The Manual For The Binding Of Isaac On The Switch Is A Tribute To The Legend Of Zelda

Published Sat, 18 Mar 2017 14:45:45 -0500

The Binding of Isaac is possibly one of the most twisted games you can find out there on the market today. Mostly that has to do with the fact that you're playing a game where a tiny baby has to survive a dungeon full of monsters. Edmund McMillen and Florian Himsl based their indie roguelike game on the biblical story of the Binding of Isaac.

Those not up on their Bible study might like to know that the hideous inspiration for this horror of a game goes like this – Isaac's mother receives a message from God demanding the life of her son as proof of her faith, so Isaac flees into the basement of their home which happens to be filled with monsters and he's got to fight for his life.

Those who've played The Binding of Isaac in any of it's forms know that the game's dungeons are procedurally generated much like the NES classic The Legend of Zelda. What you may not know, and we have IGN's Seth G. Macy for figuring out, is that the cover for the Nintendo Switch port of The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth + has an instruction manual that might seem familiar. Because it's a loving tribute to the instruction manual included in the packaging for the NES's Zelda.

"From a golden cover page to a promise of quality, the manual absolutely nails the look and layout of manuals included with NES games. Even the drawings fit the style of the random art found in manuals of the past," Macy alleges. And his slideshow definitely bears that out. It's like a nightmare version of a fond memory – something so perfectly nostalgic but at the same time, irrefutably horrifying.

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