manuals are some of the reasons o am re-buying some SNES games (it seems silly, but they're REALLY helpful. internet tells you exactly what to do. i'd rather have HINTS as to what to do, so i still feel smart)

Yeah. I used to love reading the manuals. Once. And then I enjoyed playing the game even more.

I have to admit, you did a better job then most at actually convincing people your trolling was serious. But you had to ruin that, didn't you?

I remember noticing the high quality of Nintendo manuals in the Gamecube era. They were printed in color and were actually longer than three pages, whereas most third party manuals were black and white and just crappy, simply showing how to turn on the console and telling you what the buttons were.

Want to see a small manual? Check out the Sonic Generations console version manual, it's so small.

The Rhythm Thief manual is 4 pages long and barely tells you anything.

Instruction manual, 1992... (with dozens more pages of awesomeness)

Instruction manual, 2012...

Any questions?
(Today's instruction booklets are a REAL sore point with me as modern gaming goes.)

i still have this manual!

I remember the Sonic Generations manual and I dont have Rhythm Thief but I still stand by the NSMB2 manual being the biggest joke. Its just on paper folded into fourths.

picking up space invaders on SNES soon, so i'll post a pic of the manual soon.

@0LD_Sk0OL_PUNK I've got that in mint condition if I remember correctly.
Unfortunately not with it right now but I could definitely get a picture or two of it soon.

@GrabSomeEyes
according to the NLife Review, it's nothing more than a Space Invaders port. apparently, that's really bad. but space invaders is still fun. i found it on amazon for $1.50. that's the only reason why im getting it, lol. no way i would ever pay more than twenty dollars for it. but as you might have guessed by my username, i still like space invaders, but i'm not paying too much for a simple port. im amazing at that game, and it was one of the games i would always play when i was in my early '40s. can't wait until it comes in the mail!

I've wasted countless hours playing it on the SNES while Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Super Mario World, and more just collected dust.
It's got a two-player mode which can get kind of fun.

I've always enjoyed reading the instruction manuals, obviously because they're full of useful information, but also because they're usually beautifully designed and layed out. The SNES Donkey Kong Country one was my particular favorite as Cranky Kong would appear on nearly every page criticizing some element of the manual.

I can't deny I was a little saddened when I opened Mario Kart 7 and realized that there wasn't a proper physical manual, that it was mainly a digital one. Of course I appreciate the economic and environmental reasons, but I do find it nicer to read from a beautifully designed booklet than from just text on a screen.

I think one of the reasons manuals aren't as detailed as before is because everything you need to know about the game is presented in the game. For example in the first Zelda game you had a list of all the items, a map, the story and explanation how to play the game in the manual. In the later Zelda games, you got all that in the game.

Still, even though manuals may have become less useful, it still would be nice to have the same effort put into them as before (even though i would probably only read it through once or twice). Perphaps the reason they were more important the reason they put so much time into it...

i actually have mortal kombat II coming in the mail as well : D. i wanted the blood, so i chose MK II. but we're getting off topic. if we're talking about SNES, we should do it on the "16-Bit discussion forum" thread. here it is:
http://www.nintendolife.com/forums/retro/the_16_bit_forum?sta...

im actually considering finding the time to look online for a virtual manual so i can print it out and make a mini manual for most of my SNES games im sure i'll eventually get to it...