There’s nothing quite like a Japanese GameBoy instruction manual, if you ask me. Take the manual made for Data East’s Tumblepop, the front and back covers of which are showcased above.

Despite the fact that it was printed with just two colors of ink--green and blue--its interior pages are striking. Admittedly, that’s partially due to Data East’s artists filling it with adorable illustrations depicting Tumblepop’s ghost-busting protagonists and the baddies they suck up into the vacuum-cleaner-esque devices they carry with them through the game’s numerous stages. 

To see what I mean, check out the latest post on my more traditional games blog, “Manual Stimulation: Tumblepop (GameBoy)”