This Little Detail From a Nintendo DS Video Game Manual Proves It's More Important Than Ever to Preserve the Physical Video Game

Game news This Little Detail From a Nintendo DS Video Game Manual Proves It's More Important Than Ever to Preserve the Physical Video Game

The physical booklet, something that those under 20…

Like cinema or music, the video game medium is constantly evolving. To cite just one example among many, this can be seen in the way it is marketed. In recent years, we have witnessed the emergence of the digital format: CDs and DVDs have given way to streaming platforms, while boxed video games are being replaced by applications downloadable from the Internet.

However, boxed video games have not yet disappeared. At least when it comes to home consoles. But this format has also evolved over time. The boxes, increasingly thin, are less and less stocked. For some time now, the game manuals have no longer appeared there. These little booklets which presented in detail almost the entire game they accompanied are no longer a reality. It is therefore often with a certain nostalgia that some (re)discover their existence. Like this X user, who notices a little secret in Ace Attorney Investigations DS.

The instruction booklet that came with Ace Attorney Investigations for the DS has a small animation of Miles running in the bottom corner.

In fact, a folio (or flipbook) animation is slipped inside the manual. Enough to have the illusion that the little man drawn at the bottom is running if you quickly turn the pages.

A question of heritage

This little attention suggests that the devil is in the details and, in addition to its function of informing and teaching players, the manual was also a way for developers to express themselves. Enough to learn more about their motivations, their reasoning and generally better understand their intentions. Something which has therefore disappeared over the years and which brings to the forefront the question of heritage conservation in the field of video games. A delicate issue which has caused much ink to flow in recent years.

Since we're talking about Ace Attorney Investigations, it's appropriate to mention Nintendo (the title having first been exclusive to the DualScreen). If he reassured Switch owners recently by announcing the backwards compatibility of hybrid console titles on its successorthe manufacturer got a slap on the wrist a few months ago. Indeed, it was on the occasion of the closure of the 3DS and Wii U servers (making many games officially unpurchaseable) that it was described as “destroyer of heritage”.