Super Mario 3D Land To Mark The Death Of The Physical Instruction Manual?

I love instruction manuals. Who doesn’t, I mean, really? They’re the perfect distraction for that long journey from the store where you bought the game to your video game consoles at home. They contain all sorts of useful information before you dive head-first into your new game. Some publishers even write instruction manuals with a sense of humour in mind. And perhaps best of all, they include all dem purty pictures. A good instruction manual for a well-loved game is a physical reminder of the experiences had with the game itself – it’s something to be treasured, like bonus material for picking up the game in the first place.

Well it seems as though all of that is going to change. Nintendo has announced that, with the release of Super Mario 3D Land, the game will not come packaged with it a physical instruction manual, but rather, the information will all be available for reading in a digital format on the 3DS itself – much like the virtual console and 3DS downloadable games. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking: who really cares, right? It’s just a stupid book. Well that’s not all it is my friend, and I have to say, it’s a development that brings a tear to the eye of this seasoned gamer.

With the death of the instruction manual, there will be a void to be filled when we open up those video game cases – one side of the case is going to lack any true relevance to the game you just purchased. Okay, okay, I admit it, I sometimes go to grab my Wind Waker game box just so I can open it and look at the glorious golden disc sitting adjacent to the blue instruction manual cover, featuring all of the characters from the game. The inside of that box is like a work of art itself, much a compliment to Wind Waker‘s art style. Ah well, we already know that Skyward Sword will feature an instruction manual, so everything will be okay there.

But everything’s digital these days. Soon, video game retail stores will be completely redundant, as everyone will be downloading their games from their console’s networks. No more box collections. It’s a little bit sad, hey? The times, they are a-changin’.

Source: Capsule Computers