It was late 2024 when I grabbed my Nintendo Switch to play some old games. I had never really gotten into retro gaming deeply, and I’m not a walking encyclopedia on obscure Mega Drive and Super Nintendo titles—though I secretly admire those who are.
So I went the most mainstream route and used Nintendo Switch Online to play some SNES. I had this console in my childhood, but I never owned many cartridges. Why not enjoy some of the games I never got to play?
I started with Pilotwings. In this game, you take part in lessons on aerial activities like skydiving and piloting a light aircraft. You’re in the Flight Club trying to earn licenses while being judged by multiple instructors on your skills.
I thought I had played Pilotwings Resort on the 3DS. That should be enough, right?
Well… I actually think my memory tricked me and I had never played the 3DS game. I started the SNES game with the plane, collecting small green orbs through the straight flight path before landing. I moved up and down, but I couldn’t brake properly and crashed a lot. It took me several attempts to finally beat the first stage. When it came to skydiving, I didn’t understand how to move my character. He would always go too far forward or backward, not doing what I expected based on my instinct and feel.
I had the “What the hell is going on?” feeling when I tried to play Super Punch-Out, which was a bit more instinctive despite the lack of control instructions in the intro. It’s a boxing match, so I quickly figured out I could move sideways to dodge punches. But it took me a while to realize I couldn’t block by holding backward or pressing L or R like in modern games. After taking a lot of punches to the face from the game’s first character, Gabby Jay, I accidentally learned I had to not press anything to block low punches.
But at that point in both games, I was ready to give up and say what most of us probably repeat about old games we suck at them:
“This game is too hard. The controls aren’t responsive. Everything’s outdated.”
But then I remembered the most basic thing about retro games. Something we forget now that they’re all digital (unless you’re a physical collector). They came with manuals.
Actual booklets. Instructions. Just like when you buy furniture that you need to assemble. The game manual just tells you what to do, which buttons to press, and what does what. And beyond basic controls, these manuals often had great tips: how to angle your plane when landing, use a Knock Out Punch, and land a paraglider.
Before reading these manuals, I was basically playing a nerfed version of Super Punch-Out. I got stuck in the second fight against the Bear Hugger because he’s mostly immune to body punches, and I didn’t know I could throw uppercuts.
And most of these older games, especially from the ’90s or earlier, didn’t have tutorial stages. There’s no practice dummy to teach you or pop-ups telling you what buttons to press. While Pilotwings shows you the basic controls, it doesn’t show the better tips from the manual. So yeah, you have to read it.
That might sound obvious to some of you seasoned retro gamers, or those who grew up playing these games. But for me, going back to them now, it wasn’t obvious at all. There’s this ego part of it: “I’ve been playing games for years. There’s no way I need a manual! I know how games work.”
Turns out I did need it.
And while reading a manual written mostly for ’90s children first felt like a blow to my ego, it unlocked the fun because now I had the tools and knew how to play.
Not saying that Pilotwings or Super Punch-Out suddenly became easy, because they absolutely didn’t. Even after learning how to paraglide, it still took me an hour or two in later licenses just to land without dying. The game was plain difficult, but the manual at least gave me a fighting chance.
In the case of poorly designed games, reading the manual will let you spot just that. If the developers gave you all the information you need and the game still feels wonky and unfair, it probably is. If manuals were the holy grail, The Angry Video Game Nerd wouldn’t have become famous reviewing trash retro games.
If you look at retro consoles as a goldmine, full of great games that are just old, but you had weird or frustrating experiences with them in the past, I recommend you just read their manual. You don’t need to own the cartridge or buy the game. Nintendo has many original game manuals uploaded on their website, and there are plenty of scanned versions are floating around too.
So just let go of your gamer ego. Then, you’ll actually be playing the game with the intended difficulty, just like a kid (or adult!) would’ve played it when it first released.
I’m happy to say I beat Pilotwings and Super Punch-Out, and it was much more fun than before I read the manuals.
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