Your Favorite Strategy Guides

[Boyward]

We all know that some strategy guides are better than others. Some are full of errors, others are poorly organized or missing vital information, while others are downright useless. Of course, my favorite strategy guides are a treasure trove of gorgeous artwork, comprehensive walkthroughs, maps, checklists, character bios, achievement/trophy strategies, etc-- books that are really worth owning and offer an experience superior to GameFAQs and forums. What are some of your favorite strategy guides? Here's one of mine:



I was really surprised by this one. A labor of love from authors who clearly love Castlevania, this guide covers everything you'd ever want to know about Castlevania 64, and then some. The last 8 pages are a feature on the "History of Castlevania", with screenshots from each title and an opinionated write-up on what works and what doesn't, and how each game fits in with the overall series. This is one guide that was written by fans, for fans.

[Krejlooc]

This guide is terrific. It covers 4 games - Sonic 1 (Genesis), Sonic 1 (Game gear), Sonic 2 (Genesis), and Sonic 2 (Game Gear) in depth, including hand drawn maps containing tons and tons of secrets for each level. Each act includes a standard "best route to travel" section along with tips for each zone, like a route through green hill zone act 3 which will net you 11 lives. It also includes issue 1 of the sonic comics, which, while not a fan, I did read over and over again as a kid. It has an official artwork section in the back that includes a lot of sega artwork for sonic not included in any other set, and the back of the book has a mail-order catalog for a bunch of exclusive sonic gear, like jackets, the sonic the hedgehog board game and card game, etc.

It also has extensive cheat sections going into detail about the debug mode.

the gold standard for video game guides as far as I'm concerned. The Sonic 3/Sonic CD guide isn't anywhere close to this unfortunately.

[Nemoide]

Die Welt Von Panzer Dragoon Zwei

Mostly because that's a fun title to say and I love the art of Panzer Dragoon. The guide is in Japanese, so the art is pretty much all it has going for it?

The Sonic thing reminds me of some of the oddities in my collection... when I was a kid I ordered some official strategy guides (with the help of my mom) through Sega's game-tip hotline. Since I was Sonic-obsessed, I wanted the SONIC guides and have ones from Sonic 2, Sonic CD, and Sonic 3D Blast. They're just black & white printouts that are stapled together, but from the age before I had the internet, they were something special. I've never heard of anyone else having them and have no idea how "collectible" they may be... but I like having them.

[noiseredux]

I'm a total sucker for cheap strategy guides. I'll generally grab any I find for a buck or so if it's a game I like. But guides I find the most useful are probably for fighting games. It's just really nice to have a big tome filled with special moves easily at hand. And obviously RPG's benefit from strategy guides - be it if you need a map or various tables that might be included.

To the end, my favorite is probably the Versus guide for Phantasy Star Online. Lots of nice art, tons of useful info, and even a couple of pages showcasing the author's personal Phantasy Star collection of memorabilia which is a nice personal touch. Sadly (SO SADLY) my copy is missing the poster.

[ExedExes]

To the end, my favorite is probably the Versus guide for Phantasy Star Online. Lots of nice art, tons of useful info, and even a couple of pages showcasing the author's personal Phantasy Star collection of memorabilia which is a nice personal touch. Sadly (SO SADLY) my copy is missing the poster.

I would have to agree on how good Versus guides are. When I bought Pokemon Crystal, I got the Versus guide for that -



It also had a poster in addition to all sorts of detailed information.

[TEKTORO]

My favorite strategy guides to date and the only ones I needed to get deeper into my games were Tekken 3 and RPG maker 2 guides. I collect strat guides and have others that will end up being some favs as well, but I cant wait to dig into my King's Field guide some day!

[Bradtemple87]

I love all of the old guides from Brady for the squaresoft rpgs and other various titles!

[MrPopo]

You guys are all wrong. The correct answer is the official Nintendo Player's Guide for A Link to the Past.



Complete, well organized, and full of character. It wasn't just "here's the information", they added stories about the game that brought it even more to life. They even included a little blurb to give an in-universe explanation for sprite mirroring.

[BoneSnapDeez]

You guys are all wrong. The correct answer is the official Nintendo Player's Guide for A Link to the Past.



Complete, well organized, and full of character. It wasn't just "here's the information", they added stories about the game that brought it even more to life. They even included a little blurb to give an in-universe explanation for sprite mirroring.

That one is amazing.

I also like the Nintendo Final Fantasy III guide. It's packed with wonderful Amano artwork.

Remember how some old issues of Nintendo Power were strategy guides dedicated to one game? No magazine could get away with that these days. Volume 17 (the original Final Fantasy) was especially impressive.

[noiseredux]

that's a great guide Popo. Yeah.