talent for world-building is obvious now, but has been on full show since the manuals for Diablo II or StarCraft – full of ‘unnecessary’ information about characters and races, the worlds they live in, and their culture. And is World Of WarCraft’s doorstop of a manual going into great detail on the lore and history of Azeroth an indulgence, or an essential component in sucking players in to an experience that expects them to pay monthly? Series like Ultima went similarly deep into their own mythologies, while Black Isle’s Fallout came with a ‘field guide’ that established the basics of the world while also acting as a practical survival tool – listing specifically how combat damage is calculated, how perks can be obtained, and what you can expect to be threatened with in its post-apocalyptic world.
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Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court 30 Monmouth Street Bath, UK BA1 2BW
England and Wales company registration number 2008885
Most of the games mentioned in this article are 5 plus years old. And the fact is that the further you go back, the more manuals were written with flair. And as to 'making the 20-30 page manuals more interesting' most manuals in the past were more likely to be 80+ pages! Explain how you go back to 80+ page manuals with DVD cases currently getting shorter in UK supermarkets, for example.
I would say that big boxes going to DVD cases and manuals (and games) become blander each year is one of the main reasons for PC gaming's decline. PC games have now the feeling of the grey suits now in charge of creating them! Is it any wonder retro is making a comeback and DOSBox, a free utility to play PC DOS games of the 80's/90's has now had over FIVE MILLION downloads!
What Raff said about reading the manual on the way back from the game shop when he was a kid, I still do this on the bus (I don't drive) and I'm 33!
I find it works as the perfect appetizer before the main course.
Excellent article. An unsung hero indeed.
I enjoyed the encyclopedic manuals that came with old war games from SSI and Talonsoft. I just pulled out my Operational Art of War II manual and it's 180 pages long - love it! ;)
I love game manuals for some reason. Nintendo usually has really good ones, and the GTA manuals are awesome as well. I'm always really dissappointed by black and white manuals. I always read my game manuals, partially for the actaul information, but also because I appreciate them as a little extension of the game. The best ones have nice artwork, clever text, and of course, describe the game's compnents in a useful way.
I can understand why many people feel that manuals are useless and perhaps even detrimental. After all, designers have few limits in explaining the story or setup for their game within the game itself. I also understand the value of having the game teach the player how to play simply by playing the game itself and gradually revealing various elements to the player. However, I still love game manuals for some reason.
When I recall my favorite old games from memory i almost always remember the manuals of the classics before the cover art or cartridge etc.
The F-Zero pic really brought me back to my 12 yr old self imaginatively creating a whole melodrama with complex character relationships based on a two page comic book spread at the front of the manual.
As a kid the manual was the only thing that kept me sane while traveling the distance between the game store and my console.
An often overlooked necessity.
Interesting article. I am an avid manual reader and always took the manuals f my new games to school for everyone else to read. Good times...
Back in the SNES days and thereabout, the story of so many games wasn't even conceivable unless you read the manual first. For example, the -entire- story of Doom was in that one page of the manual. That one page then went on to be the basis for a series of four novels! Even Gears of War, without reading the novel (or watching the trailer during the Main Menu), you have no idea what the story is.
Much like manhunt, the city guides for vice city, san andreas, and liberty city were very good manuals.