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Areala

Retromags Curator
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Files posted by Areala

  1. Beavis and Butt-Head Cheater's Guide

    This book totally rules! Heh, heh, heh...
    Yeah, so, you can, like, totally play the Beavis and Butt-Head game normally. Like, that's what Mr. Van Driesen would do. He'd call it "self-learning" or "acshulization" or some other stupid word that probably isn't, like, real and stuff.
    Or you could use this book to, like, totally score with chicks and stuff. Like chicks, this book has nice tips. And it works with, like, all three different games. But, like, if you only have one or two of them, that's, like, fine too. You probably needed to save your money for, you know, GWAR tickets.
    GWAR rocks!
    But, like, if you need to beat the game--
    (Heh, heh...I said 'beat'...)
    --like, fast and stuff? Like, cuz a chick said she'd show you her boobs, but you had to, you know, beat the game first? I guess you could, uhhh, read the book and, I dunno, use the passwords and maps and things to see GWAR. And then score. Or at least, like, play with your butt-ons and stuff.
    Beavis is into that. He once played with his butt-on so much that Mr. Buzzcut made him do pushups until blood came out his nose. That was cool! Huh-huh-huh...
    Yeah, yeah, anyway, like, just read the book, uhhh, you know, FOR us. Cuz we're busy. Scoring. Yeah, scoring! With a chick! You, uh, you don't know her. She's from, like, Canada or some other state.
    Enjoy! (Bungholes...) ❤️

    474 downloads

    6 comments

    Updated

  2. Prima's Official Guide to the Ultima Collection

    Promising to be a complete walkthrough for ten games set in or around the world of Ultima, this is slightly misleading. After all, the book is only 320 pages, and surely there's a Hellsteed of a lot more going on, especially in the later games, than could be encapsulated by even the best team of editors and writers in so small an area.
    Your suspicions are correct. There's a lot going on in the first few titles, and the guide devotes a mere few pages at best to the first two Ultima games (five pages for Ultima I, seven for Ultima II), along with Akalabeth, the precursor to the Ultima series. Ultima III is where the guide ramps up, with 21 pages worth of maps, gameplay tips, and charts. Fully half the book is given to Ultima VII and Ultima VIII content.
    This book also comes with a double-sided, fold-out color poster which shows the overworld maps for all the games. This poster is bound in between pages 145 and 146, but sadly my copy of this is missing, so I wasn't able to include it (and I'm not sure I have the skills necessary to stitch together a giant poster from multiple image files in any case). All apologies.
    Update: user @Xuio has graciously provided a high resolution scan of both sides of this poster map for us. You can download it here:
    https://www.mediafire.com/file/2dksw4m9upihhtt/UCmaps.7z/file
    Enjoy! ❤️
     

    466 downloads

    3 comments

    Updated

  3. How to Win at Nintendo Sports Games

    After three successful books covering Nintendo games of all genres, Rovin turned his roving eye to a sports-centric edition of his best-selling series, and thus, How to Win at Nintendo Sports Games was born. While some games, like Ice Hockey, were covered in previous volumes, even these titles get an expanded treatment, often re-measured against other games about the same sport. There's also a short section on some Game Boy sports titles, and a very short "Sports Shorts" section with a half dozen tips for sports-themed carts.
    As with all of Rovin's other material in this series, this is all-text, all the time. Of course, the upside to this was they were inexpensive as well: four or five dollars as opposed to the ten or twelve other, more graphically complex guides could command.
    Enjoy! ❤️

    258 downloads

    9 comments

    Updated

  4. How to Win at Game Boy Games

    Jeff Rovin and his sons branch into the portable gaming market with this book. Like the others in this series, this is an all-text, all-the-time format.
    My copy of this book had a few pages where the print seeped dangerously close to the margins. I don't know if this was a problem solely with my copy, or if every book looks like this, but if it looks like the margins jump around at some point, it wasn't anything I did on my end while creating the file, I promise. There was also a corner gouged from one corner on the second-to-last page in my copy which shall remain immortalized in this scan. I try to take good care of my books, but accidents happen, alas.
    Enjoy! ❤️

