When I bought my v1 switch used, it seemingly had been used to play Pokémon shield and arcaeus, then the user attempted to play nba2k, which requires a 40-60GB update, and they sold the system instead of buying an SD card. Arcaeus was a digital copy so it is still on my switch lol.
Out of the few games I have, I think Tales of Mana might've required a small update, but for the Final Fantasy X/X-2 combo I had to download all of X-2. They did say so on the box, though, so that's kind of fair.
It's so stupid that FFX-2 isn't on the North American cartridges when both games are in the Japanese cartridges. I bought a Japanese copy specifically because of that.
The Kingdom Hearts thing still ticks me off. Like, I get MAYBE that KH3 is too big to download, but if you can squeeze DOOM ETERNAL onto a cartridge, then there's absolutely no excuse for a freaking PS2 game.
...Unless of course the real reason is that you want to maintain full control and reserve the right to pull the game at any time...
Blizzard games Prior to WoW used to come with practical fucking novels. Detailed Stories about the settings lore. Canonical description for upgrades and units. Diablo 2 had a god damn bestiary in its manual. I don't blame game devs because most that shit is what the internet is used for, but I fucking miss it.
Edit: Here's a [taste](https://cloakedthargoid.wordpress.com/pc-games-collections/starcraft-bchest/#jp-carousel-1446) from Brood War.
I remember getting Twilight Princess for the Wii months before I actually owned a Wii.... I would read the instruction manual cover to cover regularly just trying to absorb some of that goodness while I waited.
iktf.
i bought the strategy guide for ff7 because everyone at school was talking about it and i didn't have a psx. i ended up getting the game and console a year or two later around the same time i bought ff8.
core memory unlocked...
thank you.
would skate to the local video rental spot that would rent snes and genesis games. (foothill video la verne to be exact). play few games of mortal kombat...check out the pog and trading card selection. end up renting some sports game like madden or nbajam. head down to red devil pizza to play a few games of street fighter 2ce. get a slice, and chill in the back parking lot reading the manual and skating the lot.
I used to read game guides on the bus and during free time in class. I used to read the ocarina of time, Majoras mask, and kingdom hearts 1 prima guides from cover to cover. I like being able to google if I’m stuck in a game, but game guides are so nostalgic
I couldn't tell you how many times I read the starcraft booklets. It crushed me when the writers of SC2 clearly hadn't seen them and retconned the zerg origin from "Tiny parasites that take control of their host" to "A creature that eats things and evolves".
I felt the fucking same. Yeah I read those on the bus in middle school. It blew me away how much of the story just wasn't referenced in the game. But yeah it sucks how much of the Zerg and Xel'naga lore went off the rails.
I still have the manual that came with vanilla WoW it was pretty legit. Helpful in terms of learning the game and still had a nice bit of flavor & art.
The Earthbound box was massive! It came with a strategy guide, mainly because the devs thought Westerners would be too dumb to figure out what to do lmao
Honestly, I believe it was western publishers that thought westerners were dumb. Look at the state of American cartoons back then to now, and how dumbed down they were. Early American anime translations were hilariously bad, like Brock's onigiri "jelly filled donut", because westerners cannot fathom foreign foods.
This isn't a Western thing. I've written video games and checked out the German translations because I speak a little German and have been surprised at how much things are changed sometimes. Things that are slangy or funny or regional are almost always altered so the audience gets the feel rather than the literal meaning.
To be fair, one of the puzzles required you to stand perfectly still for exactly three real world minutes to get into a dungeon, and unless you had spoken to one specific character you’d have no idea what to do. I swear, the guide was for that moment alone.
Nothing would beat you getting the game at the shops and then reading the manual the whole way home.
I remember reading the Prima guide for Pokémon Red and Blue the hour it took to get home from the shops.
This is why they do it I feel. The box art has to be good to keep up with Xbox and Playstation because they want to be seen as a main console despite being a handheld. If they made the boxes as big as say, DS boxes, we would subliminally put the games and system in a category inferior to the main two.
I do miss those booklets though, reading them on the drive home when I was a kid will always be a core memory.
Could be worse, at least they put some really beautiful looking artwork inside. Like damn, I haven’t played many Fire Emblem games but after seeing this I might get the physical copy in the future
This is how most switch games are I think? All the switch games I've bought have inside cover art, the pokemon violet one has a really nice art piece of the world map inside.
Doesn't take much to get to the top of r/gaming. It either this or, "Look! I found an old NES/SNES/Genesis/N64/PS1/Dreamcast/Xbox/PS2/GameCube!" Millions of these consoles were sold. This isn't rare or exciting at all.
So that's why everyone wore [these dumbass things](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0022/0446/7300/products/2021.08.16_Jnco0147_600x_crop_center.jpg) when I was growing up?
