A Love Letter to Strategy Guides: My MASSIVE Collection

[@terabitez3374]

Strategy guides are sometimes more useful then KZbin walkthroughs seriously maps found in guides have helped me so much with finding things

[@Dongled]

Agreed! Yeah sometimes you can find some really unique stuff in guides that wikis, youtube and gamefaqs missed.

[@paralysis_demon_hunter]

I actively collect strategy guides. I’m happy to find someone else who also loves them as much as I do. I don’t have a current count but I just love the preservation aspect of these books; it’s a time capsule of a simpler time of video gaming and I find it truly nostalgic. I love the art work as well. Thanks for the video!

[@Dongled]

Thanks! Always nice to hear from a fellow guide fan. They are certainly a lost art. One that has been slowly erased by technology.

[@QueenViolet8]

Yes preaching to the choir! I Did a video on this topic so glad others are talking about the Strategy Guide 😊

[@Rhaxx1]

I collect strategy guides! Glad im not alone!

[@Dongled]

You are not! I just picked up two more this weekend! SG fans Unite!!!

[@seekah1]

Dude thanks so much for showing the pages, there's nothing more frustrating when people race through them without a look-through. Always cherish your SGs, glad I purchased when I did.

[@Dongled]

I agree, never understood that. Granted, I wasn't about to make a 4 hour long video where I just flip through every guide, but I like showcasing some of the important stuff. Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Genki1175]

The Millennium MGS guide is awesome just for the back half of it. Over view and explanation of the orginal MG games and further background on the characters. Also there's a section with interviews with the staff and it's just interesting to hear their thoughts and opinions on things especially with how the series changed and evolved after that game.

[@Dongled]

Yeah, those interviews specifically are a big selling point because they're typically really unique and give info you might not get anywhere else.

[@TG5455]

I can't believe how you still have the photos of you playing FF7 back in the day. Amazing. 😮

[@danielscott70x7]

Love strategy guides and completely agree with you that they are near crucial for me to play through JRPGs, especially the older classic titles. I’ll always prefer using an actual physical book with pages as opposed to using online walkthroughs. Unfortunately I got into buying guides for a lot of the JRPGs I want to eventually play through a bit too late and everything has shot up in price a great deal in just a few years since this video. Thankful to have had the forethought to grab a few that have become ridiculously expensive, too! This was a super enjoyable discussion. Really dug you sharing all your guides and just casually going through your collection. Thanks for this!

[@Dongled]

Glad you enjoyed it! It's such a lost art...the strategy guide...the manual...really just things written down in general.

[@misterdude206]

I was wondering when this video was gonna surface. Good stuff sir.

[@Dongled]

Been a long time coming!

[@Venomman1234]

I’m collecting guides for the GC library, I counted 309 different ones for the set. Currently I’m at 71 different ones, also some duplicates. Also collecting sealed games and I’m at 22 with Go Go Hypergrind the biggest ones

[@Raddland]

Used to love me some strategy guides... Had to literally throw out like 3 dozen of them when I moved recently. Didn't have anything rare or cool, but still it felt wrong.

[@DoYouNerd]

Very tempted to do a video like this if I can make the time. Love strategy guides! Sweet, Breath of Fire guides!! DQ8--aw yeah, gotta have a guide for JRPGs. For me it's because I'm only ever likely to go through these games one time so I like to do as much as possible in one run through. Great seeing guides for things like Dino Crises and Fear Effect--very cool. I've long been a fan of game maps so I always love those. Original art in guidebooks is also a thing I love about collecting these. The Zelda hardcovers are gorgeous collector pieces--so sexy looking on the shelves. Nintendo's LttP and Chrono Trigger guides are probably two of my all time favorite guidebooks. Heh, Maximo and all the lovely ladies--yeah, we're okay with that too. lol

[@Dongled]

I feel the same way about RPGs which is why I buy guides for them. I want to make sure I get everything when I play them.

[@DoYouNerd]

@@Dongled Just don't rely on the FFIX one--remember all the links printed in the book telling you to go to, what was it, PlayOnline? lol

[@GreatWhiteNorthPresents]

This collection is fantastic! I really enjoyed this.

[@Aragorn7884]

My favorite was the strategy guides for sports games. Like from year to year it was different or something! LOL.

[@Dongled]

Yeah, not sure what the point of those were.

[@betamarklar]

I just recently started a strat guide collection. Thanks for this.

[@Dongled]

Glad to help! Sadly they've gotten a bit pricey over the years.

[@Modern_Robot]

Big ups to the Fangamer people for making the Mother 3 strategy guide feel like the classic Earthbound book bundled with the game. The last great strategy guide. I think the last new strategy guide I ever bought was Fallout: New Vegas.

[@zackschilling4376]

I love guides. I have a pretty big collection myself. I havent counted but theres at least 400+. I picked a lot up for like 4 bucks shipped. Some have really gone up. They re mainly from PS 1-2-3, Gamecube guides.

[@theflyingninja1]

If that's pretty big, I'd like to see really big 😂

[@Dongled]

Wow! That's a lot of guides!

