Nintendo releases printable Metorid Prime 4 manual

While physical video games continue to be a thing, the experience of buying a game on disc continues to be more and more painful. For example, most Xbox video games are quite difficult to find physically, if there is a copy at all. As for Gears of War: Reloaded, there was no physical copy for Xbox.

Elsewhere, the Nintendo Switch 2 has introduced Game-Key Cards, something so sensational that even Japan's National Diet Library has said they don't qualify for preservation due to not having the full license on them.

Physical copy of Pokemon with Gamestation on a polaroid and a steam library in the background.

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Getting physical games is more inconvenient than ever, but I still do it

The experience fades, but I will continue to live it as best I can.

In addition to the pain of either not finding specific copies or having to deal with copies that don't actually have any content on them, there's also the element of how ugly these games are.

One of the biggest reasons I'm excited about Grand Theft Auto 6 is to see if Rockstar continues its history of having a stuffed physical copy, complete with a map and other little brochures. If it doesn't, then I will be extremely sad.

Long gone are the maps, posters and manuals, and receiving something as simple as a reversible cover is considered a “W”.

But with the long-awaited release of Metroid Prime 4 on Switch, Nintendo is doing something a little different – making a manual available to players, provided you have a printer to print it, of course.

Maybe there is a world where manuals are created and you can print them yourself

As first discovered by Nintendo Life, on the Japanese Nintendo website, there is an official Metroid Prime 4 data book or manual. At a total of 24 pages, it's chock full of information about the story, characters, areas, and controls you'll encounter during Prime 4.

In other words, it's literally what we used to get before someone at the top decided manuals weren't cool anymore.

If you happen to grab the full PDF file, which Nintendo Life has graciously linked to on their site, there are instructions on how to print and fold the booklet so it fits nice and snug inside your physical copy of the game.

There are a few caveats worth noting, including the fact that, at the time of writing, it's only available in Japanese, with no English copy to be found. Of course, that could change, especially if more and more fans find out about this neat little tidbit.

Second, you have to do all the legwork yourself, which means you have copious amounts of color ink to capture all the details in their glory. Finally, you have to be something of an artistic guy to follow the directions and fold it to the exact specifications.

I don't have a color printer or the artistic skills to cut a paper, so I won't be participating, but if you have all of those things and don't care about the Japanese language, this is by all means meant for you.

Maybe this is what the future of physical games could look like – a guidebook that you print yourself for nostalgia purposes. Sure, it will require some ink and some creativity, but it will certainly make all those empty boxes less sad.