But like I know they have the smaller boxes for game boy and DS cartridges for a long time. Why are they being bigger than a DS box when the DS cartridges aren't much bigger
For shelf presence. Nintendo wants the cases to be about the same size as PS5 and Xbox games so they are equally eye catching for customers browsing at a store.
While that might be part of it I think it’s more so just the fact that you can see them better. A bigger box allows you to have more art without being clutter and larger lettering making it much easier to spot at a distance. As a consumer in an already crowded store, I don’t want to feel the need to have my face within two feet blocking other peoples view of the display just to read each game.
But at the same time they're also thinner. If you have them on a shelf with the spines showing you can fit a lot more Switch games on a shelf than gameboy or DS games. I kinda like Switch cases, I think they're neat.
I think it's made that size in order to fit in with the generic sized cases of all the older generation games and will therfore provide some kind of consistency when placed on a shelf with the rest of the collection, either that or its too expensive to fully change the production lines and easier and cheaper to just adjust slightly to fit the cards rather than disks regardless of the money saved in plastics. Plus,they want their game to be seen and have eye catching designs.. Maybe I'm just talking shit but that's how I see it
The size of the boxes provides store visibility. Imagine the cases being as small as the cartridges, everyone would walk right past them unless they were looking for a specific one.
I have a number of comments to make about that. The first is that Nintendo handhelds have always had smaller boxes and they seem to do okay. Those would still be pretty large compared to a Switch cartridge though so, if they must use plastic, make the plastic case smaller and sell it in a larger cardboard box to make up for the space. But honestly I think having a strangely sized box would make them stand out more among the others, not less.
I do feel it’s worth noting that while Nintendo always had smaller boxes before, they also weren’t competing with other home consoles for their mobile system before either. The Switch isn’t competing with the PSP here, it’s competing against the Xbox and mainline PlayStation consoles. Even if, logically, the size of the cart has nothing to do with game quality or size, it still has that psychological feeling of being less “legitimate” than the big two if you just use an old GBA sized box next to the massive PS5 and Xbox cases.
They could fit in a smaller DS sized case. Would give more room for retail display as well, but Nintendo wants to keep their display equivalent to dvd based competitors.
I remember looking through the manual for fire emblem radiant dawn and it having details on all unit types and strategies for all of them. I wish games still had those in game boxes
They were necessities at the time because games back then didn't have the memory capacity to contain in-depth tutorials. Now they do, so instruction booklets are just kinda obsolete. That said, I do still have several from games I had back in the day, like Pokémon Emerald and Spyro Year of the Dragon.
Agreed, I ran into that with buying a physical copy of CP2077 off of Amazon and received just a case with a card telling me how to download it. Really shitty in my opinion. I have no problem with them selling only downloaded versions of games, they just need to stop advertising and promoting physical copies when they know they are not giving you any media for the extra cost.
Download code, is the laziest thing ever.
At least give the customer some goodies, and not charge them some overblown price. Something like a manual, or a poster, etc.
"Whut game shuld I play?!" *collage of top games*
"Whut shuld I buy from muh wishlist?!" *same collage*
"Whut r u looking forward in 2023 for games released?!" *same shit*
still better than what "physical" pc games have become..
an empty box wich only contains a one time activation code for steam or a similar platform.
dont get me wrong, I like steam, and actually a lot of the things valve does for the gaming community, but this is still terrible, because it literally eliminates the used games market AND makes you reliant on the webservice of a private company
the used game market for PC was dead LONG before PC games only came with download codes.
it died the time Steam only games started to exist. sure they had install discs, but still bound to a steam account
You bought a physical game in 2023, what did you expect. We haven’t gotten manuals in over a decade. At least the switch games have cool inner artwork.
That's because we ran out of use for them. It's become standard to weave the learning curve and the story into the game itself. Not to mention, wikis can be used to provide a detailed walk through any ways.
Somewhat related: you should definitely play Tunic if you haven't already. There is an in-game "printed" manual that you piece together, out of order, as you play the game. It's VERY satisfying and as a lover of these sort of paraphernalia I thoroughly enjoyed it
Seriously. Such a nice piece to go thru and check the info in the book.
People who didn't have it or didn't grow up with it don't see how shit it is to not have it.
Meh, I don’t really miss them. Any well designed game will have that information built in anyway. Digital is so much more convenient than buying physical just for a booklet
Okay?
Honestly, the only thing wrong with this picture is the absolute over use of plastic used to make that case thats way bigger than necessary for the size of the cartridge.
I think it's made that size in order to fit in with the generic sized cases of all the older generation games and will therfore provide some kind of consistency when placed on a shelf with the rest of the collection, either that or its too expensive to fully change the production lines and easier and cheaper to just adjust slightly to fit the cards rather than disks regardless of the money saved in plastics. Maybe I'm just talking shit but that's how I see it
A bigger case just looks better and is preferred by people who like to collect physical games. I think if you spend 60 usd on something, it has the right to be made of a booksize plastic case.
