UNAUTHORIZED STRATEGIES
(Posted 2009-11-02 11:00:00 by basscomm)

A couple of weekends ago I found a copy of the Ultimate Unauthorized
Nintendo! Game Strategies [
http://www.amazon.com/Bantam-Game-Mastery-Unauthorized-Strategies/dp/B001BU36HW
] at my local thrift store for a quarter. It's got hints, tips, and
strategies for around 100 NES games, which is pretty awesome. 

Now, I know what you're thinking. "Isn't this the same guy who told us some
time ago [ http://crummysocks.com/node/4 ] that strategy guides were
contributing to the dumbing down of our game players of today?"

You better believe it! Let's engage in a thought exercise for a moment for
those who might think I'm a hypocrite for loving an old timey strategy
guide over new-fangled ones.

Pretend for a moment that there's no Internet. No GameFAQs, no GameWinners,
no IGN, nothing of the sort. You're sitting there, playing through a pretty
tough game, and you hit a section or a puzzle that you just can't wrap your
head around. What do you do? I recommend throwing your hands up in
frustration, staring at the ceiling for a few minutes, turning off your
system, going to bed, and trying again the next day. But what if that
doesn't work? You can get a friend involved to see if you can work together
to overcome whatever challenge is standing in your way, or you can run out
and grab a hint book, I'll repeat, _hint book_, not strategy guide.

A hint book won't give you step-by-step handholding directions on how to
overcome every challenge the game throws at you. It gives you a few
pointers and then turns you loose. Heck, one of the most complicated games
covered in the book, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, only gets five pages
of exposition, and the first page is nothing but a fuzzy screenshot and
some data about the game itself.

Which is a large part of why I have the stance on walkthroughs that I do. I
view them as an absolute last resort if you're stuck. Not some holy text to
be followed by rote [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rote_learning ]. To sail
through the game guided along every step of the way by someone else's
instruction is more of a hollow victory.

--------

There are 2 comments on this post:

Comment #1 by Ruined Cartridge › Compute!’s Guide to Nintendo
Games (  ) on 2013-01-24 07:56:24
[...] They're black and white, sure, but they're better than nothing. I
don't have to imagine what the graphics are [...]

Comment #2 by Compute!’s Guide to Nintendo Games « Exposing my
socks to the world (  ) on 2013-04-29 11:50:07
[...] They're black and white, sure, but they're better than nothing. I
don't have to imagine what the graphics are [...]


To submit a comment on this post, email basscomm@crummysocks.com or visit
us on the web [ http://crummysocks.com ].