View Full Version : Clueless: Video games that you NEED a manual to know how to play
treismac
10-20-2012, 08:03 PM
Okay, apart from "no duh" examples like PC flight simulators, what video games leave a gamer completely at a loss at how to play it if you don't have the instruction manual?
frogofdeath
10-20-2012, 08:10 PM
Star Tropics comes to mind. You technically needed the physical, packaged in the box, letter from Dr. Jones to advance in the game. Not a manual, but close enough.
treismac
10-20-2012, 08:19 PM
As a kid I never really knew what I was doing with a few Atari 2600 games. Even apart from the damn pits, E.T. left me frustrated and scratching my head. I always wanted to like it, but fun and meaningful direction always eluded me. Yeah, there were phone pieces that presumably needed to be pieced back together, but what was the deal with the flower and why did making E.T. elongate his head with the press of a button make your score lower? Anyway... The SwordQuest games, despite all of the fun I had playing its mini games, always puzzled me. What the hell did the items do? Why would numbers flash across the screen? Was there a "goal" (i.e. ala Super Mario Bros.'s flag pole) that I needed to find? There always felt like there was something epic going on, but what? I would have really benefited from an instruction manual as a young kid with this one.
The Adventurer
10-20-2012, 09:11 PM
If you want to know what the Swordquest games were really about, you should check out the Angry Video Game Nerd episode about them. It's very insightful, and probably not what you expect.
MidnightRider
10-20-2012, 09:14 PM
I always used to like reading the manual before playing. I think in general, early adventure/RPG's benefited from understanding the content in the manuals.
I picked up Raiders of the Lost Ark for the 2600 at a Goodwill years ago and thought it was broken. No matter what I tried I couldn't seem to actually do ANYTHING. I was going to Freecycle the game, hoping someone else would have better luck, when I decided to actually read up on it. Apparently you need to have plug BOTH joysticks plugged in in order to play. The right joystick moved Indy where the left just controlled inventory. Definitely a game where you need the manual.
incubus421
10-20-2012, 10:01 PM
Sadly, I haven't experienced this game first hand...mainly due to this video. But AD&D: Heroes of the Lance comes to mind:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTfCi59KCx8
Gregger
10-21-2012, 01:30 AM
I played a game called shadow keep for one of the old macintosh systems as a kid. and to my recollection you could open up dialogue to any character (including enemies). Here's the kicker though, it was a chat box that you could literally type anything into. So you had to know which comands would give responses or just guess at them. I'm pretty sure I never came anywhere close to beating it.
IHatedSega
10-21-2012, 02:03 AM
Whats worse are games you need a walkthrough/strategy guide to get through, not like a game where you run around for an hour and then you remember that one detail someone mentioned about milk being in your fridge and the npc wanting something to drink to progress in the level. I mean games like Unlimited Saga or any epic JRPG. And you HAVE to look up a move set spread sheet to master fighting games, which is why I didnt like them as a kid I think. The AVGN will usually mention NES games that are "Nintendo Power Games" which had extremely cryptic parts you had to have hints to get through which the magazine explained with great pictures for pointers.
Back to the real subject matter, there were some early computer games I had which came with cheap plastic overlays for the keys that worked for the game, so without those and a manual to explain what each key did, you were definitely stuck up a river without a paddle.
A game that I recently played last month that I thought would be better if I had bought it with the manual was Symphony of The Night. If it explained that you had to do fighting game style spells to get past tougher areas and that a sword and fairy could help you it would have saved me some grinding time in the first half of the game. Grinding is really tedious since monsters give you less and less points when you level higher, but at least the music is awesome.
The Adventurer
10-21-2012, 02:08 AM
A game that I recently played last month that I thought would be better if I had bought it with the manual was Symphony of The Night. If it explained that you had to do fighting game style spells to get past tougher areas and that a sword and fairy could help you it would have saved me some grinding time in the first half of the game. Grinding is really tedious since monsters give you less and less points when you level higher, but at least the music is awesome.
I'm playing Symphony of the Night for the first time right now. I played for about two hours before I realized the way to access the map was to press select. That sure would have been useful when I was running around lost!
And what's this about sword and fairy helpers?! (I already know about the combo move spells, since the game does list them as you earn them.
IHatedSega
10-21-2012, 02:17 AM
Later on, like after you defeat certain bosses there will be rooms you can go into and youll get access to these sheets of paper. Which will allow you to call on different spirits to help you liek the sword and fairy, I prefer the fairy since she can bring you back to life once when shes weaker. They gain experience points to and get stronger, so if I had used them once I had gotten them theyd be a LOT stronger. Once you get to the inverted castle youre gonna want to be a master of all the spells and have spirits strong. Its wicked hard at that point. Im pretty much burned out, but Ill tackle the inverted castle sometime next year.
Its definitely a game where you can not leave a stone unturned and you need to read all of the manual and look up walkthroughs at times. The map will show places you havent gone to basically and so I would run around when bored and make sure all places were lightened up.