    377 downloads

    5 comments

    Updated

  5. How to Win at Nintendo Games #2

    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! ❤️

    395 downloads

    3 comments

    Updated

  6. Gamemaster: Conquering Super Nintendo Games

    After teaching everybody "How to Win" for five years, Jeff Rovin adopted a new moniker for himself: "Gamemaster". A bit ironic, since Rovin himself never actually played the games for which he was writing down strategies, but the 90s were nothing if not the "fake it 'til you make it" era, so there you have it.
    The book's broken down into two separate sections; the first features varying degrees of secret codes and strategies for 90 different titles, although nothing terribly comprehensive for any of the games no matter how complex or long said games might be. A little over three pages devoted to Final Fantasy II, about the same for Zombies Ate my Neighbors, but only one page or so given over to most action, platformer, and sports titles. The second section is literally nothing but cheats, passwords, Game Genie and Pro Action Replay codes, and the like; stuff you'd find in any magazine's cheat column. At $5 for a solid 230 pages of content, this isn't a bad deal. Rovin's introduction and afterward are also interesting reading, with Rovin making the case that the government has about as much reason to come after video games as they did with comics books back in the 1950s. Nice to see a guy who is a parent opining that it's really up to the parents to be responsible for what their children play instead of assuming an involuntary rating system will do anything except give kids a reason to rent the more mature titles on Friday night.
    There are a lot of errors, omissions, and mistakes in this book though. The back cover claims Super Metroid is covered inside, when it doesn't appear in either section. The table of contents labels the second section of the book as "NES Short Takes" instead of SNES Short Takes. The front cover refers to the Zelda titles as "Link Games" (which makes it sound like carts you could connect to other carts a-la Sonic the Hedgehog 3), and the back cover mentions a game called "Streetfighters II".
    There are also oddities in the presentation of some material. Rovin sometimes offers up passwords without explaining where they put you or what they'll give you (see Wings 2: Aces High), and does the same with Game Genie codes (see Final Fantasy II). Yeah, it doesn't take long to type in a couple of codes and see what happens, but maybe I'd like to know what I'm getting into before plugging in the ol' Game Genie. Especially if one of the codes you're going to give us is a "Gunslinger" code which can be used to change any item in the game into any other item in the game. If you don't explain what that code does, and how to use it, you haven't done anybody any favours, Jeff.
    Anyway, my copy of this book has some slight water damage on the first couple of pages, but everything came out legible. Enjoy! ❤️

    345 downloads

    4 comments

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  7. Ultimate Unauthorized Nintendo Super NES Game Strategies, '94 Edition

    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! ❤️

    394 downloads

    3 comments

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  8. Gamemaster: Conquering Sega Genesis Games

    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! ❤️

    350 downloads

    3 comments

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  9. Lara Croft Paper Doll

    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! ❤️

    409 downloads

    3 comments

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  10. How to Win at Super Nintendo Entertainment System Games

    Jeff's a bit late to jump on the Super Nintendo train, since it had been out in the US for a year by the time this edition of his best-selling series was published. But if you thought the man had earned enough bank with eight prior game book releases, you had another thing coming. Still unofficial, still unendorsed by Nintendo, and still written by watching his kids and their neighborhood cronies play the game while he took copious notes. Why waste a perfectly good system?
    Some of the games in here benefit little from Rovin's advice; the short write-up on Final Fight may as well be condensed to read, "Walk right and punch people." The Pilotwings strategy is literally just some passwords and a few tips on how to tackle the game's bonus stages (although the cheeky entry under "Enemies" made me giggle). On the other hand, games like Super Mario World, Link to the Past, and Wanderers From Ys get quite a bit more attention.
    Methinks Jeff's son Michael had a girlfriend at this time in his life. The name used for all the passwords in Super Castlevania IV is MEGNMIKE. Awwwwww... 😍
    Enjoy! ❤️

    375 downloads

    3 comments

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  11. Quake Game Secrets: Unauthorized Guide to the Shareware Levels

