So you’re one of the lucky ones that have managed to pick up a SNES Classic Mini and are enjoying the collection of games that are bundled with Nintendo’s console. While this is the first time that gamers can ‘officially’ play StarFox 2, there are also a few games that were never officially given a UK release on the SNES, such as the RPG’s Final Fantasy III, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars and Earthbound. For some, these three might be reason enough to purchase the console.

There’s a good chance you’ll want to refer to the manuals for playing these RPG’s, and Nintendo has uploaded official PDF files of the instruction manuals on their website. As highlighted by Polygon, for Earthbound, Nintendo have uploaded the full Player’s Guide.

Because the games on the SNES Classic Mini are all the US versions, Nintendo has uploaded the US instruction manuals. When Earthbound was released in the US in the summer of 1995, instead of the usual instruction manual Nintendo went all out and coughed up the money to produce a 128-page Player’s Guide. Rather than a plain walkthrough of the game, it is written as a ‘travel guide’ with newspaper clippings from the various places you visit, as well as detailing key locations and shopping tips.

Being a 24 meg title with a huge guide, the game retailed for $70. Nintendo’s ad campaign of ‘scratch and sniff’ cards in magazines, proclaiming “this game stinks” didn’t really help win people over. Plus, it looked more like an 8-bit title at a time when gamers were moving to the 32-bit Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn. It’s no surprise that Earthbound did not sell very well, yet over the years the game has acquired a cult status. So much so that copies of the game’s Player’s Guide can go for just as high a price on eBay in the US than copies of the game itself.

Nintendo released an online version of the Player’s Guide when Earthbound made its way to the Wii U Virtual Console, but having a downloadable PDF means that you can now refer to the guide offline on your laptop, tablet, phone or even print it out.

Originally published on MyM Buzz on 1 October 2017.