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Pokemon - Trainer's Survival Guide (1998)

By dablais

Pokemon - Trainer's Survival Guide (1998)
NOTE: This version includes the 14 missing page (page 3 to 15) that were missing from the previous preserved file.

48 downloads
- pokemon
0 comments

Updated March 10
Pokemon - Trading Card Game - Fossil Expansion - Player's Guide (1999)

By dablais

Pokemon - Trading Card Game - Fossil Expansion - Player's Guide (1999)

82 downloads
- pokemon
0 comments

Submitted March 8
Pokemon - Gym Heroes - Strategy Guide (2000)

By dablais

Pokemon - Gym Heroes - Strategy Guide (2000)

85 downloads
- pokemon
0 comments

Submitted March 7
Yu-Gi-Oh! - Scrapbook (2002)

By dablais

Yu-Gi-Oh! - Scrapbook (2002)

84 downloads

0 comments

Submitted March 3
Pokemon - Gold & Silver - Japanese Translation Guide (2000)

By dablais

Pokemon - Gold & Silver - Japanese Translation Guide (2000)
Platform: Game Boy Advance

105 downloads

2 comments

Submitted February 27
Pokemon Trainer's Guide (1999)

By dablais

Pokemon Trainer's Guide (1999)
Platfrom: Game Boy and Nintendo 64 (Pokemon Snap)

112 downloads

0 comments

Submitted February 20
Book of Adventure Games, The

By Areala

Unless you were alive back then, it's almost impossible to understand just how massive the adventure genre of gaming was for personal computers. Exhibit one, were I attempting to make a legal case, would have to be this book right here. It covers seventy-seven adventure programs released across various computer platforms, everything from Adventure to Zork III, and had a cover price of $19.95. Twenty bucks probably seems like an average price for a strategy guide, especially a 350-page behemoth like this guy, but in 1984 that was the equivalent of sixty US dollars in today's currency. How on earth could publisher Arrays, Inc. get away with charging that much for a black-and-white, mostly-text guidebook?
To put that a bit more in perspective, purchasing a copy of Zork I: The Great Underground Empire for your Apple II home computer back in the halcyon days of 1981 would have set you back $39.95 (or roughly US $120 in today's money). Computer games weren't just costly, they were downright extravagant. And that was after you factored in the several thousand dollars that buying the home computer itself had already set you back. Sure, there were deals to be found when shops were looking to clear out last year's inventory to make room for the next wave of software, but there was no Steam Summer Sale where you could pick up a bunch of AAA-blockbusters for 75% or more off their list price. If you wanted to play Zork, or Wizardry, or Ultima, it was going to cost you. Minimum wage at the time was $2.75/hour, so you can do the math.
Nobody wanted to dump $40 on a game they couldn't beat, there was no internet where you could consult a FAQ, and while BBS systems were a thing, modems were not a part of the typical home computer installation. So the notion that, for half the cost of a typical adventure game, you could get puzzle solutions and maps for over seventy-five of the most popular titles from the last few years? That was a no-brainer. It was such a no-brainer that one year later, Kim Schuette put out The Book of Adventure Games II, which covered forty-five more adventures that had either been left out of the first volume, or had come out in the meantime, and it too sold like gangbusters.
I've had this book for almost as long as I've been alive. It (and its sequel) are long out of print, expensive on the second-hand market, and highly sought-after by retro adventure game enthusiasts and collectors. Chopping this one up was hard. But putting it out here, so it can have a new life and be seen and appreciated by others who may never have even known of its existence before now, gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling. I hope you enjoy looking through it as much as I have done over the years, back when I was just a little girl, doing her best hunt-and-peck typing on her TRS-80 keyboard, trying to figure out how to beat The Sands of Egypt.
This isn't just a piece of gaming history. This is a piece of my history. I hope you'll treasure it with me. ❤️

166 downloads

5 comments

Submitted January 24
Mastering Nintendo Video Games

By Areala

The first of a four-book, me-too Nintendo video game hints series. It was followed by "Mastering Nintendo Video Games II" which was a minor updated edition that reused much of this book's content. "Tricks of the Nintendo Masters" came next, and the series flared out and died with "Beyond the Nintendo Masters".
"Mastering Nintendo Video Games" was clearly inspired by Corey Sandler and Tom Badgett's "Ultimate Unauthorized Nintendo Game Strategies", what with its reliance on cute little icons and block text. Like other books of the time, this one focuses mainly on tips and strategies for accomplishing specific things in each game, like beating Elecman in Mega Man, or finding the raft in Zelda II. There aren't any pictures or screenshots of any kind, although some of the sections (especially the one on Super Mario Bros. 2) contain some computer-drawn diagrams to illustrate what you're going to face or what you should do.
The bad news is, the book also contains a number of hints that are either of little to no use, or are flat-out wrong. The Castlevania II portion, for instance, suggests that you should show the Ferryman some garlic, but this will do absolutely nothing except waste your garlic. Otherwise, this is a paint-by-numbers strategy book with tips mainly cribbed from the pages of Nintendo Power and GamePro.
My copy was acquired second-hand and the previous owner had made notes in pen on a few of the pages. I did my best to clean these up, but my background is in writing and not image manipulation so...sorry.

