Nowadays when you buy a game you're lucky if you get physical media in the box, let alone printed material. Even the double sided - single sheet advertisements that were often the only thing accompanying your disc a few years back are starting to become a rarity.
Imagine a time when PC games came in big boxes filled with small boxes, papers, maps, and thick manuals clunking about inside as you made the trip home.
I will take you there!
We're gonna start with a small, but charming little guy.
Quake II - technologically industry shattering, timeless, and awesome as shit.
Quake 2 has super underrated story presentation in my opinion. It has one of the coolest intro cinematics in video game history.
Along with the story section, the manual also includes some bonus intel briefs. Manuals used to be crammed full of imaginative shit, for the sake of it.
There are of course many resources on how the game actually works, detailed descriptions of all options and features, as well as some intuitive guides to help people wrap their heads around the crazy ass 3d experience they are embarking on.
Just looking at stuff like this makes me feel 12 years old.
The manual includes an awesome bestiary as well.
Customer support and tip line, maybe these used to help fund packaging production.
That's all for Quake 2, Most of the stuff I left out was general operations and such. Even still, there's a lot in there for a smaller manual. The pages are matte and have an interesting texture, almost like pages from a paperback. There's not a ton of color, but it is there, and the prints are awesome. Open image in a new tab for stupid huge versions.
That's all for this installment, I had planned to do a double feature this time, but I'll need to reshoot the other manual, so I'll leave you a preview of pt.2...
