A few weeks ago I mentioned the Boxer DOS emulator for Mac webpage and how nicely the program worked with old DOS games.  I’ve professed my love of GOG.com in the past for buying older games that will work on your new machines, and come with all sorts extras like manuals, wallpaper, music, and so on.  Unfortunately, GOG.com doesn’t have everything yet (come on guys, how about some Ultima or System Shock!).  There are, however, plenty of old games that are classified as abandonware, software that is no longer sold or supported.  It might be unclear who even owns the copyright to some of these games, as such things are lost in the shuffle of mergers, acquisitions, bankruptcies, and closures.  There are plenty of sites that gather these abandoned games and make them available, but you don’t usually get all the shiny extras like you would from GOG.com.

Enter replacementdocs.com, a website built around the idea of archiving high quality scans of software instruction manuals and documentation, mostly game-related.  Ever look to purchase a used game at a local game store, only to find out that it comes with the cart or disc only, and no manual or even case?   (Most likely because the store threw it way…. grrr, don’t get me started!)  There’s a good chance you can find the manual at replacementdocs.com.  Buy a boxed SNES game on eBay, which was complete except for the map?  Look for it on replacementdocs.com.  The site is very legit, and have even secured permission from rights holders where they could.  They’ll take down manuals from companies they get cease & desist letters from, but in reality it doesn’t happen much, because the rights holders no longer make money from the stuff, and neither does the website.  Some companies even consider the website a service and refer their customers there.

So next time you break out that cart-only copy of The Lost Vikings for the Sega Genesis, head over to replacementdocs.com and download the manual.  (They have it!)  Let me know what you think!

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