141 downloads

3 comments

Submitted January 18
How to Beat the Video Games

By Areala

Now this is a piece of retro gaming history. While not the first book written describing strategies for winning in the arcade, Michael Blanchet was among the earliest authors putting pen to paper and explaining the ins and outs of video games as he saw them. A recent college graduate, he worked in an arcade by day, dispensing both quarters and tips for fellow gamers, and picking up strategies from his regular customers. It didn't take long for him to realize there was a thirst for this kind of knowledge, and after winning top marks in an arcade gaming tournament for his performance in Battlezone, he got noticed by an agent for Simon & Schuster. They were looking for a book about arcade games, since "Mastering Pac-Man" by Ken Uston and "How to Master the Video Games" by Tom Hirschfeld had both become recent best-sellers. Blanchet said he had some ideas he'd been kicking around, and the result was the publication of this book in 1982, which reportedly sold over 80,000 copies.
Blanchet was able to parlay the success of this book (and its successor, "How To Beat Atari, Intellivision, and Other Home Video Games") into a regular newspaper column which ran twice a week up until the industry crashed, at which point Blanchet left video games journalism and moved on to the next phase of his life.
Your Retromags Goddess is pleased as punch to be able to bring you this awesome piece of early video game history as her first scan for 2024.

125 downloads

3 comments

Submitted January 15
Official Duke Nukem 3D Level Design Handbook, The

By Areala

Getting in just under the deadline for this to be possibly the final release for 2023, I present to you, my lovely Retromags family, friends, and followers, this wonderful showpiece of DOS gaming history! Matt Tagliaferri got the goods straight from the 3D Realm gurus themselves so he could explain how the Duke designers pulled off all those nifty tricks with the Build engine: moving subways, reflective mirrors, destructible walls, swimming pools, sector-over-sector placement, you'll learn how to do it all with this book at your side!
Also included are full appendixes which break down the ins and outs of CON file editing, a listing of all the sound effects from the game with their appropriate reference data, and full breakdown of the commands build into the DukeC scripting language. Finally, the CD-ROM gives out a plethora of new art assets, fifty ready-to-play levels from other designers, shareware versions of Duke 3D and a bunch of other Apogee and 3D Realms titles, and a utility allowing you to convert maps from Doom, Heretic, and Hexen to play within Duke Nukem 3D. 😵
And I, your beloved Retromags Goddess, has included the CD-ROM (as a bin/cue file combo) right within the download so you can extract it and play to your heart's content! Holy cow, it's a New Year's Eve holiday miracle! ❤️
Thanks to all of you Retro-maniacs for encouraging me to continue radically downsizing my personal library. No thanks to whomever assembled my copy of this book for pasting the CD-ROM sleeve on the inside back cover upside down, which is why it looks that way in the scan. Sure, I could have flipped it, but I'm preserving these things as I found them.
*huggles*
Areala

154 downloads

6 comments

Updated January 1
Best Action & Arcade Games Strategies & Secrets

By Areala

Well, here's something completely different! Your beloved Retromags Goddess providing you (yes, you specifically!) with a book about games from the MS-DOS era!
Wait, sorry, I got my notes mixed up. This is actually just the next in a long line of books dealing with classic DOS games brought to you by yours truly.
In order, this book covers:
Duke Nukem 3D Quake MechWarrior 2 Crusader: No Remorse Hexen Heretic Star Wars: Dark Forces Descent Doom II Doom Earthsiege 2 Earthsiege Terra Nova Wing Commander IV Wing Commander III Fury3 Magic Carpet Renegade Now, you don't get full walkthroughs for all of these games. What you get instead for most are general, overall strategies that will serve you well throughout a playthrough, taken from articles and reviews written by the staff members of Computer Games Strategy Plus.
The book also came with a CD-ROM containing playable demos for nearly all of the games covered by the book, plus eighteen other games not covered between the covers. My copy, sadly, is lacking this disc, but the good news is that some other enterprising soul uploaded it to Archive.org, and you can grab your own copy of it to play around with!
Now, enough words! Download this book, enjoy the nostalgia, pay me my tribute by kicking that 'Thanks' button like you're Duke Nukem's mighty boot, and prepare for the next awesome release from your Retromags Goddess! ❤️
*huggles*
Areala

170 downloads

6 comments

Updated December 20, 2023
Pokemon Trainer's Survival Guide (1998)

By dablais

Pokemon Trainer's Survival Guide (1998)

305 downloads

1 comment

Updated March 10
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2000 Official Strategies & Secrets (1999)

By Argus

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2000 Official Strategies & Secrets (1999)

102 downloads

0 comments

Submitted August 21, 2023
Falcon 3 Strategies and Secrets (1994)

By Argus

Falcon 3 Strategies and Secrets (1994)

90 downloads

0 comments

Submitted August 12, 2023
Falcon 3.0 Air Combat (1992)

By Argus

Falcon 3.0 Air Combat (1992)
Missing one insert towards the back, but otherwise the book is intact.