Gameguy
10-21-2012, 03:12 AM
Apparently DuckTales is one of these games for some people.
markusman64ds
10-21-2012, 06:30 AM
When I was really young I didn't have the manual for Super Mario 64. I didn't know how to long jump for a few years.
Lady Jaye
10-21-2012, 10:08 AM
When I got my Coleco Gemini from a friend in 1987, it came with all her Atari 2600 games, as can be expected. All games were loose and manual-less. Two of the games took me some time to figure out: Star Wars: Jedi Arena and Reactor.
SEGA_Queen
10-21-2012, 11:43 AM
The DS version of Ni no Kuni doesn't require the manual. But you do need to use the spell book to proceed in the game.
Drixxel
10-21-2012, 01:02 PM
And you HAVE to look up a move set spread sheet to master fighting games, which is why I didnt like them as a kid I think.
A fighting game that absolutely qualifies here is Eternal Champions, which I fired up for a bit last night after a long absence. In unfamiliar 2D fighters, I (and I'm sure many others) always run through the stable of SFII mainstays in an effort to find a move, but a game like Eternal Champions changes things up to a degree that the ol' quarter circle forward & co. rarely yield anything. It's a super cool game but the uninitiated truly need a move list for it to be fully enjoyable.
treismac
10-21-2012, 02:05 PM
Apparently DuckTales is one of these games for some people.
Even better would be people who kept hopping in vain on top of enemy heads in Super Mario Bros. 2, wondering why no one ever died.
Tanooki
10-22-2012, 01:16 PM
Populous and SNES Utopia are ugly without a book due to all the iconic cryptic menus and sim elements.
BlastProcessing402
10-22-2012, 03:02 PM
A fighting game that absolutely qualifies here is Eternal Champions, which I fired up for a bit last night after a long absence. In unfamiliar 2D fighters, I (and I'm sure many others) always run through the stable of SFII mainstays in an effort to find a move, but a game like Eternal Champions changes things up to a degree that the ol' quarter circle forward & co. rarely yield anything. It's a super cool game but the uninitiated truly need a move list for it to be fully enjoyable.
Not to mention that whole "inner strength" thing. If you didn't know about that while trying to play, good luck.
snes_collector
10-22-2012, 05:28 PM
Anything Koei really, classic wise at lease. They are usually worth the trouble though
Haoie
10-24-2012, 02:51 AM
Ducktales, that needed some crazy password system to play right? Otherwise it booted you out?
That game came with the old computer we got, so everytime I played I had to just guess. More often than not it took a dozen or more tries.
SparTonberry
10-24-2012, 02:55 AM
Oh, you mean the PC version (that is completely different from the NES/GB game).
That was a very common copy-protection practice in the '80s/early '90s.
treismac
10-24-2012, 08:43 AM
Oh, you mean the PC version (that is completely different from the NES/GB game).
That was a very common copy-protection practice in the '80s/early '90s.
I recall all kinds of creative copyright protection on PC games- some were even fun!
http://archive.geekworld.co.za/system/files/images/wheel-mi2-resized.jpg
Try and tell me this didn't enhance the overall experience of the second Monkey Island. ;)
The Adventurer
10-24-2012, 03:45 PM
Return to Zork on the PC had a copy protection system, where periodicity the game would ask you a question "What is the X day of the week?". And in Zork the days of the week are named different then ours. So you have to have the manual to look up the names.
EXCEPT. There's a filing cabinet in the mayor's office with a bunch of files about various people and places. And many of those are dated. With the names of the week. So with a little trial and error you can beat the copy protection question by knowing 6 out of 7 of the days of the week.
Collector_Gaming
10-24-2012, 04:07 PM
Return to Zork on the PC had a copy protection system, where periodicity the game would ask you a question "What is the X day of the week?". And in Zork the days of the week are named different then ours. So you have to have the manual to look up the names.
EXCEPT. There's a filing cabinet in the mayor's office with a bunch of files about various people and places. And many of those are dated. With the names of the week. So with a little trial and error you can beat the copy protection question by knowing 6 out of 7 of the days of the week.
Another game that comes to mind exactly like this is a game called "Indianpolis 500" for the pc and amiga
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S33O15xAbow
it would ask you a question about the history of the Indy 500. The manual would have a cheat sheet with all the answers.. If you guessed wrong you couldn't play the game. Pretty clever unless of course you were a indy nut who knew everything there was to know about indy. In that case you could crack into the game no matter what hahaha
Rickstilwell1
10-24-2012, 06:04 PM
Phaser Patrol, Space Attack, and Space Shuttle are a few Atari 2600 games that come to mind. You wouldn't really be able to tell what your objective was without reading the manual.
I would also think a lot of the oldest strategic simulators like Utopia for the Intellivision would be difficult to figure out without instructions. Someone who has never played the genre would need tips on what is the best way to go about setting things up to watch them grow.