[@zackschilling4376]

@@Dongled There was a time when a lot of them were dirt cheap, and Id pick em up. A lot of them were 1 dollar or less on Amazon plus shipping. A fair amount were literally $0.01 plus shipping (like $3.97). I bought a good amount from my local Disc Replay which has a buy 5 get the 6th item free so Id buy 6 $2 guides for 10 bucks.

[@Dongled]

@@zackschilling4376 damn that's a great deal. The guides used to be less than 4 bucks each in my area but they've since ballooned a bit with the prices of games.

[@zackschilling4376]

@@Dongled Ive notice PS1 and GBA stuff have really been blowin up in the past year or so. Stuff I passed on for $100 a couple years back is now like $350 for ps1 (Brigidine and Tail Concerto are specifically what Im talkin about). I liked collecting for PS1 and 2 cuz of their library size and that you could still find cheap stuff that was great. And its not like I was buying stuff in 2008, I really started buying stuff around 2014. I did a lil bit before but I started going out to the Disc Replays close to me somewhat frequently and I was keeping up on eBay prices and buying stuff when I found a good deal. Those days are gone unfortunately.

[@QueenViolet8]

Nice 😊 I just did a video on this very subject I love Strategy Guides back in the old days when there was no internet it was just you your game and your Guide 😎

[@Dongled]

They were simpler times for sure.

[@QueenViolet8]

@@Dongled I hope you saw the video I was surprised that Jet Set Radio had a guide 😳

[@TG5455]

I remember my sister playing Dino Crisis 1 and 2 and it does have this fear feeling of not getting killed by a dinosaur with the jump scares.

[@Gamingwithgleez]

Castlevania is also my favorite franchise! Very cool video man.

[@kabesilvermaine4768]

My first strategy guides were the Mario World and Link to the Past those Nintendo Powers guides were awesome. Sadly they are gone I have like two that have survived my Marvel vs Capcom 2 and my deluxe Twilight Princess guide.

[@Dongled]

Yeah those NP guides were so well made! A real labor of love.

[@PragmatikReviews]

Nice to see you MASSIVE......collection. Honestly though this is impressive, and I'd like to get my hands on that Castlevania 64 guide. I only have a few here and there. FFX, Majoras Mask, only stuff I think I would seriously need to use back in the day!

[@PragmatikReviews]

Also glad to see we have a mutual dislike of Kiddie Kong

[@Dongled]

@@PragmatikReviews F kiddy Kong lol

[@Dongled]

Yeah I used to just get bare essentials but then it just became fun to collect them and now I have a problem lol

[@megamarsonic]

Outside of one book that had all the fatalities for the first three Mortal Kombat games, I didn’t have any strategy guides growing up. I always went online to help me through tight spots back then. However, since I truly started retro game collecting back in 2011, I would pick up strategy guides from thrift stores whenever they would show up (barring some I had no interest in). Recently, I’ve also started using eBay to get specific guides I want. Dimension’s Tekken 2 guide book just arrived yesterday (big ups to the authors for ranking Paul Phoenix as the best fighter in the game) while the Super Mario 64 guide by Nintendo Power is currently on it’s way. I’m sure it’ll be a big upgrade from the BradyGames’ Totally Unauthorized guide I have for the game. 😂

[@Dongled]

Good luck on your guide hunt! Unfortunately, older guides have massively jumped in price.

[@zackschilling4376]

I usually try to buy a guide for every RPG, and for some reason, fighting games.

[@Dongled]

I get nervous about more modern fighters because they constantly get major updates. Older fighters it makes sense.

[@skochin]

All they guides I have I paid $.99 for each. There was a chain of stores called Tradesmart. They didn't differentiate guides by rarity ot value and priced them same 99 cents. I have some Zelda and Mario guides from N Power, some Prima guides for RE, etc. N Power are the best in my op, brief and to the point, print quality is also the highest among all guides I own.

[@Dongled]

Nice! You lucked out. My local stores have started to raise prices on guides, so I have turned to Amazon and ebay. The NP guides were some of the best, for sure.

[@skochin]

@@Dongled Since Trandesmart went under here in Colo circa 2015-2016 I barely bought any giude since. It's funny but the other store I used to be a regular customer to also closed down a couple of years after Tradesmart. There are only maybe two or three different store names left open in Denver area, one guy runs three of the same name and two other ones in Aurora. We used to organize swap meets but ppl hold on to their games and items these days. I basically stopped collecting, I mean nothing like it used to be in 2012 up to 2016.

[@maaska.8432]

Hello, what is the music from, at around 43:00, please?

[@Dongled]

That I believe is the rendition of Aquatic Ambiance by David Wise for DKC Returns Tropical Freeze.

[@maaska.8432]

@@Dongled Thank you very much!

[@Peterpumpkineater-ry8on]

Are Brady and Prima still in the biz?

[@Dongled]

Last I read they combined under one name.

[@christianbethel]

​@@DongledYep, but now they're defunct. The only publishers I can think of are Piggyback (like you mentioned) and FuturePress.

[@peepocozy8594]

chatty cathy

[@Dongled]

Thanks for watching!

[@Nintenjoe25]

I have the BOF3 one. It's in far worse condition lol

[@Dongled]

Whassup with everyone's Bof3 guides being a mess? Lol