97 downloads

1 comment

Submitted August 4, 2023
Full Throttle Official Player's Guide

By JimJam78

Lucasarts made very good adventure games, and this guide goes through it with a fine-toothed comb.
Aside from a hint guide and a step-by-step guide, it has synopsis of the cast, trivia of all sorts, and most interestingly, interviews with people who worked on the game. I find it interesting that the game making process is always documented so thoroughly on games Tim Schaefer was involved with, and still is, based on the videos on Psychonauts and other Double Fine productions.

193 downloads

0 comments

Updated June 28, 2023
Unofficial Quake Level Design Handbook

By Areala

You've no idea how long I've wanted to bring this one to the site.
Stupid expensive on the second-hand market, even moreso if you want a copy with the CD intact, but not as outdated as you might think considering people are still making levels for the original Quake to this day! Matt Tagliaferri knows his game level design, and this book brings together every trick and tip in his arsenal to help you build the best Quake level your heart can dream up.
I've included a rip of the ISO file for the CD-ROM within the download, so you can mess around with that. The qED software itself won't work with current versions of Windows, but the bonus levels are playable in the main game or any one of its many source ports as-is. Just open the .cbz file with your favorite file compression software, and you'll see the QUAKE_LEVEL.ISO file right in the front. You know I wouldn't be your Retromags Goddess if I left it out.
Pretty straightforward, but I need to point out the back cover text promises the level editor will be compatible with Duke Nukem Forever, because that game was on track to come out a year after this book was published!
Enjoy! ❤️

179 downloads

1 comment

Updated December 20, 2023
Ultima Online Unofficial Strategies & Secrets

By Areala

Considering it's an outdated strategy guide for a version of a game that's been unplayable since the early 2000's, this book is oddly expensive on the second-hand market, with listings usually in the $20-40 range. Equally unusual, this guide was essentially co-authored by a bunch of members of the same guild, who shared their tips and techniques with Sybex, making it something of a curiosity for that alone. In any case, this is the very definition of a historical artifact of a bygone era, which is why it's so important for us to preserve it. Ultima Online is still around, and still playable today, but it looks nothing like it did in 1997 when this came out.
Use it as anything but a trip down memory lane at your own risk.
(Blank pages were omitted to save time and space, so if you notice page numbers skipping, don't worry, you aren't missing any content).

129 downloads

0 comments

Updated December 20, 2023
Mortal Kombat 3 Player's Guide

By Areala

A fairly comprehensive guide to Mortal Kombat 3, mainly focused on the Arcade version, but also applicable to numerous home ports as well.
What makes this guide especially interesting is that it's also a guide to Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat II, with complete character breakdowns and move lists for those games too. So this is really a three-in-one deal. Not bad for the money!
Screenshots are very clear despite being black-and-white, and there was even an offer to get a supplementary update to the book for when the arcade MK3 received its newest upgrade (which wound up being the Ultimate MK3 board revision).
All apologies for the Walden Software sticker on the back, covering up some of the text. That sucker was on there like cement, and peeling it would have damaged the cover worse than leaving it on. It, like this book, is a relic of a bygone era. Consider it special bonus content, just for you!
Enjoy! ❤️

447 downloads

5 comments

Updated December 20, 2023
Final Fantasy III Players Guide

By Areala

Final Fantasy III / Final Fantasy VI is, hands down, my favorite Final Fantasy title. And this right here just might be my favorite strategy guide of all time. Presented in full colour, flush with screenshots, along with copious artwork by artist Yoshitaka Amano, and a section at the end featuring some gorgeous full-size in-game maps, Olafson's guide is written more like a story as opposed to a walkthrough.
At $12.95, this was an absolute showstopper of a book. It may be less complete overall than Nintendo's own game guide, as it doesn't contain things like monster stats, weapon and item lists, Gau's Rage tables, or other in-depth information one might expect to see in an RPG guide. But the sheer quality of Olafson's prose guides the reader through the story so well it feels like playing the game. It's one of the few guides I've read from cover to cover multiple times. It's just that good.
This book is generally very expensive on the second-hand market. Copies on eBay routinely sell for $50 or more, and copies in excellent condition can fetch upwards of $100. For Final Fantasy III fans, it's a highly-sought collector's item. If you've ever looked at a listing and wondered why, I hope a flip through this book explains everything. If every guide followed Olafson's example, strategy guides would be regarded as works of art instead of simple cash grabs.
Enjoy! ❤️

