28th March 2015, 7:23 PM
Game guides... I never got many guides. In the '90s I only got guides for a couple of PC games and that's it. I did read Nintendo Power, and subscribed for a few years, and that often has strategies for parts of games, and also sometimes remember looking something up in a guide in the store (I did this for Rebel Assault for the PC in '95, for example), but that's about it.
After the mid '90s I looked stuff up online, instead of spending money on guides; I'd rather spend money on games, or actual books, or such, not something I can get free online, once we had the interent. this is why the two guides we bought, which I do still have both of, are for two games from '95-'96, not anything newer -- Prima's Caesar II guide and Sybex's SimCity 2000 guide. I also have a Homeworld guide that came with the GotY edition of the game I have; it's the full Prima guide. Of the three, the SC2k guide is probably my favorite. It's a nice thick guide (over 300 pages) and does a great job describing how to play the game well, with lots of strategies, cheats, and such for the game and all of the built-in scenarios. It's got pictures, tables, and such where appropriate, though all three of the PC guides I have are like that, so I'm not sure what you mean about PC guides being text-only. It's a really nice guide for getting good at the game. I remember the Caesar II guide being very useful too, because that game was confusing and I struggled to figure it out, something the guide was very helpful for, but the SC2k guide is longer and more comprehensive, looking at them now.
As for actual paper guides for console games, they aren't anything I've ever really used while playing a game. I do have a few I've picked up over the past decade or so, though -- DKC 1 and 3 and Yoshi's Story guides for SNES, Yoshi's Story, Zelda OoT and MM for N64, a various-games Saturn guide (all text), one for Cyberia (Saturn version, though I'm sure all of the versions are similar), one for San Francisco Rush (N64 version), Sonic Adventure for DC, Dragon Quest VIII, Suikoden IV, Suikoden V, and Final Fantasy X-2 for PS2, and Metroid Prime 2 for Gamecube. The DKC1/3, Yoshi's Story, OoT, MM, and MP2 guides are the official NP guides, the rest Bradygames and Prima.
The SF Rush guide might be my favorite because it's got a short interview with the development team at the back with some interesting info in it. I really love the series of course, so that was cool to find.
After the mid '90s I looked stuff up online, instead of spending money on guides; I'd rather spend money on games, or actual books, or such, not something I can get free online, once we had the interent. this is why the two guides we bought, which I do still have both of, are for two games from '95-'96, not anything newer -- Prima's Caesar II guide and Sybex's SimCity 2000 guide. I also have a Homeworld guide that came with the GotY edition of the game I have; it's the full Prima guide. Of the three, the SC2k guide is probably my favorite. It's a nice thick guide (over 300 pages) and does a great job describing how to play the game well, with lots of strategies, cheats, and such for the game and all of the built-in scenarios. It's got pictures, tables, and such where appropriate, though all three of the PC guides I have are like that, so I'm not sure what you mean about PC guides being text-only. It's a really nice guide for getting good at the game. I remember the Caesar II guide being very useful too, because that game was confusing and I struggled to figure it out, something the guide was very helpful for, but the SC2k guide is longer and more comprehensive, looking at them now.
As for actual paper guides for console games, they aren't anything I've ever really used while playing a game. I do have a few I've picked up over the past decade or so, though -- DKC 1 and 3 and Yoshi's Story guides for SNES, Yoshi's Story, Zelda OoT and MM for N64, a various-games Saturn guide (all text), one for Cyberia (Saturn version, though I'm sure all of the versions are similar), one for San Francisco Rush (N64 version), Sonic Adventure for DC, Dragon Quest VIII, Suikoden IV, Suikoden V, and Final Fantasy X-2 for PS2, and Metroid Prime 2 for Gamecube. The DKC1/3, Yoshi's Story, OoT, MM, and MP2 guides are the official NP guides, the rest Bradygames and Prima.
The SF Rush guide might be my favorite because it's got a short interview with the development team at the back with some interesting info in it. I really love the series of course, so that was cool to find.
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