History Main / HintsAreForLosers

[[caption-width-right:349:Real men also don't read captions. Go drink a beer, nerd.

* Early on in ''VideoGame/{{Crystalis}}'', you learned the [[PsychicLink Telepathy]] spell, which could be used to contact one of the four Sages for a hint, though every now and then the "hint" you got would be along the lines of "Leave me alone, {{figure it out yourself}}!" (especially if you chose to contact [[GrumpyBear Kensu]]).

* ''VideoGame/HomeImprovementPowerToolPursuit'' infamously didn't come with a proper manual, but instead a joke "manual" which just opens up to a huge fake sticker stuck over everything with the sentence "real men don't need instructions" on it, as pictured above.

* ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry2DiddysKongQuest'' has a section in the manual called "Cranky's Hint", but there, Cranky just laughs at you and tell you to [[BribingYourWayToVictory buy the]] ''Magazine/NintendoPower'' [[BribingYourWayToVictory guide instead]]. ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong64'''s manual is equally unhelpful.
** Within the game itself, the last hint you can buy from Wrinkly Kong is "All but one of my hints are useful to you." Her hint for the final boss battle is "Make sure you have plenty of lives!"

* Played with in ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie: Nuts and Bolts'', where one of the hints shown on loading screens tells you that if you haven't gotten any better from reading the hints, you should just stop being so rubbish.

* The tutorial for the ''VideoGame/SpiderMan2'' video game has [[Creator/BruceCampbell a voiceover]] that tells you to do Spider-Man-like things (like jump off buildings) and then mocks you for jumping off a building just because someone suggested it.
** Amusingly, he'll stop his insult partway through and say a different line if you put out a web-line before he finishes his insult. And if you ''crawl'' down the building, he'll berate you for not following along and reset your location, though that also means he won't mock you for jumping afterwards.

[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/HomeImprovementPowerToolPursuit https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/homeimprovementinstructions_7.jpg]]]]

-->-- '''Cranky Kong''', ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong64'' manual

* ''VideoGame/HomeImprovementPowerToolPursuit'' infamously didn't come with a proper manual, but instead a joke "manual" which just opens up to a huge fake sticker stuck over everything with the sentence "[[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/homeimprovementinstructions.jpg real men don't need instructions]]" on it.

%% Image removed per Image Pickin' thread: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1363039626014271500
%% Please start a new thread if you'd like to suggest an image.

-->-- '''Cranky''', ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong64'' manual

* The SNES version of ''VideoGame/HomeImprovement'' infamously didn't come with a proper manual, but instead a joke "manual" which just opens up to a huge fake sticker stuck over everything with the sentence "[[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/homeimprovementinstructions.jpg real men don't need instructions]]" on it.

* Occasionally ''ProfessorLayton'' puzzles will do this, though this is usually only the case for puzzles where it would be hard to come up with a good hint anyway.

->''"If all else fails, you'll just have to play better."''

* The manual of ''Brataccas'' intentionally leaves several details vague, instead telling you to check a specific page for more details. However, when you get to that page, it only says, "This page was intentionally left blank.".

* DoubleSubverted in ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}'', at the start of Chapter 2. [[AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent You assume control of]] [[HandicappedBadass Duster]], and Wess, his adopted father and mentor in the thief arts, instructs him to steal the treasure of Osohe Castle. He initially refuses to give a description of the treasure in question, stating that a true thief would know the value of what they were going to steal. However, he has a change of heart and offers to give a hint, [[ButThouMust which you can't actually refuse]]... only to describe it as being 'a VERY important-looking item', and that it's 'like... all shiny'.

* {{Infocom}}'s [=InvisiClues=] — a clue book with (yes) invisible clues, to be developed as needed by the player with an invisible ink pen — used this to avoid spoilers. The clues came in the form of visible questions with several invisible answers, each more specific than the last -- but some of the questions were completely irrelevant to the game, and accordingly, came with answers to the effect of "maybe you should play the game before reading the hints". Some of them can be read on the Quote page.
* In {{Infocom}}'s TextAdventure games ''Sherlock: Riddle of the Crown Jewels'' and ''Arthur: The Quest for Excalibur'', you ''could'' ask Sherlock and Merlin, respectively, for hints, but they'd express disappointment in you if you did ("*sigh* Very well, Watson; if you must").