As games evolved and their mechanics became more involved and complex, especially during the transition to 3D and during the fifth and sixth console generations, tutorials became a somewhat necessary staple to help ease new players into the action.

While tutorial levels aren't as common as they once were thanks to a somewhat standardised control scheme and approach to 3D movement, tutorials can be a memorable part of a game as they are often the first experience a user can have, or maybe even the last if done wrong - see Driver on the PS1. A good or bad tutorial can truly make or break a users first impression of a game.

Throughout the years there have been some truly great tutorial levels such as the iconic world 1-1 in Super Mario Bros to The Great Plateau in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Or how about Croft Manor in the early Tomb Raider games which guide you through a literal training ground and let you trap your own rattly butler in a walk-in freezer?

What are some of your favourite tutorial levels or the ones that you remember the most for good or for worse?

 

[AaronUzumaki]

Kingdom Hearts II. Sure it might take like 3 hours every time you play the game from the beginning but damn is it a great piece of storytelling while also being a fun tutorial. You can see the implications it had throughout the entire game. Weirdest part was that the first time I played it, I hated it. I didn’t know who this Roxas person was and was just ready to go back to playing as Sora in his cool new black outfit. Now it’s my favorite part to play, and Roxas is my favorite character in the series.

I didn't hate it, but otherwise, I fully agree. It was a really great way to start the game and add an air of mystery to hook you in.

 

[urbanman2004]

I think a humorous first level tutorial from what I can recall was from the 2013 "Deadpool" game, lmao.

 

[slaphappygamer]

Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions was great. Not the separate game, but the missions in MGS1. Those were so good that there was a hole game made from them.

Also, I really like Hitman (the first one). You start on the set of a yacht party. They don’t make games like they used to.

 

[Budsixz]

Zelda botw great plateau.

 

[The Catboy]

Fable's beginning section is the best. You get to be brided by a dude who's cheating on his wife and then report him to his wife to get extra money.

 

[Thejax]

Kingdom Hearts II. Sure it might take like 3 hours every time you play the game from the beginning but damn is it a great piece of storytelling while also being a fun tutorial. You can see the implications it had throughout the entire game. Weirdest part was that the first time I played it, I hated it. I didn’t know who this Roxas person was and was just ready to go back to playing as Sora in his cool new black outfit. Now it’s my favorite part to play, and Roxas is my favorite character in the series.

I went from hating that and even getting a mod to remove it for the pc version.

After playing later games I just like to see Roxas happy

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Weirdly the most memorable to me is OSRS's tutorial island back, at least when it was just RuneScape in 05ish. Always used to spend a decent chunk of time there whenever I made a new account for some reason.

And of course all the Souls games for me, but Demons Souls in particular I always like the intro area and the tutorial boss fight, the cutscenes after was always so cool

 

[Rith12]

Runescape tutorial island. I can do it with my eyes closed with how many times I did it

 

[Deleted member 158512]

I can't remember if it was Rune Factory 2 or 3, but the tutorial basically has you play the character's entire life, through marriage and having a kid, and then the actual game begins with you playing as your child.

 

[AkiraKurusu]

The Great Plateau in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

That was an effective tutorial; I agree. It very effectively taught players just how mediocre and frustrating and un-Zelda-like this game is, by immediately making players baby an arbitrary stamina gauge, by how stupidly quickly collected weapons break, how you get every Rune one after the other (teaching the player this so-called "Zelda" game won't have a wide and varied arsenal, or dungeon items, like NORMAL and GOOD Zelda games do), and forcing the player to find towers by sight teaches them they'll have to stumble through this ugly and barren world with largely no map markers and thus no visible goals to work towards or motivation to keep trudging through this aggravating experimental disaster.


As for good tutorials in an actually great game, how about Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald? You have to rescue Professor Birch from a wild Zigzagoon/Poochyena (depending on version), using a Pokémon from his bag.
After selecting one of Treecko, Torchic or Mudkip, you're thrust into battle against the wild Pokémon, who not only does minimal damage to you, but you can also freely learn about stat-lowering moves (Growl makes the opponent's physical moves, which is all Zigzagoon and Poochyena have at this point, weaker; Leer makes your physical moves hit harder) as well as how to lower the opponent's HP with Scratch, Tackle or Pound.

Plus, you cannot actually lose this singular fight - if you get low on HP, the Zigzagoon/Poochyena is coded to automatically flee, making it a perfect place to get a hang of this turn-based system.
It does all this without someone in-game instructing you, which is a flaw of newer games, and even FireRed/LeafGreen.


Or how about Fire Emblem: Awakening? The Prologue has the two main characters (Chrom, this game's Lord, and your just-created Avatar) up against a boss - who not only doesn't attack on his turn, but also doesn't do too much damage. You can freely get a feel for this game's movement and gameplay here, and even get a sneak-peek at pairing up if you have Chrom and Avatar stand next to each while attacking the boss. This game also has optional tutorial windows, which if you're new you can read as they appear in the first few chapters - or if you're experienced you can disable in the save's settings, with the added bonus of immediately unlocking pairing-up units, which would otherwise be locked until Chapter 3 or so (where it's actually shown with Sumia and Chrom pairing up).