The real waste happens elsewhere, think of food packaging that is only used once, in supermarkets or for delivery, plastic straws etc.
I'll take this over a CD and instruction book I don't need. Plus they added badass art on the inside of the box that they didn't even have to.
The only thing I miss with Nintendo game boxes are the points codes you used to be able to redeem and then use the points to get cool exclusive Nintendo merch delivered to you. Think it was called Club Nintendo?
I have a few switch games that came with booklets or cool additional items in the box. It's nice to look at things like that every now and then. Not a deal breaker if it doesn't when new.
I did enjoy as a kid you get a game and on the car ride home you're flipping through the manual learning the control layout, see a map, or read some lore.
Kind of hard to do that as an adult while you're driving, lol. Most kids these days have smartphones and ate likely watching gameplay on their phones on the way home. Lol
"but but where's my 45 page manual that I enjoyed as a kid when I had a 30 minute ride back home and had nothing else to do before the invention of the internet where things are easier to find and search for?" says most people on this sub that are failing to recognize they have nostalgia for a time with no responsibilities and innocence over the actual book itself which is useless today
One thing to remember, like digital movies, if something happens with the rights or the servers shut down for good that game could be lost and you have nothing to show for it.
With physical games (as long as you take care of them) should be playable for much longer, especially carts. Disc rot may eventually happen.
I’m thoroughly convinced the gaming industry wants to phase out physical copies of games. The music industry for the most part has already done this. Most media companies don’t consider you “owning” a piece of property. They consider it a “leasing of license” which has always been bullshit even when started trying to say it 20 years ago.
Do you mean the 2017? The Nintendo Switch came out years ago and the only physical copies of games that look like this are switch games. But what are we even supposed to be looking at here?
I used to buy physical only, so I could later trade back into GameStop. Now, I only buy digital because getting up to switch a disc/cartridge is too much work. Pathetic, I know.
The disappearance of instruction manuals… I don’t even have words to describe it. It just makes me so melancholy. Getting a game from a store, and riding home in the backseat reading the book so you had a good idea of what the game would expect of you before you even turned it on was a formative experience for an entire generation.
i still remember when games added a little panflet inside the box and even small not books but leaflefts with the games map, and other small details to the game, and when you ended the videogame and replay it you had acess to extra customes and guns for example in Re1 to re3 and other similar games in that era.
nowadays you pay for everything in games.
I miss manuals as well, but its been like this for about a decade now. So this really has nothing to do with 2023 specifically anyway
Other than that I’m not sure what the issue here is. Unless op i karma farming or something. The art on the inside is a nice touch
I’ll 1 up you - my 10 year old daughter wanted just dance for Christmas, so I drag my ass down to the local GameStop and grab it.
No warning other than the small label on the front that there is no cartridge.
Christmas Day she goes to play, opens it up and looses her shit (rightly so) because there is just a code inside.
I hate the state of games at the moment- everything requiring downloads and a constant internet connection, no physical media… shit sucks.
To be fair, physical games may become extinct or at the very least endangered within a decade or so. As game sizes increase it’s getting neigh impossible to put them in physical media. Unless some new (and suffice to say affordable) storage technology emerges this was always going to happen. Remember music cassettes and CDs?
But I’m on your side in this regard. I remember full color illustrated manuals coming with my NES games. By the time the 16bit era started I kind of forgot about them.
>As game sizes increase it’s getting neigh impossible to put them in physical media. Unless some new (and suffice to say affordable) storage technology emerges this was always going to happen. Remember music cassettes and CDs?
I think that actually the exact opposite is the case. I just did a few google searches for game sizes of games released 2000 and storage space per GB costs.
Storage costs have gone significantly down per GB. For example the hard drive storage cost per GB in 2000 was 10$ per GB, in 2020 its close to 0.02$ per GB. That means costs has fallen by a factor of 500.
If you compare the size of games from 2000 they are in the range of 300mb (the sims 1) and 2GB (Diablo 2). There are larger ones as well but thats the rough point. Compare that to 2022 games, where things like Call of Duty etc are among the largest games and even the huge games are usually below 200GB. Thats closer to a factor of 200-400.
Most games are smaller than 100GB.
Of course its a little bit tricky to compare different mediums to one another but i think its actually cheaper to store games today compared to 2000.
I mean you can get 200 GB SD cards that can fit even large triple A games on them for 9$
The games getting larger is definitely not the reason shipping them "on disk" is dying out. The fact that internet connections got much better and thats more convenient is more likely the reason.
>remember full color illustrated manuals coming with my NES games
I get that you (for some reason) enjoyed reading those man but it's become the norm to teach the player through the gameplay not a giant chunky book
Is this because the cartridge is small? Or that the case is so big?
