Everyone’s seen the note pages at the back of their game manuals, but how many have actually put it to use? How many today would even know what to write? Perhaps you are like me and would never desecrate such a holy text. Yet, each weekend I would rent a different game from the local video store and ninety eight times out of one hundred the final pages were filled with illegible scribblings (not including brand new games, obviously). One in a hundred times the pages would remain blank but, even more amazing, one time out of a hundred there would actually be useful information. I will tell you how this important section of the book was used, but also why it’s no longer needed.
The #1 Thing to Write: Passwords
Ah yes, the system that allowed continuing the game across multiple sessions without resorting to leaving the system on all night – and possibly burning the image of the game into the TV if left on. Passwords were always a real pain in the ass and typically came in two varieties: grid based where symbols were entered to fill out a 4×4 grid (famous in the Mega Man series) and the more common string based variety.
The game manual was a great place to write passwords down. When stored near the corresponding game, these sacred tomes could readily provide valuable information and were far less likely to be thrown out than a slip of paper with a bunch of random numbers or letters scribbled on it.
Today, gaming passwords are a dead system, replaced entirely by saving data to a memory card or onto the system itself. Thankfully, the data is much more persistent (secure) than it used to be. How many out there have lost save games inexplicably on old NES RPGs? And no longer do gamers struggle to determine if it was a “0” (zero) or “O” they wrote.
Notes Sections of a Few Manuals I Grabbed Completely at Random
Chrono Cross – 2 pages, nice backdrop.
Worms World Party’s back cover.
As you’ll notice, this section is very pristine in all of my books for the aforementioned reason. I tended more toward stuffing slips of paper in the book than defacing the manual itself.
Writing Down Cheats, Secrets, Game Genie Codes
Actually progressing through games to get passwords can at times be tough, but obtaining them is much easier with invincibility, infinite lives or ammo. Another common use for the notes section was of course for any cheats, codes, secrets, Game Genie or Game Shark codes, and so on, that made life easier.
The games of today feature a very different flavor of “cheats” – something to alter the game. Rather than being condemned and pushed underground, a device for the weak, cheats have been brought into the limelight and are included in just about every modern game. Most commonly, these are now called “unlocks” and are found not by the whispers of word of mouth but in the options menu. Since difficulty in games is primarily adjusted by a static setting, the purpose of cheats and secret codes have lost their once prominent place in gaming.
Your Quest Log, Game Specific Info
Before the days of quest logs or objective screens recording exactly what to do and how to do it, it was necessary to actually remember the important information of a game to progress. The information ranged from hints needed for puzzles to RPG quests to boss weaknesses, even important landmarks or areas to return to later. Indeed there were countless instances in games where a specific code or combination was required to progress any further and there better be a note from when it was presented earlier! Certain RPGs were notorious for just this, at times not even allowing return to the area with the solution once at the point it is needed.
In the modern era, however, this information is all readily available and easily searchable online, resulting in little point to manually taking notes. This convenience is often abused outright by some, progressing though games by following detailed walkthroughs rather than experiencing the game itself. Even the developers have been sloppy from time to time, omitting necessary in game information leading to players being required to seek information elsewhere. Some MMOs are especially bad in this regard where without being able to read the instructions from someone who looked into the game’s code there would be no clues how to complete certain, highly specific quests.
Final Thoughts
Though ending game manuals makes sense, they will of course be missed. There was something very immersive about having to take down one’s own notes progressing through the game, and the manual was as good a place as any to do it. The biggest issue growing up of course was that the writing implement most commonly available was the pencil which tended not to take to the coating on the manual’s pages.
A Couple More Random Note Sections
Freespace 2 – offered 3 large pages.
C&C Red Alert – a whopping 5 pages.
Though these are not the most exciting images in the world, what impressed me was how much space these two games left for notes. The books themselves feature rather large pages so there is more space than I would know what to do with, especially in the case of Red Alert’s five pages.