 

[Viri]

Any tutorial that is short.

I liked the tutorial in Skyrim, the first time

The Skyrim wagon actually bugged out the first time I played Skyrim, and the horse was climbing mountains and rolling. Was a great first experience. Which funny enough, the ending also bugged out on me, and was awkward stare with no dialog.

 

[x65943]

Any tutorial that is short.


The Skyrim wagon actually bugged out the first time I played Skyrim, and the horse was climbing mountains and rolling. Was a great first experience. Which funny enough, the ending also bugged out on me, and was awkward stare with no dialog.

That sounds hilarious

God those games are so buggy, but at least usually in a funny way

 

[HeartfeltDesu]

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney games 1, 3, 4, 6, and the Miles Edgeworth spinoff game 2 case 1 are all fantastic tutorial cases because they offer you genuinely really good murder mysteries that aren't overly simplified or watered down for the sake of the cases being "tutorials". Miles Edgeworth Investigations 2 is the best in this regard, because it was specifically written and designed to feel like a final case in scope and scale.

 

[mightymuffy]

I'm gonna plump for 1-1 myself ....of Super Mario Bros 3 though! Coming from SMB1, the fact that it shows you how to use koopa shells, teaches you the screen can scroll backwards now, AND shows you how to fly - all in the space of about 3 screens? Fukkin genius...

 

[KingBlank]

Loop Hero? It got me excited to play the game, although the game has barely any content and pads its length with grinding.

 

[doorbell8423]

The Yoshi's Island little tutorial level.

Skip, skip, skip, skip, skip....

Post automatically merged: Feb 4, 2023

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As games evolved and their mechanics became more involved and complex, especially during the transition to 3D and during the fifth and sixth console generations, tutorials became a somewhat necessary staple to help ease new players into the action.

While tutorial levels aren't as common as they once were thanks to a somewhat standardised control scheme and approach to 3D movement, tutorials can be a memorable part of a game as they are often the first experience a user can have, or maybe even the last if done wrong - see Driver on the PS1. A good or bad tutorial can truly make or break a users first impression of a game.

Throughout the years there have been some truly great tutorial levels such as the iconic world 1-1 in Super Mario Bros to The Great Plateau in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Or how about Croft Manor in the early Tomb Raider games which guide you through a literal training ground and let you trap your own rattly butler in a walk-in freezer?

What are some of your favourite tutorial levels or the ones that you remember the most for good or for worse?

The exact one that you posted in picture. Tomb Raider 3.

 

[HeartfeltDesu]

Loop Hero? It got me excited to play the game, although the game has barely any content and pads its length with grinding.

Pads its length with grinding? The point is that it's a roguelike where the gameplay loop is you setting up the ideal grinding scenario. How can you pad length with grinding when optimizing the grinding is the end goal?

 

[Foxi4]

This topic actually reminds me of an old video by Egoraptor.



I like games where tutorials are contextual. If a game bombards me with a bunch of text boxes and other assorted garbage, I tune out. Worse yet, if it requires me to repeat a certain action X amount of times, my grip tightens around the controller. The product I paid for is treating me like an idiot, and it’s dressing that up as a kindness. Hey, if your game is so unintuitive that it requires a written manual, maybe it’s not a very good game. Games are an interactive audio-visual medium and there are better ways to convey the rules than by throwing the manual at the player and giving them a pop quiz at the end. You’re trying to immerse the player in a fictional world, this stuff should be invisible. It’s hard for me to pick a “favourite” one off the top of my head because the tutorials in those games are barely there to begin with. It’s *hard* to convey your game’s rules without making it feel like a tutorial, but when it’s done right, it’s muah - chef’s kiss.

Half-Life comes to mind. When Gordon Freeman shows up to work, he’s on a monorail. Even once he’s off the monorail, he’s not running in guns blazing - he’s a scientist and he’s off to do scientist stuff. He suits up, and since it’s a super science suit, he needs to test it out. Later he meets up with his colleagues and only *then*, once the player has gotten the hang of all the controls do things start going sideways - gradually so, giving the player ample opportunity to learn by doing. Admittedly it’s not a perfect example due to the obstacle course, but even that doesn’t interrupt gameplay. If I come up with a better example, I’ll be sure to post again.

 

[KingBlank]

Pads its length with grinding? The point is that it's a roguelike where the gameplay loop is you setting up the ideal grinding scenario. How can you pad length with grinding when optimizing the grinding is the end goal?

I generally prefer roguelikes without between run progression systems, I don't mind something like Risk of Rains achievement item pool unlocks though.

 

[HellGhast]

Kaer Morhen bathtub in the beginning of Witcher 3, although am a sucker for redheads Triss and Shani(oh so sexy Shani) I do occasionally appreciate brunettes.