    Some guides are worth their weight in (metaphorical) gold.
    Some are cash grabs so blatant you find it hard to believe anyone willingly paid money for them.
    Quake Game Secrets falls so far into the latter camp that it pitched a tent, got a fire going, dug a field latrine, and is now roasting marshmallows. 🔥
    It is a book rushed to market, specifically to cover only the levels of the game which the game makers are giving away, for free, as Shareware, by a publisher who expected people to pay $10 for said book. Read that again: this is not a guide to the full registered version of Quake. It only covers the maps, enemies, weapons, and artifacts found in the first episode.
    It is so rushed and so much of a cash grab that rather than explaining the game's storyline, or controls, or anything else important, it instructs the reader (ie: the person who just gave them ten of their hard-earned dollars) to literally open the MANUAL.TXT file which accompanies the game software and read that. Part of your ten bucks goes to someone cheekily telling you to RTFM. 
    I cannot make this up.
    Who, in 1996, was so desperate to get good at the shareware version of a game that they had to rush out and pay ten dollars for some hand-drawn maps and text-only explanations of how to beat each level and find the secrets? Identify yourselves. Show of hands. You, in the back: no slouching. Get out here and own your idiocy!
    Now drop and give me twenty. 
    Do not download this.
    It is 42MB of shame and disgrace being offered here solely so I didn't have to look at it any longer. You will improve nothing about your life by acquiring a copy of this book. After your demise, some poor unfortunate soul will be scrubbing your hard drive, find your copy of this download, and their respect for you will diminish by a statistically-significant fractional amount. Not as much as by what they'll find upon viewing your porn folder (you degenerate weasel!), but why make things worse for your family?
    Eff this book from coast to coast, from sea to shining sea, from Land's End to John 'o Groats and back again.
    Or, you know what? Screw it. Just hit the 'Thanks' button once you're done adding it to your digital hoards.
    Whatever.

    219 downloads

    1 comment

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  12. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Game Secrets

    This was the first book Zach Meston wrote for Prima without Rusel DeMaria's name associated with it. If the introduction is to be believed, DeMaria handed the project to Meston and told him to go forth and kick ass, which is what Meston did.
    This is the first of two versions of this book published. This one contains the walkthrough for The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, but also contains a supplementary section that reprints the entries on The Legend of Zelda and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link which previously appeared in their NES Game Secrets series. For $9.99, you get full walkthroughs for three awesome games, making it a great value for the money. Unsurprisingly, this book was a massive seller for Prima, reprinted over twenty times.
    The second version, which was released in 1997, altered the title slightly, redid the cover art, and dropped the Zelda and Zelda II portion of the book, replacing it instead with the walkthrough for Link's Awakening which used the same format as similar walkthroughs from their Nintendo Game Boy Secrets line, and again sold a ridiculous number of copies. Don't worry; I'll have that one up for you here shortly.
    Enjoy! ❤️

    579 downloads

    5 comments

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  13. GamePro Hot Tips: Adventure Games

    If you downloaded the first incarnation of this file, please re-download this one. The initial release was complete, but had a pagination problem which has been fixed.
    Regardless of your feelings about GamePro the magazine, there's no denying this book is awesome. While the competition was going the black-and-white-only route, either with text only, or the occasional monochrome screen cap, the GamePro editors went all-in on this 220-page, full-colour beast of a book printed on high-quality paper, and sold for the same price as the less-cool-looking book right beside it on the shelf.
    GamePro only did two books of this sort, this one for Adventure games, and a second for Sports titles. Unfortunately I only have this one, so @E-Day will have to wait, quivering with anticipation, until one of us gets ahold of the other one.
    As with other scans, I've left out the completely blank pages so as to lower the file size.
    Enjoy! ❤️

    455 downloads

    6 comments

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  14. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Unauthorized Game Secrets

    This is the second edition of Prima's A Link to the Past strategy guide. This book was a massive best-seller for Prima. It was re-printed more than twenty times (this particular edition is a 22nd printing from 1997, which, it should be noted, is well into the PlayStation and Nintendo 64 era) and sold in excess of 125,000 copies.
    The first edition of the guide contained strategies and walkthroughs for The Legend of Zelda and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. Those were dropped for this edition, but replaced with a walkthrough for Link's Awakening on the Game Boy. This lowered the page count, but not the cover price. Cheeky of you, Prima...
    Enjoy! ❤️

    597 downloads

    3 comments

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  15. Ultimate Unauthorized Nintendo Game Strategies

