Game Guides/Art Books - the new collector's item?

[Anonymous No.9191470]

We are now living in an age where, let's face it, having physical games is pretty much obsolete unless you want them for display purposes (cringe). They're obsolete because most games don't provide any benefit at all for having a physical copy. You can play practically everything using E.E. (Emulators and Everdrives) and save yourself enormous costs since everything is now priced by grifters and coomlectors.

But something that ties things back to the "physical" is having a game guide in your lap. Digital guides just aren't the same. And these days, retro guides are of far higher quality than anything that was made in actual retro times. And having that high quality physical thing enhances the experience - maps, full original art, beta stuff, developer insights, actual design documents in some cases, and so on...

As we all become boomers as well as true video game appreciators, I think these things will becomes a lot more popular.

What do you guys think?

t. Dark Horse Books

[Anonymous No.9191480]

They've been that way for a while. Some people would get guidebooks just to have high quality artwork since many dedicated artbooks never left Japan, and the only other physical source non-Japanese players had for art was the manual.

[Anonymous No.9191481]

Some of them are a bit tacky as you can see but cool nonetheless

[Anonymous No.9191507]

I'll dump a few I bought recently.
It was really fun playing these games with these old guides, especially Pokemon Crystal because I also brought my team over to Pokemon Stadium 2.

[Anonymous No.9191512]

>>9191470
I love emulation and have no problem emulating, but I do get a comfy feeling from trying to recreate a spot in my house that is like something from the past. I only buy physical games if I'm actually going to play them, and afterwards I borrow them out because I want to share the experience.

In that same vein, one thing I like doing is making sure I have a manual for the game I'm currently playing (Ocarina of Time right now. I know.) so I can consult it instead of looking it up online, there's usually cool info and art in them too. Maps can be really nice too, I think Morrowind was designed with the assumption that the player would have a physical map with region names on it for example.

I find it inevitable that my old cartridges and discs will irreparably cease functioning some day, so I will play them and not display them (displays are a good way to attract thieves). The physical media that accompanied the games might require some serious research in how best to preserve the materials, I wonder how much will be left in a century or two. If the books are kept meticulously well, they could still be viewable for generations.

[Anonymous No.9191515]

>>9191507

[Anonymous No.9191519]

>>9191515
Uuuooohhhhh...

[Anonymous No.9191523]

>>9191507
Sounds comfy

[Anonymous No.9191526]

>>9191519
>>9191480
I agree. If you enjoy looking at artwork, especially concept art and drafts, they're great.

[Anonymous No.9191530]

>>9191470
>physical games are obsolete
Not if you want to actually own something, you bug eater.

[Anonymous No.9191534]

>>9191530
Is Bill Gates gonna take my roms away?

[Anonymous No.9191537]

>>9191470
I really like Retro Gamer Magazine, they have some nice issues. Also waiting to buy pic related at some point, I have the SNES one already and want it mostly for SEGA CD and 32X stuff

[Anonymous No.9191542]

>>9191512
>>9191526
Yeah, that's just the thing -- everything physical breaks down. And if you want physical, there are better and more affordable options like an Everdrive or a soft mod or whatever.

[Anonymous No.9191551]

>>9191523
>>9191542
It really was.

This one has guides for all the games Nintendo developed on NES Mini, it looks like.

[Anonymous No.9191552]

>>9191534
Do you use Windows? It doesn’t delete them for now, but I wouldn’t be surprised if in the future Microsoft scanned and removed files via checksums for violating copyright protection. It’d be easy to get around, but most people wouldn’t know how.

[Anonymous No.9191556]

>>9191552
I do use windows, but also have a ubuntu laptop. my rom/iso collection is copied all over the place, I spread it like the plague because I fear just such a thing though I like to tell myself it's unlikely.

[Anonymous No.9191564]

>>9191470
why yes OP i have seen the FINAL FANTASY ULTIMANIA

[Anonymous No.9191582]

I have a SNES Controller box stuffed with Premo SNES game Manuals. I have a tub filled with random paperwork and game manuals from Atari to 360. I have a book shelf's worth of Game Guides.
I did have a very nice copy of the Earthbound Guide, but I sold it since it got over two hundred dollars for just for the guide and it felt silly not selling it at the time.

[Anonymous No.9191584]

>>9191530
>>9191551
I own physical things, I just don't own any games. All my consoles have been soft modded or have an Everdrive. It felt incredible to purge all that shit (physical games) before moving into my first house. My modest collection, mostly Nintendo, scored me about $2,000, which paid for all the Everdrives, a couple consoles I didn't have, and then some. But to each their own, obviously.

Excuse the RBG and shitty picture quality. This setup is obviously a work in progress...

[Anonymous No.9191591]

>>9191584
I'm thinking about modding a Dreamcast. Do you have any suggestions?