What is the Notes Section at the Back of Game Manuals for?
Everyone’s seen the note pages at the back of their game manuals, but how many have actually put it to use? How many today would even know what to write? Perhaps you are like me and would never desecrate such a holy text. Yet, each weekend I would rent a different game from the local video store and ninety eight times out of one hundred the final pages were filled with illegible scribblings (not including brand new games, obviously). One in a hundred times the pages would remain blank but, even more amazing, one time out of a hundred there would actually be useful information. I will tell you how this important section of the book was used, but also why it’s no longer needed.
The #1 Thing to Write: Passwords
Ah yes, the system that allowed continuing the game across multiple sessions without resorting to leaving the system on all night – and possibly burning the image of the game into the TV if left on. Passwords were always a real pain in the ass and typically came in two varieties: grid based where symbols were entered to fill out a 4×4 grid (famous in the Mega Man series) and the more common string based variety.
The game manual was a great place to write passwords down. When stored near the corresponding game, these sacred tomes could readily provide valuable information and were far less likely to be thrown out than a slip of paper with a bunch of random numbers or letters scribbled on it.
Today, gaming passwords are a dead system, replaced entirely by saving data to a memory card or onto the system itself. Thankfully, the data is much more persistent (secure) than it used to be. How many out there have lost save games inexplicably on old NES RPGs? And no longer do gamers struggle to determine if it was a “0” (zero) or “O” they wrote.
Notes Sections of a Few Manuals I Grabbed Completely at Random
Chrono Cross – 2 pages, nice backdrop.
Worms World Party’s back cover.
As you’ll notice, this section is very pristine in all of my books for the aforementioned reason. I tended more toward stuffing slips of paper in the book than defacing the manual itself.
Writing Down Cheats, Secrets, Game Genie Codes
Actually progressing through games to get passwords can at times be tough, but obtaining them is much easier with invincibility, infinite lives or ammo. Another common use for the notes section was of course for any cheats, codes, secrets, Game Genie or Game Shark codes, and so on, that made life easier.
The games of today feature a very different flavor of “cheats” – something to alter the game. Rather than being condemned and pushed underground, a device for the weak, cheats have been brought into the limelight and are included in just about every modern game. Most commonly, these are now called “unlocks” and are found not by the whispers of word of mouth but in the options menu. Since difficulty in games is primarily adjusted by a static setting, the purpose of cheats and secret codes have lost their once prominent place in gaming.
Your Quest Log, Game Specific Info
Before the days of quest logs or objective screens recording exactly what to do and how to do it, it was necessary to actually remember the important information of a game to progress. The information ranged from hints needed for puzzles to RPG quests to boss weaknesses, even important landmarks or areas to return to later. Indeed there were countless instances in games where a specific code or combination was required to progress any further and there better be a note from when it was presented earlier! Certain RPGs were notorious for just this, at times not even allowing return to the area with the solution once at the point it is needed.
In the modern era, however, this information is all readily available and easily searchable online, resulting in little point to manually taking notes. This convenience is often abused outright by some, progressing though games by following detailed walkthroughs rather than experiencing the game itself. Even the developers have been sloppy from time to time, omitting necessary in game information leading to players being required to seek information elsewhere. Some MMOs are especially bad in this regard where without being able to read the instructions from someone who looked into the game’s code there would be no clues how to complete certain, highly specific quests.
Final Thoughts
Though ending game manuals makes sense, they will of course be missed. There was something very immersive about having to take down one’s own notes progressing through the game, and the manual was as good a place as any to do it. The biggest issue growing up of course was that the writing implement most commonly available was the pencil which tended not to take to the coating on the manual’s pages.
A Couple More Random Note Sections
Freespace 2 – offered 3 large pages.
C&C Red Alert – a whopping 5 pages.
Though these are not the most exciting images in the world, what impressed me was how much space these two games left for notes. The books themselves feature rather large pages so there is more space than I would know what to do with, especially in the case of Red Alert’s five pages.