    A 1989 NES book published by Bantam, likely pushed out to capitalize on the success of Jeff Rovin's How to Win at Nintendo Games from St. Martin's Press. This is mostly text with the occasional screenshot or box artwork thrown in, but either their screen capture tech was too primitive, or Bantam's monochrome printing process wasn't set up to handle pictures, because the screenshots from this book look awful.
    Also, the margins in my copy of this book are seriously wacky. You'll see text running almost straight to the edge of the page in some sections, while others give plenty of space for the text. This is an issue with the printing of the book, not me being a klutz with the cropping tool, but I still apologize for how the text waffles and flies all over the place as you're scrolling through.
    That said, the book is amusing for Sandler and Badgett's witty asides and commentary on the games they are covering. It's one of the very few books from this era to cover Friday the 13th, and it also features write-ups with mock artwork for several NES titles which never came to fruition. I've never seen these games mentioned in any other publication of the era, so it's an important historical artifact from that perspective alone, confirming that Matchbox at one time was working on creating NES software (or at least paying someone else to do so).
    In any case, this kicked off a successful series for Bantam, who followed this up with three additional volumes on NES games, along with books related to Game Boy, Genesis, Game Gear, and Super Nintendo hardware, many of which went through multiple print runs and editions.
    Enjoy! ❤️

    434 downloads

    2 comments

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  16. Ultimate Unauthorized Nintendo Classic Game Strategies

    Another Sandler & Badgett production, so if you liked previous ones, you'll dig this one too. As always, blank pages have been omitted to reduce the file size.
    I have to say, this might actually be the best of the bunch I've found so far. The quality of paper on this one is higher than previous editions, the screen shots look better, and there were no issues with dramatically shifting margins or other weirdness from Bantam's printers.
    Lots of good games covered in this one; it's practically a "greatest hits" run-down of the NES's best series. Mario, Zelda, Castlevania, Mega Man, and more all get their due. If you're only going to have one of this series in your library, make sure it's this one.
    There were at least 2 editions of this book printed. This is the first printing. I've seen pictures online of the second, which is slightly smaller, and says "2nd Edition" in the upper-left corner of the cover, but I don't have this version.
    Enjoy! ❤️

    408 downloads

    3 comments

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  17. Super Metroid Unauthorized Game Secrets

    A larger format black-and-white guide from Prima's usual digest-size publications up to this point. This one has a nifty full-color section in the center, showing some of the game's excellent 16-bit sprite work and backgrounds.
    Tom Stratton, Jr. wishes he was Rusel DeMaria and Zach Meston, but unfortunately for him, he's not. This is a fairly bare-bones walkthrough with its share of spelling mistakes and a wonky print job which cursed a number of those early Prima books to slanted text and screencaps on otherwise-straight pages. It doesn't help that my copy of this has some minor water damage to the bottom of the last 20 or so pages, so if you notice any wobbling or warping, that's where that came from. I pulled this off the rack at a Goodwill a few years ago for a buck, so I couldn't complain too much.
    They really tried with this one, but there's just no matching Nintendo's own official game guide, which not only came in full colour, but also revealed a number of tricks and secrets that this book does not. If you're going to only get one guide, make sure it's Nintendo's. Prima's isn't awful, and it will still get you through the game, but there are a few technical mistakes in here, and despite the claim on the back cover, it doesn't really tell you how to get the so-called "real" ending. Nor does it reveal the little bonus you can earn by freeing the captive animals before the planet blows up. Boo!
    Prima makes some quality guides for sure, I just don't think I'd classify this as one of their better offerings. Nevertheless, this one's pretty uncommon, so it's nice to get it archived here.
    Enjoy! ❤️

    456 downloads

    4 comments

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  18. Ultimate Unauthorized Nintendo Game Strategies, Volume 3

    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! ❤️

    422 downloads

    4 comments

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  19. Tomb Raider Game Secrets