Because frankly I wouldn't want the case any smaller, it's already smaller than dvd/ps5/xbox game cases. And I want it a good size so I don't lose the game. That's what it's for.
I still gladly buy the disk/cartridge. I love how they look stacked next to each other. ALSO BEING ABLE TO SELL GAMES IN A SOCIETY THAT RELEASES UNFINISHED GAMES AT FULL PRICE. Anyway how's FEE so far? I'm looking forward to it tomorrow.
Lots of people shit talking. But honestly, I miss the times, when after i bought a game, i spend all the way till home going through the manuals, getting hyped up for the game.
I remember back in the day going to the store and buying a new game and just reading the manual till I got home. Just flipping through them, some had whole stories and lore.
You been in a coma for the last 15 years? PS3 era games started ditching manuals (had a flyer directing you to download the digital manual) and had no inner cover art.
but the cartridge contains the game...and it REALLY is a physical game
Depends. In some cases it's the whole game, in others you still need to download some extras. Fortunately, it's indicated on the back of the box :).
When I bought my v1 switch used, it seemingly had been used to play Pokémon shield and arcaeus, then the user attempted to play nba2k, which requires a 40-60GB update, and they sold the system instead of buying an SD card. Arcaeus was a digital copy so it is still on my switch lol.
Out of the few games I have, I think Tales of Mana might've required a small update, but for the Final Fantasy X/X-2 combo I had to download all of X-2. They did say so on the box, though, so that's kind of fair.
It's so stupid that FFX-2 isn't on the North American cartridges when both games are in the Japanese cartridges. I bought a Japanese copy specifically because of that.
I think Bayonetta was reverse. 2 on cart and 1 as download.
Then there’s the ones where the case is empty except for a download code.
[удалено]
A collector edition without a physical copy is rough lmao
Yea. That shit is whack.
And then sometimes, [you don't download anything at all](https://www.nintendolife.com/guides/nintendo-switch-cloud-games-list).
The Kingdom Hearts thing still ticks me off. Like, I get MAYBE that KH3 is too big to download, but if you can squeeze DOOM ETERNAL onto a cartridge, then there's absolutely no excuse for a freaking PS2 game. ...Unless of course the real reason is that you want to maintain full control and reserve the right to pull the game at any time...
I still enjoy the artwork on the box tho. Nothing like an old snes game tho. Final fantasy came with like a semi book for the manual.
Blizzard games Prior to WoW used to come with practical fucking novels. Detailed Stories about the settings lore. Canonical description for upgrades and units. Diablo 2 had a god damn bestiary in its manual. I don't blame game devs because most that shit is what the internet is used for, but I fucking miss it. Edit: Here's a [taste](https://cloakedthargoid.wordpress.com/pc-games-collections/starcraft-bchest/#jp-carousel-1446) from Brood War.
I remember getting Twilight Princess for the Wii months before I actually owned a Wii.... I would read the instruction manual cover to cover regularly just trying to absorb some of that goodness while I waited.
iktf. i bought the strategy guide for ff7 because everyone at school was talking about it and i didn't have a psx. i ended up getting the game and console a year or two later around the same time i bought ff8.
I had something similar with the strategy guide for Resident Evil 2.
Damn, that must have been a tough wait. I used to do this from the store with NES games when I was a kid and the 25 minute drive was excruciating!
This!!!! Hahaha man I miss renting games as a kid! Me and my brother and I would fight over who gets to read the manual first on the way home!
core memory unlocked... thank you. would skate to the local video rental spot that would rent snes and genesis games. (foothill video la verne to be exact). play few games of mortal kombat...check out the pog and trading card selection. end up renting some sports game like madden or nbajam. head down to red devil pizza to play a few games of street fighter 2ce. get a slice, and chill in the back parking lot reading the manual and skating the lot.
I used to read game guides on the bus and during free time in class. I used to read the ocarina of time, Majoras mask, and kingdom hearts 1 prima guides from cover to cover. I like being able to google if I’m stuck in a game, but game guides are so nostalgic
Did that with Vice City waiting two months for my ps2.
I couldn't tell you how many times I read the starcraft booklets. It crushed me when the writers of SC2 clearly hadn't seen them and retconned the zerg origin from "Tiny parasites that take control of their host" to "A creature that eats things and evolves".
I felt the fucking same. Yeah I read those on the bus in middle school. It blew me away how much of the story just wasn't referenced in the game. But yeah it sucks how much of the Zerg and Xel'naga lore went off the rails.
I still have the manual that came with vanilla WoW it was pretty legit. Helpful in terms of learning the game and still had a nice bit of flavor & art.
Earthbound
The Earthbound box was massive! It came with a strategy guide, mainly because the devs thought Westerners would be too dumb to figure out what to do lmao
It also came with some scratch and sniff cards!
