Manuals used to be an almost sacred tradition of mine! I grew up gaming on console with the NES. I'd rent and trade games with classmates, playing something new almost every weekend. Those and my two monthly magazines were my allowance. I'd always dive straight into the games once I got home of course, but the manuals I'd sneak into bed to study every last detail as my mind raced furiously still thinking about them well after bed time.
Later around 1990 we got a computer! Computer game manuals were just so much better -packed with information. Each publisher's manuals had its own unique scent that brought up all the joyous memories of the previous games from them I had played.
Then there were Blizzard's manuals with all the lore and art, the Fallout vault tec manual and survival guide complete with real recipes to cook, and so many countless others that succeeded in being worth reading in their own right. The manuals really started to become a treat well past the age of bed times and scrounging for as much information as possible to placate a restless mind.
But, then digital distribution happened. I have not read one since getting a Steam account. Definitely something I miss, but not something I could ever return to.