    The world was introduced to Lara Croft, aka "The Divine Pony-tail", with the release of the original Tomb Raider game in 1996, and I, Areala the world has yet to stop worshiping her for the goddess that she is. Oh sure, she's had the occasional makeover from time to time, to smooth out her polygon counts in her more curvy regions, or to increase her resolution to high-definition standards, but make no mistake, this was the Lara the world fell in love with, triangular boobs and all.
    This was one of the last guides produced in black and white by Prima; by the time they did their Tomb Raider II book, everything was full-colour. It's a pity they couldn't have done it for this book, since sitting right next to it on the shelf was Dimension Publishing's official guide, which made this one look downright pedestrian with its greyscale gradients. But even in the mid-90's, going full-colour for a strategy guide was a luxury most publishing houses outside of Nintendo were not willing to spring for, except for the occasional mid-book insert like you got with Prima's Super Metroid and Secret of Mana guides.
    On the plus side, there is a short interview with some of the Core staff which explains how they developed the game, which is neat from a historical perspective.
    Nevertheless, whether you prefer Nick Roberts's stoic British sensibilities in this guide, or Zach Meston's irreverent, American, devil-may-care prose which graced Dimension's offering, you absolutely must download this book, and properly thank your Retromags Goddess for willingly sacrificing her collection of Tomb Raider goodies for your benefit.
    Enjoy! ❤️

    515 downloads

    3 comments

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  20. Tomb Raider II Official Strategy Guide

    The second installment of the Divine Pony-tail's adventure takes her globetrotting polygons to the mountains of Nepal, the depths of the ocean, the Great Wall of China, and the mine-infested canals of Venice in search of the Dagger of Xian, which turns you into a dragon if you stab it directly into your heart.
    That sounds painful. Don't do that, boys and girls.
    This Prima guide is in full-colour, featuring a walkthrough by Kip Ward filled with copious screenshots and illustrations of Lara Croft adorning every single page! What more could a love-struck woman such as I, Areala fans of Tomb Raider II ask? So, while it pained me to put my beloved TR2 guide beneath the cruel guillotine for debinding, the ability to spread the Gospel of the Divine Pony-tail will hopefully more than make up for the sacrifice.
    Enjoy, my beloved disciples! Enjoy! ❤️

    766 downloads

    1 comment

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  21. Tomb Raider II Gold Official Strategy Guide

    You were expecting Tomb Raider III, weren't you?
    Isn't it just like Lara Croft to surprise us like that? The Divine Pony-tail is never where you expect her. Rather like this strategy guide here, which covers both the standard Tomb Raider II game and Gold level pack expansion. You would expect such a book would be larger than the stand-along Tomb Raider II guide, right? More levels = more pages, of course.
    You might think this, but then, like Marco Bartoli thinking he could stop Pistols Spice, you would be wrong. Kip Ward re-wrote his entire manuscript into a format which would become the standard for Prima's Tomb Raider guides from this point on (a design standard which they almost certainly cribbed from Zach Meston's guides for Dimension Publishing): hundreds of screenshots, one after the other, each one accompanied by a tiny block of text explaining the next step to mastering the stage.
    The layouts and paste-ups for these things must have been hell.
    Because of this, we get 112 pages of pictures explaining exactly how to complete every level and find every secret. Just the way Lara would want it, don't you agree?
    Of course you do.
    Enjoy! ❤️

    433 downloads

    2 comments

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  22. Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation Official Strategy Guide

    Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation was a grand and confusing piece of art, with some excellent ideas and some utterly brain-wrecking puzzles which were clearly put there to pad out the play time and prevent people renting the game and beating it over a weekend. This was the first Tomb Raider released on the Sega Dreamcast, but aside from slightly better graphics than the PlayStation edition, it and the PC incarnation are all the same game, so this guide can walk you through any incarnation.
    Much like Tomb Raider III, Last Revelation absolutely screamed for a strategy guide due to the aforementioned hair-pulling puzzles and some generally obnoxious gameplay elements which made things far more difficult than they should be. It's the most difficult of all the "classic" era entries, even harder than picking Nevada last in TR3, so if you managed to complete it without resorting to a walkthrough at any point, hats off to you. It's also the longest single entry in the franchise, comprising 42 stages in total, although some of these are re-visits to older stages with some minor tweaks due to story progression. It's the first Tomb Raider game to feature no hidden levels or special bonuses for collecting all of the in-game secrets (of which there are 70), although the British paper The Times teamed up with Core Design to release a special, PC-only downloadable level which celebrated the 75th anniversary of Howard Carter's excavation of Tutankhamun's tomb. Interestingly enough, this level wasn't just DLC, it was a full-fledged mini Tomb Raider game all on its own which didn't require the full version of Last Revelation in order to run, and came with two other TR-themed puzzle games to mess around with. This guide doesn't cover that bonus level, but if you're interested in playing it, you can find it at Stella's Tomb Raider Page. Both the GOG and Steam versions of Last Revelation come with the Times bonus content, just FYI.
    Anyway, at nearly 180 pages, this is also the longest classic-era Tomb Raider game guide Prima ever made.
    Enjoy! ❤️