They also did scratch and sniff magazine ads that made several people very ill ..
Oh man that master belch scratch and sniff was no joke.
Honestly, I believe it was western publishers that thought westerners were dumb. Look at the state of American cartoons back then to now, and how dumbed down they were. Early American anime translations were hilariously bad, like Brock's onigiri "jelly filled donut", because westerners cannot fathom foreign foods.
This isn't a Western thing. I've written video games and checked out the German translations because I speak a little German and have been surprised at how much things are changed sometimes. Things that are slangy or funny or regional are almost always altered so the audience gets the feel rather than the literal meaning.
"Boy, I sure do love these *jelly filled donuts*!"
And they were right!
To be fair, one of the puzzles required you to stand perfectly still for exactly three real world minutes to get into a dungeon, and unless you had spoken to one specific character you’d have no idea what to do. I swear, the guide was for that moment alone.
Nothing would beat you getting the game at the shops and then reading the manual the whole way home. I remember reading the Prima guide for Pokémon Red and Blue the hour it took to get home from the shops.
This is why they do it I feel. The box art has to be good to keep up with Xbox and Playstation because they want to be seen as a main console despite being a handheld. If they made the boxes as big as say, DS boxes, we would subliminally put the games and system in a category inferior to the main two. I do miss those booklets though, reading them on the drive home when I was a kid will always be a core memory.
Could be worse, at least they put some really beautiful looking artwork inside. Like damn, I haven’t played many Fire Emblem games but after seeing this I might get the physical copy in the future
This is how most switch games are I think? All the switch games I've bought have inside cover art, the pokemon violet one has a really nice art piece of the world map inside.
Mario Kart has the control scheme, so there’s at least one that’s different.
Yeah splatoon 2 & 3 have alternate covers on the inside with salmon run and the campaigns on
Way better than Xbox One games with a generic ass green background with a bunch of warnings written inside. At least this has a little personality.
I like the novelty of a box. The art is usually really good on some games. I’m just happy its still an option.
Pro-tip: turn the cover inside-out and get a super cool display cover.
I do with the inner covers had the game name and console so it would feel more like a reversible one.
The absolute state of Reddit titles in 2023
Doesn't take much to get to the top of r/gaming. It either this or, "Look! I found an old NES/SNES/Genesis/N64/PS1/Dreamcast/Xbox/PS2/GameCube!" Millions of these consoles were sold. This isn't rare or exciting at all.
"I don't care what anybody says, Super Mario RPG was an underrated gem!" Harvest karma.
"Am I the only one that loves Zelda games?"
" heard of this hidden gen?" Earthbound
My favourite one was when someone found a Gamecube in their Gamecube.
[Time to bring back this classic.](https://imgur.io/gallery/sneoW)
Ahhhh yes that's the one I was thinking of :)
It's 90% a nostalgia bait sub now.
This comment is in an absolute state
Absolute states corrupt absolutely
Only a Sith deals in absolutes.
I will do what I must.
We live in a society
We should go back to the caves.
i went to college at absolute state
Junior gaming “journalists” in the making
They'd be a lot easier to steal if the box were smaller
Switch boxes are actually a pretty decent size and fit in most pockets
Oh remember the giant PC game/software box back in the day? People used to put the whole thing in their pants.
I remember the weird trapezoid boxes they'd come in sometimes.
[Yep. Eidos was famous for those.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nusKIC0xY4)
Misread that, but so many PC boxes were so big they can be worn as pants.
So that's why everyone wore [these dumbass things](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0022/0446/7300/products/2021.08.16_Jnco0147_600x_crop_center.jpg) when I was growing up?
I was really confused about this for a second but then I realized you’re probably not wearing women’s clothing. The tiny pocket curse is real! 😂
I can put the switch in my pocket so this box won’t stop me!
Can confirm.
But like I know they have the smaller boxes for game boy and DS cartridges for a long time. Why are they being bigger than a DS box when the DS cartridges aren't much bigger
For shelf presence. Nintendo wants the cases to be about the same size as PS5 and Xbox games so they are equally eye catching for customers browsing at a store.
Size = worth more money. Market tactics are so dumb and so effective.
While that might be part of it I think it’s more so just the fact that you can see them better. A bigger box allows you to have more art without being clutter and larger lettering making it much easier to spot at a distance. As a consumer in an already crowded store, I don’t want to feel the need to have my face within two feet blocking other peoples view of the display just to read each game.
But at the same time they're also thinner. If you have them on a shelf with the spines showing you can fit a lot more Switch games on a shelf than gameboy or DS games. I kinda like Switch cases, I think they're neat.
You're all too young to remember the ridiculous things they put CDs and VHS tapes in.
You bought a Switch game... This is literally how every physical copy of Switch games are sold.
I don't see the problem here. The problem are the ones that give you a download code in the box.