979 downloads

2 comments

Updated December 20, 2023
How to Win at Nintendo Games #2

By Areala

Volume 2 of the series which keeps on giving gave everybody more of what they already got last time, and we were all delighted by that, thank you very much!
While this series wasn't specifically aimed at children, the ad in the back for a bunch of books in the "Truly Tasteless Jokes" series seems...well, tasteless. Then again, it's not like Rovin had half a dozen of these guys under his belt for St. Martin's Press to advertise, and crass humour likely sold just as well as video game books, so who knows: maybe they made a fortune off the cross-promotion.
Now I want to get one of those dirty joke books and see if they advertise Rovin's material in the back.
Enjoy! ❤️

403 downloads

3 comments

Updated December 20, 2023
Ultimate Unauthorized Nintendo Game Strategies, Volume 3

By Areala

Wow! So ultimate! Such strategy! Many unauthorized! Much Nintendo! Oh no!
So, yes, this is the third volume in Sandler and Badgett's series devoted to NES games. I don't know if this was just my copy or what, but the printing on this was some of the worst I've ever seen, with some pages printed at an angle, and some margins running straight to the bleed with seemingly little rhyme or reason. But, you know, back in the day, you paid your money and took your chances.
If you like these books, and their bizarre cover artwork, then you'll want this one in your collection, no doubt. If you don't? Then don't download it, I guess... You do you, Retromags peeps.
My final complaint? They rate the difficulty of Castlequest at "Apprentice", when it's one of the most punishingly brutal NES cartridges ever made. Seriously, the game comes with its own map showing you exactly where you need to go to rescue the princess, and also gives you fifty lives. Then it sits and laughs at you as you lose them all, one by one, and have to restart the game. What the hell were you smoking, Corey Sandler? Explain yourself!
Enjoy! ❤️

428 downloads

4 comments

Updated December 20, 2023
Ultimate Unauthorized Nintendo Super NES Game Strategies, '94 Edition

By Areala

The 90s kept rolling on, and like clockwork, Corey Sandler and Tom Badgett cranked out yet another volume of this best-selling series. While this one's a pocket-sized paperback, it's still rocking over 300 pages of content, though like the rest of the series, the bulk of it is text, and the screenshots are both minimal and monochromatic.
This, as best I can tell, is the final book in the Bantam Game Mastery Series worked on by Sandler and Badgett. The early 90s was the peak era for game books like this, which were already starting to get squeezed off the shelves in favor of large-format, single-game guides which often came in full colour. Prima was on the rise, Brady was cooking up trouble in the basement, and traditional book publishers like Random House and St. Martin's Press scaling back operations on video game books. Still, I think there's a lot to like in this one, and if you were a kid on a limited budget, the fact this was $6.99 vs. $12 or more for a full-sized, single-game guide didn't hurt.
Like some of the other books in this series, the margins get pretty tight in my copy, so you'll see text running almost to the edge of the page in a few instances. Once again, this is a printing issue in my particular copy, not an issue with my ability to crop scans, but still it makes the overall file look kind of dopey, and for that, I apologize.
Enjoy! ❤️

398 downloads

3 comments

Updated December 20, 2023
Gamemaster: Conquering Sega Genesis Games

By Areala

The second book released by Jeff Rovin under his "Gamemaster" moniker, this time aimed at helping you whittle down that backlog of Sega Genesis and Sega CD games you'd built up over the years. Like the rest of his video game books, this one's all-text, all the time. Like the Super Nintendo book, it dispenses with reviews and other unnecessary bits to focus entirely on cheats, Game Genie/Pro Action Replay codes, tips, and strategies to get you as far into the games as possible. There are some extra pages in the back where you can take notes, write down passwords, or draw maps.
My version of this book has the previous owner's name and date of purchase inscribed on the first page. I thought about editing this out, but decided against it since it was part of this particular copy's history. Susan Forman, wherever you are, if you should run across this file some day I hope it makes you smile to know we've immortalized your specific book in our archives.
Enjoy! ❤️

354 downloads

3 comments

Updated December 20, 2023
Lara Croft Paper Doll

By Areala

This most excellent paper doll was included as an exclusive bonus for people who purchased the Tomb Raider I and II Official Strategy Guide from Prima back in 1999. The doll herself was printed on thick cardstock, with scoring lines, while her clothing came on high-gloss paper stock.
I've done a high-resolution 600dpi scan of the doll by herself, so you can print her out, dress her up, and take her on all sorts of adventures outside of her video games. Where will you travel? What treasures will you discover? It's all up to you!
Enjoy! ❤️

415 downloads

3 comments

Updated December 20, 2023