View Full Version : Lack of online manuals?
HappehLemons
05-27-2011, 09:09 AM
Does anyone else think that it's just strange?
We've got boxart, rom dumps, game art and gameplay videos of almost every game out there yet there's no huge projects to make a complete manual collection for any systems. I see manuals as a very important aspect of retro gaming as they're the only means of backstory, and how to correctly play a game but there seems to be such a small focus on this aspect of archiving them. I know that replacementdocs.com exists, but it's so far from being complete. I'm not complaining here by the way. I just think it's downright weird.
try the DP library, pretty sure you'll find some there.
On AA there's a guy who did a complete VCS manual collection, which is available via Underground Gamer torrent.
wimpy
05-27-2011, 01:17 PM
Hi,
We have quite a collection of manuals over at http://www.emuxtras.net in our "SYNOPSIS" system.
1) Login to Synopsis system using: visitor / welcometorx
2) search/lookup a game
3) if a game has manuals it will display here:
http://i56.tinypic.com/2zg4yhg.png
I'm quite new on the forum and I guess alot of you havn't heard about ressurectionxtras or emuxtras before. Any creative soul wanting to know more join the forums or PM me here.
Hope this helps in your search for manuals.
leatherrebel5150
05-27-2011, 01:25 PM
I thought the NA forums had the scans of everything for NES games at least, including manuals, they would never load for me but they seem to be there.
Kitsune Sniper
05-27-2011, 01:52 PM
Does anyone else think that it's just strange?
We've got boxart, rom dumps, game art and gameplay videos of almost every game out there yet there's no huge projects to make a complete manual collection for any systems. I see manuals as a very important aspect of retro gaming as they're the only means of backstory, and how to correctly play a game but there seems to be such a small focus on this aspect of archiving them. I know that replacementdocs.com exists, but it's so far from being complete. I'm not complaining here by the way. I just think it's downright weird.
It's very strange. I suppose it's because it's a pain in the ass to scan entire manuals - especially those huge ones old DOS games seemed to include.
kupomogli
05-27-2011, 02:35 PM
Yeah, replacementdocs is good, but usually anything even slightly obscure is missing from there. Brigandine is somewhat rare, but not very, and last time I've checked it wasn't there.
I only have been using them when creating PSP Eboot files for PSX titles so I can place the manuals as the digital instruction manual to make it complete. After the instruction manual I also add a text strategy guide from Gamefaqs.
HappehLemons
05-27-2011, 02:47 PM
It's very strange. I suppose it's because it's a pain in the ass to scan entire manuals - especially those huge ones old DOS games seemed to include.
That's reasonable, but I was always under the impression that back in the day dumping roms was complex, risky, time consuming and cost a lot of money to do yet it seems like we've got a copy of almost every game online, whereas anyone can scan a manual but no one takes the time to do this. Is there really that little of demand for them?
Kitsune Sniper
05-27-2011, 02:53 PM
That's reasonable, but I was always under the impression that back in the day dumping roms was complex, risky, time consuming and cost a lot of money to do yet it seems like we've got a copy of almost every game online, whereas anyone can scan a manual but no one takes the time to do this. Is there really that little of demand for them?
Well, copiers were pretty easy to obtain for a while, and they made dumping games easy. That's not to say there weren't people who actually invested their own time and money to dump rare carts, not to mention some games are actually undumpable via these things, but they sure helped with dumping the majority of common games.
It's easier to dump a game with a copier than spend time scanning a manual and fixing it up.
calthaer
05-27-2011, 03:14 PM
The DP library does have a fair amount...didn't check all systems, though. The Game Boy one is fairly sparse.
My scanner saves to PDF format...if I were to scan a bunch of old manuals that the DP library doesn't have, could I submit them somewhere? Where?
teh_L0ki
05-27-2011, 05:47 PM
That's reasonable, but I was always under the impression that back in the day dumping roms was complex, risky, time consuming and cost a lot of money to do yet it seems like we've got a copy of almost every game online, whereas anyone can scan a manual but no one takes the time to do this. Is there really that little of demand for them?
I really do think it boils down to demand really. People want to be able to play the games so the roms get dumped but the interest just isn't there for manuals as most games can be intuitively figured out, albeit this isn't the case as much for retro games. However retro gaming is a minority of the general gaming populace and when these games were new technology like the internet didn't even exist and usenet wasn't abuzz with game manuals, I don't even remember if pdfs existed back then but I don't think so.
The widespread availability of home scanners is a relatively new phenomenon as well I believe.