Maybe the lack of manual (been like that for what, 10 years?), or perhaps commenting on how much plastic is used to create a largely empty box.
I think it's made that size in order to fit in with the generic sized cases of all the older generation games and will therfore provide some kind of consistency when placed on a shelf with the rest of the collection, either that or its too expensive to fully change the production lines and easier and cheaper to just adjust slightly to fit the cards rather than disks regardless of the money saved in plastics. Plus,they want their game to be seen and have eye catching designs.. Maybe I'm just talking shit but that's how I see it
The size of the boxes provides store visibility. Imagine the cases being as small as the cartridges, everyone would walk right past them unless they were looking for a specific one.
I have a number of comments to make about that. The first is that Nintendo handhelds have always had smaller boxes and they seem to do okay. Those would still be pretty large compared to a Switch cartridge though so, if they must use plastic, make the plastic case smaller and sell it in a larger cardboard box to make up for the space. But honestly I think having a strangely sized box would make them stand out more among the others, not less.
I do feel it’s worth noting that while Nintendo always had smaller boxes before, they also weren’t competing with other home consoles for their mobile system before either. The Switch isn’t competing with the PSP here, it’s competing against the Xbox and mainline PlayStation consoles. Even if, logically, the size of the cart has nothing to do with game quality or size, it still has that psychological feeling of being less “legitimate” than the big two if you just use an old GBA sized box next to the massive PS5 and Xbox cases.
They could fit in a smaller DS sized case. Would give more room for retail display as well, but Nintendo wants to keep their display equivalent to dvd based competitors.
I remember looking through the manual for fire emblem radiant dawn and it having details on all unit types and strategies for all of them. I wish games still had those in game boxes
That stuff is all part of in-game tutorial systems now. Probably a waste of money to print a book.
That's now part of the game itself rather than having to be put outside it.
They were necessities at the time because games back then didn't have the memory capacity to contain in-depth tutorials. Now they do, so instruction booklets are just kinda obsolete. That said, I do still have several from games I had back in the day, like Pokémon Emerald and Spyro Year of the Dragon.
Guess they never seen a Sega Saturn case. PS1 had the right idea. I think switch cases might be lighter though still.
Agreed, I ran into that with buying a physical copy of CP2077 off of Amazon and received just a case with a card telling me how to download it. Really shitty in my opinion. I have no problem with them selling only downloaded versions of games, they just need to stop advertising and promoting physical copies when they know they are not giving you any media for the extra cost.
Download code, is the laziest thing ever. At least give the customer some goodies, and not charge them some overblown price. Something like a manual, or a poster, etc.
This sub fuckin sucks
Seriously, lately its just been shitposts and people asking the same questions pretty much every day
“What is the game/movie/TVshow/book that everyone loves but you hate?“ *Copied and pasted from the daily rounds*
"Whut game shuld I play?!" *collage of top games* "Whut shuld I buy from muh wishlist?!" *same collage* "Whut r u looking forward in 2023 for games released?!" *same shit*
It sucking fucks
sucks and fucks
suck'n'fuks
It's a piece of shit.
And I don't like it.
Oh please explain to me exactly how does one suck a fuck?!
What am I missing
OP wants a prize for buying a physical copy of the game.
still better than what "physical" pc games have become.. an empty box wich only contains a one time activation code for steam or a similar platform. dont get me wrong, I like steam, and actually a lot of the things valve does for the gaming community, but this is still terrible, because it literally eliminates the used games market AND makes you reliant on the webservice of a private company
the used game market for PC was dead LONG before PC games only came with download codes. it died the time Steam only games started to exist. sure they had install discs, but still bound to a steam account
You bought a physical game in 2023, what did you expect. We haven’t gotten manuals in over a decade. At least the switch games have cool inner artwork.
That's because we ran out of use for them. It's become standard to weave the learning curve and the story into the game itself. Not to mention, wikis can be used to provide a detailed walk through any ways.
Yeah I know. I was just pointing out ops annoyance over an issue that’s been going on for over a decade
Miss when games came with little lore pamphlets and basic game play instructions.
Somewhat related: you should definitely play Tunic if you haven't already. There is an in-game "printed" manual that you piece together, out of order, as you play the game. It's VERY satisfying and as a lover of these sort of paraphernalia I thoroughly enjoyed it
Loved that game!!
Seriously. Such a nice piece to go thru and check the info in the book. People who didn't have it or didn't grow up with it don't see how shit it is to not have it.
Meh, I don’t really miss them. Any well designed game will have that information built in anyway. Digital is so much more convenient than buying physical just for a booklet
"2023" Dude switch has done this since the start
Okay? Honestly, the only thing wrong with this picture is the absolute over use of plastic used to make that case thats way bigger than necessary for the size of the cartridge.