[Anonymous No.9191598]

>>9191584
Oh, and other than getting rid of the games, you get to also throw out all of your dirty ass 30 year old cables/power adapters/controllers/etc and buy new ones.

I challenge ALL of you to slay the scary figurative dragon in the figurative cave, and by that I mean rinse your penises and clean out your closets of the literal dusty old junk you don't use.

[Anonymous No.9191606]

>>9191591
Ofc you ask about the one exception. I just got that Dreamcast a few weeks ago but haven't gotten to figuring that out yet. But I have a VGA adapter which I highly recommend you get, and play on a computer monitor if possible.

[Anonymous No.9191612]

>>9191582
>Lara Croft titty controller
I had an N64 memory card in the shape of a professional wrestler. It was either Stone Cold or Goldberg. Shit like that is worth having just for the laugh.

[Anonymous No.9191618]

>>9191534
Possibly. I would take them offline and keep backups if I were you. There are ways to foil Gates.

[Anonymous No.9191619]

>>9191606
I was planning on doing that too. I want to put in an Optical Drive Emulator on one of my white Dreamcasts. I don't think It would be wise to do it to a Black one. Even though the Black Dreamcasts look so much better. Personal Opinion

[Anonymous No.9191627]

>>9191519
Which book is this?

[Anonymous No.9191629]

>>9191470
I love strategy guides. I never had my hands on many when I was a kid and coveted them greatly. I haven't bought too many, but I have the V Jump strategy guides for Dragon Quest IV and V. The art alone is worth it and they weren't even that expensive. They're also waaaaay smaller than the BradyGames and Prima guides I'm used to seeing, which just makes them that much easier to fit on my bookshelf alongside my games and other books. I'm honestly more interested in collecting guides for my favorite games than adding new games to my library at this point.

[Anonymous No.9191630]

>>9191564
>>9191618
I HOPE YOU BOUGHT ALL 3

[Anonymous No.9191654]

>>9191629
Speaking of Strategy Guides as kids. My good friend and I were obsessed with Mortal Kombat 3 before it released. He bought the guide for it a while before the game released and it was a good couple weeks after it released before I found a copy to buy in some random mall my mom took me to. That Strategy guide had gotten so beat up and used that the cover was nearly falling off of it a year after he bought it. He's dead now, died of a car accident involving a drunk driver when he was a Senior in HS. But I still have that old ratty guide stuck away in my TMNT Box. It's the TMNT version of those big wooden storage boxes with metal clasps. The Angry Video Game Nerd has the Mario version.

[Anonymous No.9191659]

>>9191629
Same here. My cousin had a few guides, and I coveted them too (good way of putting it). I needed to borrow his OoT guide to find the last few pieces of heart

[Anonymous No.9191685]

This was the guidebook that changed everything in the early days. So many copies of it were passed around at recess in 1987/88.

[Anonymous No.9191725]

>>9191627
Pretty sure that's from the Ultimania.

[Anonymous No.9191729]

Ive been trying to shore up my guide collection lately but the prices are spiking like crazy.
No I will not pay 300 dollars for the SMPRG guide, fuck you

[Anonymous No.9191737]

>>9191551
I got this along with the SNES follow-up, and they're incredibly different. While the NES book was mostly guides with some extras thrown in, the SNES one is a much more in-depth look at the games themselves, covering their history, development, release, and even throwing in little-known facts and technical snafus about them. I gotta say, while the first one is handy from a purely utilitarian standpoint, I enjoyed the second one more.

[Anonymous No.9191749]

>>9191685
That looks like it would be neat to read through

[Anonymous No.9191762]

>>9191630
>BOUGHT ALL 3
listen my guy there is a million of them. FF7 + compilation + remake has to be something like 10 books.

[Anonymous No.9191795]

>>9191737
For me the SNES book was a big disappointment. Felt thrown together amateurishly compared to the NES one.

[Anonymous No.9191841]

>>9191729
Ahh nice. I picked one up for 30 bucks a year ago.

[Anonymous No.9192096]

>>9191470
Literally ruined.

[Anonymous No.9192646]

>>9192096
these guides are always shit for this exact reason. I've never found one guide that didn't fuck up some obvious detail like this. these things are garbage.

[Anonymous No.9193828]

>>9192096
>>9192646
It has a unique tile on the map and the previous page describes its location. No doubt where the tree is. Why be redundant?

[Anonymous No.9193832]

>>9193828
uhh retard it's saying the maku tree is in the middle of the overworld, it has nothing to do with being "redundant". how can you be this stupid and not have been hit by a car yet?

[Anonymous No.9194843]

>>9193832
KEK my bad
Please excuse me while I step into traffic

[Joeschmoe No.9195000]

>>9191470

I think you're an idiot that's trying to shill for digital only games... No.

[Anonymous No.9195231]

>>9195000
I'm not a shill, or an idiot. I'm just a guy who cleaned out his closet and sold some old junk.