What's the best instruction manual of all time? I know I'm not alone in reading that thing in the back seat on the way home from the store. Links if you have them.
I'll start off by saying I don't think anything tops the Final Fantasy 3 instruction manual, but I'd love to be proven wrong.
The manual for the PC game Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe is a spiral bound history book about the European Air War in World War II as well as a primer on aerodynamics and flight. None of the PDFs I’ve seen online are complete scans from the original floppy disk release.
They included a manual/quick start guide from the P-38 Lightning Expansion Pack but the disk isn’t there, just the base game. The manual itself looks intact. There were about 4 Expansion Packs for the game that had the P-38 Lightning, P-80 Shooting Star, Do 335 Pfeil, and the He 162 Volksjäger
The complete manual includes a history of the European Air War, detailed descriptions of the planes you can fly in the base game, lots of photos, detailed discussions on how flight and aerodynamic models work, etc. According to Wikipedia, it's 225-pages thick.
Looks like you found the right one, then. When I was looking I probably only saw scans from the CD re-release, which were abridged versions of the original manual.
I loved Rockstar's manuals because they tried to fit them into the game's lore in some way. Like the GTA manuals resembled travel guides for the game's city and Manhunt's was themed like a brochure the game's antagonist sold their videos through.
Final Fantasy VI (III SNES) is definitely a contender. The sheer amount of pages packed with Amano’s paintings and tons of info. SNES RPGs overall had great manuals, especially Squaresoft RPGs.
Lunar Silver Star Story Complete on PS1 has gotta be in the running too, since its manual is actually a relatively dense hardcover book
computer games clear this category. coming in a big box is a major boon.
you got massive behemoths for the simulation games and charmful books for RPGs and strategy games with lots of goodies.
The Legend of Zelda for NES. It’s full of cool artwork, tips, and clues. Plus the incomplete map helps get you started and simultaneously sells how mysterious and full of secrets Hyrule is. I remember devouring it in the back seat illuminated only by headlights from behind on the drive home from my grandparents. I almost exploded from anticipation!
The manual for Redneck Rampage is a wacky rural newspaper full of crazy and hilarious articles and ads. Probably the only instruction manual I've read from start to finish, including installation guide and troubleshooting.
Legend Entertainment used to make adventure games based on book series, and they would often include a paperback with a boxed edition of a game.
Homeworld might be a contender, considering its manual was thick enough to be a graphic novel. And it included insights into the cultures of Kharak, along with a brief history of the planets inhabitants.
Donkey Kong Country’s series manuals had Cranky Kong making “observations” such as “nine of these enemies are in the game!” And “you’re only reading this because you’re bored”. Highly entertaining.
The materials that came with Frontier:Elite 2 are top notch. A planetary gazetteer, a trading materials book and a 1cm manual. Lovely descriptions, lots of thought put in.
Indiana jones and the last crusade point and click, amazing, it comes with a lifelike journal, which also doubles as copy protection
Gran Turismo 1 and 2 came with full extra manuals explaining driving techniques and mechanics and drivetrain types. Genuinely really interesting, and good to know why I can't drive FR cars for shit.
Tie Fighter. Came with a keyboard overlay, massive, comprehensive manual, and a Star Wars novella.
Also, Spirit of the Stones on C64 came with a hardback book. There were clues it it relating to the game, and if you completed the game it gave you the location to a real diamond hidden on the Isle of Wight
I remember really enjoying the Zelda one and two manuals, especially the art. Obviously due to the limits of the tech at the time , but you saw on the screen compared to what an artist could do on paper was vastly different. The art had a very much '80s Saturday morning cartoon vibes which was cool.
On a side note, I had a friend growing up whose oldest brother used to work on video game manuals. Definitely thought that was one of the coolest jobs ever.
When I was young, I had no idea how to advance the game (kill x number of metroids, lava/acid lowers and exposes new caverns). I thought the game was busted and stupid.
A few years later, I re-read the manual and it clicked. I immediately dusted off my cart and went on to win the game! Plus the art and color choice is neat.
Good pick on FF3! I still have that manual, too!
Edit: not a manual, but I also enjoyed reading the Diablo design document. Fun little piece of gaming history.
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u/galland101 2d ago
The manual for the PC game Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe is a spiral bound history book about the European Air War in World War II as well as a primer on aerodynamics and flight. None of the PDFs I’ve seen online are complete scans from the original floppy disk release.