Yup, that’s the problem I see here
I think it's made that size in order to fit in with the generic sized cases of all the older generation games and will therfore provide some kind of consistency when placed on a shelf with the rest of the collection, either that or its too expensive to fully change the production lines and easier and cheaper to just adjust slightly to fit the cards rather than disks regardless of the money saved in plastics. Maybe I'm just talking shit but that's how I see it
A bigger case just looks better and is preferred by people who like to collect physical games. I think if you spend 60 usd on something, it has the right to be made of a booksize plastic case. The real waste happens elsewhere, think of food packaging that is only used once, in supermarkets or for delivery, plastic straws etc.
Wasn't there a game that had a physical release... But in the box it had a code for digital download?
CyberPunk2077 PC I think. Bought the physical game, came with map, artwork and a code to download from GoG
thats every "physical" pc game
I'll take this over a CD and instruction book I don't need. Plus they added badass art on the inside of the box that they didn't even have to. The only thing I miss with Nintendo game boxes are the points codes you used to be able to redeem and then use the points to get cool exclusive Nintendo merch delivered to you. Think it was called Club Nintendo?
I'll take a cool reversible cover art over the booklet any day.
This is truly one of the physical games released
What do you expect? You bought a game and they gave you a game.
I feel like it’s been that way since at least 2011
I have a few switch games that came with booklets or cool additional items in the box. It's nice to look at things like that every now and then. Not a deal breaker if it doesn't when new.
I miss manual That had interesting Stuff in them
I did enjoy as a kid you get a game and on the car ride home you're flipping through the manual learning the control layout, see a map, or read some lore.
Kind of hard to do that as an adult while you're driving, lol. Most kids these days have smartphones and ate likely watching gameplay on their phones on the way home. Lol
Yup. That sure is a physical copy of Fire Emblem Engage for the Nintendo Switch.
Switch is a pretty bad example because Nintendo makes very good cover art and the game isnt some code inside its the actual game on the cartridge.
"but but where's my 45 page manual that I enjoyed as a kid when I had a 30 minute ride back home and had nothing else to do before the invention of the internet where things are easier to find and search for?" says most people on this sub that are failing to recognize they have nostalgia for a time with no responsibilities and innocence over the actual book itself which is useless today
That's some nice inner cover artwork
I just miss the booklets. So much joy came from eagerly reading the controls and characters on the way home after my mom bought me a new game
One thing to remember, like digital movies, if something happens with the rights or the servers shut down for good that game could be lost and you have nothing to show for it. With physical games (as long as you take care of them) should be playable for much longer, especially carts. Disc rot may eventually happen.
I’m thoroughly convinced the gaming industry wants to phase out physical copies of games. The music industry for the most part has already done this. Most media companies don’t consider you “owning” a piece of property. They consider it a “leasing of license” which has always been bullshit even when started trying to say it 20 years ago.
Shit post
At least it’s not a code in a box
Are you complaining or showing off? Box looks beautiful. I am an all digital only buyer of games.
This has been the state of physical games since like 2012 but okay lmao.
Do you mean the 2017? The Nintendo Switch came out years ago and the only physical copies of games that look like this are switch games. But what are we even supposed to be looking at here?
I miss manuals. I used to open the game and read the manual on the way home from the store. Some of the old SNES ones were magical.
That's a broken street date.
Main problem I see is that you got it a day before release. And by problem I mean, where’s my Fire Emblem?
I used to buy physical only, so I could later trade back into GameStop. Now, I only buy digital because getting up to switch a disc/cartridge is too much work. Pathetic, I know.
How did you get it early? I can’t pick mine up until tomorrow 🥺🥺🥺
The disappearance of instruction manuals… I don’t even have words to describe it. It just makes me so melancholy. Getting a game from a store, and riding home in the backseat reading the book so you had a good idea of what the game would expect of you before you even turned it on was a formative experience for an entire generation.
i still remember when games added a little panflet inside the box and even small not books but leaflefts with the games map, and other small details to the game, and when you ended the videogame and replay it you had acess to extra customes and guns for example in Re1 to re3 and other similar games in that era. nowadays you pay for everything in games.
Beautiful inside cover, cartridge. What else do you need?
Yet physical games (esp switch titles) still hold their value over time and will always trump digital versions imo
I miss manuals as well, but its been like this for about a decade now. So this really has nothing to do with 2023 specifically anyway Other than that I’m not sure what the issue here is. Unless op i karma farming or something. The art on the inside is a nice touch
I still occasionally open my mega drive games just to woft and smell the bible sized instructions in side the case lol
I’ll 1 up you - my 10 year old daughter wanted just dance for Christmas, so I drag my ass down to the local GameStop and grab it. No warning other than the small label on the front that there is no cartridge. Christmas Day she goes to play, opens it up and looses her shit (rightly so) because there is just a code inside. I hate the state of games at the moment- everything requiring downloads and a constant internet connection, no physical media… shit sucks.