    689 downloads

    2 comments

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  23. Tomb Raider Chronicles Official Strategy Guide

    A fine guide for a middle-of-the-road game. Once again, Chronicles received a release on the PlayStation, PC, and Dreamcast, but since they're all exactly the same with no platform-specific differences other than control layout, you can use this book no matter which version you're trying to beat. What's interesting is that this game isn't a sequel to Last Revelation, but rather a series of non-connected mission packs showcasing some of Lara's past exploits
    This is a compact book, and they could have started and ended with just the walkthrough bits, but Prima went above and beyond with a few extra pages at the end. The first bonus section is a short look back at the previous four Tomb Raider games, showcasing Lara's development and her biggest accomplishments along with some screenshots to refresh our memories. At the time, Chronicles was touted as being the last time we'd see Lara, at least for a little while, so this was a nice inclusion.
    Following the retrospective, we then get four pages of notes on how to use the Level Editor which shipped with the PC version of the game. This tutorial comes from Nick Connelly, one of Core's level designers, and explains how to build, texture, light, and populate a room. It's a basic room, nothing to set the world on fire, but it's a nice introduction and explanation of what can be made using the level editor. There are much more comprehensive tutorials available online to explain the ins and outs of the level creator, but this is certainly a fine start.
    Enjoy! ❤️

    488 downloads

    0 comments

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  24. Totally Unauthorized Fighting Secrets III: No Mercy

    This book. Oh my gosh, this book.
    I've seen a lot of strategy guides in my four decades on this planet. I've seen a number of books and guides which have typos in them. Sometimes in the text, sometimes (very rarely) in the table of contents or the index. But I want you to take a minute and open up the cover image for this book, and take a look at it. Because never have I seen a strategy guide so rushed to market that it misspelled the name of one of the games it covers on the front cover.
    Can someone, anyone, please tell me about the game "Soul Egde"? Because I've certainly never heard of it. Soul Edge? Absolutely! But "Soul EGDE"?
    SOUL EGDE?!
    On the front and back covers of your book?
    Please, BradyGames, PLEASE tell me someone lost their job over letting that one slip through quality control.
    As if the black-and-white only presentation wasn't cheap enough. As if the text-only interior didn't already scream "we put this whole thing together the night before the deadline". But then you expected us to pay ten dollars, in 1996 money, for a book with the misspelled title of a game on the covers?
    You, sir, are the cash-grab guide book to end all cash-grab guide books.
    Debinding this book brought me nigh-on orgasmic pleasure. And I would do it again in a heartbeat.
    Good day to you, strategy guide.
    I SAID, "GOOD DAY"!
    Enjoy! ❤️

    219 downloads

    8 comments

    Updated

  25. Totally Unauthorized PlayStation Games Book, Volume 3

    First we released Volume 2, then we released Volume 5, now we release Volume 3. I know you're all giddy with anticipation!
    Presented in full color with minimal screencaps (since this was an unofficial guide, after all), this is a pretty ordinary, just-the-facts type of guide to a variety of best-selling PS1 hits. Average in almost every way. The text for Tekken 2, Mortal Kombat Trilogy, and Street Fighter Alpha 2 was lifted from Totally Unauthorized Fighting Secrets III: No Mercy, so if you already have that one, this was not as great a value as it seemed on the cover.
    Still, ten game strategies for ten bucks, in colour, and on decent quality paper? You could do worse.
    Enjoy! ❤️

    339 downloads

    1 comment

    Updated

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