Back in the day, there was something about opening up a new game and having a manual inside that was incredibly joyous.

Whether you were skimming through it as a PC game installed on Christmas Day, or sat in the back of the car, taking in every page before you could get back home and finally play it, manuals are a relic from a bygone era.

Video game manuals were a staple for physical gaming, but not anymore. It’s sporadic these days to pick up a game and have anything in the box - let alone a manual, but there is still a community of avid fans who want to keep the idea thriving.

Companies such as Limited Run Games and Super Rare Games aim to keep things alive, but independent creators are also curating some marvellous things. Recently, we visited a local retro gaming market and chatted with a lovely creator known as Rowan, who owns Manual Booklet Prints UK (MBPUK).

This independent store creates instruction manuals for Nintendo Switch games, and the hope is to complete that experience physical collectors have been wanting to recapture all these years.

A Switch Up

For Rowan, it was all about "filling the physical void in modern cases." The creation began in 2018, a year after the Nintendo Switch's launch. After the realisation that these cases would not be coming with a physical booklet, Rowan took it upon himself to create one for Super Mario Odyssey.

Before the premium printing quality that MBPUK strives for today, Rowan's prototype was "home printed and cut with scissors." Some immediate interest sparked as Rowan explained to us, "A few people wanted a copy," but tragedy struck when the hard drive with all the hard work that had been put into that Super Mario Odyssey booklet died.

"I lost years of my life," Rowan told us. "Including the work files, and I didn't feel the mood to remake the old manual whilst having limited free time from work." However, as we all know, 2020 saw the introduction of coronavirus, with lockdowns sweeping the world.

While some saw this as an opportunity to spend time indoors and play video games, Rowan scoured online to see if anyone had made something similar to the initial booklet idea, but found nothing. This sparked the creative energy once again, and work on a new and improved Super Mario Odyssey book began once again.

With more time, work on The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild booklet began, and after spending time on stream getting ideas from people - such as including a rundown of all 900 collectible Korok Seeds in the game for the booklet - Rowan was finally confident to share his latest creation to a Zelda Facebook group, which was met with phenomenal praise.

"From there, people asked that they would like one themselves, so I printed more," Rowan explained. "And then I made more [booklets] from games people suggested, and what I would like to make too. It's been going from there and has been such a crazy journey since. It's really helped me share the love I have for making these, and I hope to keep going making more for games."

The crazy journey, as Rowan describes, has seen numerous content creators with millions of subscribers praise his work. From Spawn Wave to BeatEmUps, these high-profile Nintendo Switch content creators have been nothing short of positive of Rowan’s work, further highlighting the missing feature within the physical market right now.

"It was such an amazing shock," says Rowan. "And so weird, but amazingly wonderful to see someone's reaction and talking about something I made. I was in complete awe, and I still am, if there are videos out there by people. It is never expected, as I don’t really read names or such on people's orders, so I have no idea who I'm sending them out to. I try to give the best I can, and then seeing it is just… incredible."

Quality Control

Despite the overwhelming response, many don't realise the hours of painstaking effort that go into each booklet Rowan creates. There are two types collectors can purchase. The first is your traditional booklet, which explains how to play the game, similarly to those you would find in classic Nintendo games. However, the second is a little more intricate, which Rowan refers to as booklets, and goes a little more in-depth.

"These are more progression based on the game," Rowan adds. "There wouldn’t be much written information or pages about controls. They would have more checklists, monitoring, quest logs, or progressive stuff to keep track of."

Examples of this include the beautifully crafted Animal Crossing: New Horizons booklet, which details all the bugs, fish, and sea creatures you can find, allowing you to tick them off once you've collected them. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild includes details on how many shrines there are to find, side-quests, mini-games, and much more, meaning you don't need to miss anything. 

These can take up to two and a half months to finalize, as Rowan says "quite a bit goes into making one, it really varies on the game." This includes creating the theme, sourcing images, and even playing the games to ensure the information provided is 100% accurate. Some manuals have had to take a back burner due to the staggering amount of research needed to ensure they're up to standard.

"I try hard to bring the ideas I have into the manuals and booklets”, Rowan explains. "Having the lack of imagery to work with, or information about it can be really hard, and wanting to be 100% as I can, would lead me to have to take more time to confirm how systems work, rather than confirming sooner with notes I have against several other sources."

Rowan went on to say that if "artwork isn’t there, it's up to creating it myself or hiring artists I know of to create the bits I would like to include, which takes extra. Overall, resource gathering is the biggest hurdle into getting it started up [...] There are a few that started well but lacked information or such, and so I haven't been able to complete them because I don't have the time to check on a few of their systems, which would require a few walkthroughs."

A Light In The Darkness

With how the physical gaming landscape is going at the moment, it seems to be becoming more of a niche playground. As Rowan explains, "It's getting less and less physical, [and] more digital." But despite that, believe that there "should be a place for it" in the current gaming landscape.

"Manuals have left the scene since last generations consoles, and this generation, mainly in first-party, [although], some indie developers still include them," Rowan reveals. "But later on, with manuals gone being the norm, something else might go to keep costs down, and at this rate, there isn't much left.

"I don’t know what collection sets would look like, but it'll be a sad day if it happens and I hope it doesn't. I have very fond memories of manuals when I was younger, so it would be nice if they see the love and need for them, and not make them so niche anymore."

The future of the physical gaming landscape is looking bleak, but Rowan still continues to deliver these Nintendo Switch booklets with resounding success. There have also been "requests for other games on other platforms," which is something Rowan "would be willing to do in the future."

But for now, for eager physical game collectors out there, Rowan is filling a gap that many have been missing for years. Brimming with details, love, care, and attention, it's hard to deny the incredible effort that has gone into ensuring the physical gaming scene is something that continues to build, refusing to let it die. 

Thankfully, Rowan's work is readily available at this store MBPUK, which can be shopped at independently or through Etsy. For anyone who uses the official MBPUK store page, buyers are promised newsletters, cheaper fees, and even reward points to help you build up toward the next big release in the pipeline. 

There is even a Trello board that fans can track to submit ideas, see what's in the planning phase, and even track which ones are in progress. It's clear, that despite the gaming industry's push to an all-digital future, Rowan is refusing to let physical media die.

With developers having the ability to close down servers and even pull games from digital storefronts entirely, it's an aspect we perhaps take for granted, but thankfully, people like Rowan pour some love back into it all.