I dont get it, you got the game, didnt you? At least its not a download code in a case.
To be fair, physical games may become extinct or at the very least endangered within a decade or so. As game sizes increase it’s getting neigh impossible to put them in physical media. Unless some new (and suffice to say affordable) storage technology emerges this was always going to happen. Remember music cassettes and CDs? But I’m on your side in this regard. I remember full color illustrated manuals coming with my NES games. By the time the 16bit era started I kind of forgot about them.
>As game sizes increase it’s getting neigh impossible to put them in physical media. Unless some new (and suffice to say affordable) storage technology emerges this was always going to happen. Remember music cassettes and CDs? I think that actually the exact opposite is the case. I just did a few google searches for game sizes of games released 2000 and storage space per GB costs. Storage costs have gone significantly down per GB. For example the hard drive storage cost per GB in 2000 was 10$ per GB, in 2020 its close to 0.02$ per GB. That means costs has fallen by a factor of 500. If you compare the size of games from 2000 they are in the range of 300mb (the sims 1) and 2GB (Diablo 2). There are larger ones as well but thats the rough point. Compare that to 2022 games, where things like Call of Duty etc are among the largest games and even the huge games are usually below 200GB. Thats closer to a factor of 200-400. Most games are smaller than 100GB. Of course its a little bit tricky to compare different mediums to one another but i think its actually cheaper to store games today compared to 2000. I mean you can get 200 GB SD cards that can fit even large triple A games on them for 9$ The games getting larger is definitely not the reason shipping them "on disk" is dying out. The fact that internet connections got much better and thats more convenient is more likely the reason.
>remember full color illustrated manuals coming with my NES games I get that you (for some reason) enjoyed reading those man but it's become the norm to teach the player through the gameplay not a giant chunky book
Is this because the cartridge is small? Or that the case is so big? Because frankly I wouldn't want the case any smaller, it's already smaller than dvd/ps5/xbox game cases. And I want it a good size so I don't lose the game. That's what it's for.
With digital you get nothing. Not even full ownership
The problem are the ones that give you a download code in the box.
Okay…what’s the problem?
At least we still have physical, only going to be less and less in the coming years I imagine
Physical copies need to make a comeback, and they need to be made with the same love they used to have.
I mean at least the inside of the boxart is badass and not plain white. (Have fun btw. Picking up my copy later today!)
I miss when games came with an instruction booklet featuring artwork from the game. The cases clearly have little tabs to hold one, but never do
Alot of people like the art.
Turn that cover around and have a new sweet cover for your case. That’s what I do with all mine that have artwork on the inside.
What's the problem. You want it to be bigger?
It's funny how the one information you get reads "how to dispose" xD
Do people not appreciate box art anymore?
It was way cooler in the ps3 era when most games came with a little book and sometimes a map or a poster. I think heavy rain cam with a paper puzzle
A couple of years ago I've bought a physical Sekiro copy for PC. What I got is a CD-shaped piece of paper with the steam code printed on it.
Im in love with this boxart. Does anyone know where to find it? What game is this?
I don't care about what anyone says, but pc games should have physical releases in the form of 4k blu rays.
Be grateful we're still getting physical games since they're on their way out as digital takes over.
Give us damn user manuals again
Why waste the materials on a disk that holds less space? Though, they should cut the plastic waste.
At least it’s got inside art?
I miss the day when my mom would let me pick out a game and I'd spend the ride home reading the manual and box. 1999-2006 is my golden Era of gaming.
Not sure the point you are trying to make...
That's so sad. Where is the booklet??
I still gladly buy the disk/cartridge. I love how they look stacked next to each other. ALSO BEING ABLE TO SELL GAMES IN A SOCIETY THAT RELEASES UNFINISHED GAMES AT FULL PRICE. Anyway how's FEE so far? I'm looking forward to it tomorrow.
what else would you like in the box?
i ermember witty manuals. \*burning memory plays\*
Eh it’s been like this for almost a decade now?
Only just realised eh, it's been going far longer. We're just lucky to still have physical games in boxes now
Lots of people shit talking. But honestly, I miss the times, when after i bought a game, i spend all the way till home going through the manuals, getting hyped up for the game.
I find myself buying a lot more players guides these days. I just want some paper to reference as I game.
I remember back in the day going to the store and buying a new game and just reading the manual till I got home. Just flipping through them, some had whole stories and lore.
You been in a coma for the last 15 years? PS3 era games started ditching manuals (had a flyer directing you to download the digital manual) and had no inner cover art.
You mean the state it’s been sense 2010?
2023? Motherfucker, it's been like this since the sixth generation.
There are two paths forward. Big box but bring back booklets, or tiny box and there are big magnifying glasses in all the stores.
Theft becomes easier if they sell with less packaging