I have been noticing an unfortunate trend that has started a couple of years ago, game company's are shipping games without manuals. I for one like manuals. I would usually read them before I play the game, not because I needed help but because I wanted too. Back in the day they were awesome, they had multiple pages, story, characters, how to play, but now they are little 3 pages of nothing. I am asking this question because I just recently bought Puppeteer, a game I was looking forward too and when I opened up the case, inside was the disk, and that was it, well there was a controller in the background but come on. It was pretty disappointing, and it just doesn't feel complete. So anyway do any of you guys miss manuals, or do you find them obsolete. 

Allow me to enlighten you.

Games are going to lack manuals to save on packaging, but the manuals still exist if you know where to look. On the PSVita, a games manual can be accessed by pressing the little question mark book at the top.


The 3DS also stores the manual on the game itself. A button at the bottom left appears when the game is highlighted.

No, not really. I don't use the manuals much at all. I don't think they are necessary anymore.

In a way, I do miss those manuals because when you first play the game, you got to know on what you're going and getting the hang on how the game works, but then after that  you really don't need them.

I kind of do miss them, I remember bringing home a great game, Pokémon for instance, and then I would just sit somewhere for half an hour or so reading the little booklet. I didn't really do it for the instructions, but I did it mostly do see what was in the games. For instance, in the Pokémon games, I liked to read up on some of the new features and in other games I liked to read about what game modes that certain game had, and even how online worked and what you can do online. Now, I'm going to have to just jump right into the game to see what it's like.

Yeah I do miss manuals because they really inform you of the game and give insight and controls. You really become familiar with the game, the way it works, how to move, jump and do the basic things. You also get a plot of the game and what is happening .I keep all of the manuals to my games because they are useful and if I don't understand something, I go to them to seek guidance and they always make it clear. Like when I got brawl, I was really confused because the 2 million controls it has, and the manual made it clear. So yes they are useful and in a way I do miss them. 

I have the Link to the Past, Super Mario World, and Super Star Wars manuals, they are wonderful. Tons of graphics and art, over world maps, guides, and item descriptions. I loved them.

Android89 : Super Mario Galaxy's manual had a LOT of pages!(too bad 1/3 of the book was English,1/3 of the book was French,and the other 1/3 was Spanish)

Tails the Fox : Yeah, the manuals still exist, but it's just like digital vs. physical copies. Actually having the manual in your hand. it feels right having a manual, and the box feels bare wihout a good manual. I miss the manuals for games as well.

I really like game manuals. I'm glad Nintendo has continued to include them with their games. Also, it's neat that they've started doing virtual manuals, so if you lose the physical copy you don't have to worry.

I really miss the manuals. I will be playing a game and I will need to know the controls. So I open the case and.... no manual. It really annoys me. I would rather have an actual manual than one built into the game.

I do miss them, but I feel that they have become obsolete because games usually have tutorials teaching you how to play. Some of the earlier ones were very colorful and informative and I miss them, but I don't think they are necessary anymore.

I don't really miss manuals at all. The only time I would read them was when I was grounded and had nothing else to do. I've read the Halo 2 manual like 50 times over

I am not too sure that manuals are actually needed for games any more. Most if not all games have some sort of tutorial at the beginning of the game so you know what you are doing and you will not be as much as a noob as you could be. Also I noticed all of the games for the 3DS have a built in manual in to the game cartridge that you can access by hovering over the game in the how. I actually find them the slightest bit annoying, it probably boosted the games price up just for a piece of paper you will probably only read once. I just want a case with a disc in, not a tutorial or a manual or all of these random adverts you often get. 

Well, here is how it is for me. I had countless manuals. I found that I would often just read them even though I have read them time and time again. It used to be that manuals helped give you some back-story to help piece with the game itself. It gave you in depth descriptions of different enemies and friendly characters (as well as your own) to make them more rounded characters. It helped contribute to the story. The manuals went into examples and tips on game play strategies and ability uses. For me, it was fun to read them because the stories gave me more of a story to apply to the events that happened in the game. However, that was during a time where games often didn't have the capability of giving so much story and plot in the actual game. So the manual was a way to fit the pieces together to give you the whole story. 
But now games have the capability to make it not only a playing experience, but a movie experience too. They have the room to give you in depth interactive tutorials on how to do stuff that you can't get from reading a manual. 

I don't think it is as much due to packaging as much as they just weren't really necessary anymore. The games have the capacity to give you super in depth backstory for the plot as well as all the characters and give you 'on the job training' at the beginning. So manuals are more pointless nowadays. I do miss them cause I liked reading them for fun, but I get why they aren't needed. 

I miss manuals I remember when I would own a fighting game such as DBZ and I wouldn't know any moves since the manuals didn't come with the preordered copy of the game I would become frustrated from this.