Do you read the manual?

[DeadAwake]

If I had to save one manual and have all my others thrown away, I'd go with HoMM:II.

[GiftedGirl]

I always read the manual that comes with the game, unless I've gotten the guide beforehand, as is the case with Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire. It helps because I might not know how to do a certain thing otherwise. I also sometimes use pictures in manual as reference for my art, although this can sometimes be a problem. Once, I was drawing Espio the Chameleon and I was using the picture in my Sonic Heroes manual as reference and when I had gotten it done, I was so proud of myself and it seemed so well done... Come to find out, when I played Sonic Heroes again, I noticed that Espio's shoes are purple. I gave him orange shoes. XP It might not seem like a big deal to you, but I go CRAZY when I mess up the colors on a picture.

[Kojinka]

If I've gotten so far into the game that help in the manual would be very unlikely, then I either go to the Internet or buy the strategy guide.

[Metal Sonic v2.0]

I always read the manuals for my games, for two main reasons:

1) Most obviously, it provides very useful instructions on how to perform certain actions in the games, supplies various information about the game, etc.

2) As I read the manual, I tend to get more and more anxious to play the game (it's a good feeling).

[Lizard Dude]

2) As I read the manual, I tend to get more and more anxious to play the game (it's a good feeling).

Definitely. Same here. Thanks for pointing it out.

[BriGuy92]

I always read game manuals before I start playing. It's never a bad thing to know what you're doing, after all!

[Eric B. (Shnoogums)]

When i buy a game for a specific console or handheld, when i open the box, i always (and i mean always) check the instruction manual that comes with it. That way, i know what to do, how to handle the specific action controls and where i'll be going with said game. I've done that for years now and i continue to do so today.

[Kimimaru]

I always read the manuals for my games, for two main reasons:

1) Most obviously, it provides very useful instructions on how to perform certain actions in the games, supplies various information about the game, etc.

2) As I read the manual, I tend to get more and more anxious to play the game (it's a good feeling).

I also agree with you. However, when I was younger, I NEVER used to read the manuals. Now, I always read the manuals. I even went back and read the manuals for the games that I didn't read when I was younger. I sometimes even read the manual for a game after I'm completely done with it. Manuals provide you with useful information usually not found in tutorials or anywhere else. Whenever a friend brings over a game I have never played, I ask for the controls. I adapt to them and sometimes find out things that my friend didn't know. I think it's rude to open the case and read the manual for a friends game except in the occasion where none of us know what we are doing.

[Super-Jesse]

I read the manual for one main reason:

After I buy a game, I usually need to use the restroom, so I take it in there with me for some good ol' reading material and then go about to play the game! :-D

[N64 Chick]

I usually read the manual first, although there are a few cases where I just rush right into the game. That happened when Mac and I got Diamond and Pearl anyway.

[Glorb]

Generally, I always read the manual unless I know it's going to have a weird control scheme (i.e., something other than A to jump, right shoulder button to shoot, etc.).

[WarpRattler]

I almost always read the manual for a game. The only cases where I wouldn't are if it's a puzzle game that I'm already good at already (I know how to play Tetris, stop trying to tell me otherwise) or if I don't have the manual (which usually only happens if I buy a game used or play a ROM). I know I didn't read the PMD manual immediately, because of how often I play Rogue and NetHack.

Great manuals (you know, like the one for Earthbound) aren't made as often nowadays...

[The Blue Toad]

Yes I read the manual, but for reasons other than practicality. 
Generally, there's never anything imperative stowed away in those things, and if there is, it's something as minute as what button to press when attacking an enemy or how to block.  Such basics as these aren't the sort of things that need studying before playing the actual game.
I simply enjoy reading the manual for the little trinkets of authenticity and brief previews of what the mood of the game will be.  That's all. 
I'm also rather pedantic, so I guess you could say that it relieves a yearning within. 

[Hacker Pikachu 25]

I almost always read the game  manuals, but the system manuals, well...Two words: Never. Read.

[PaperLuigi]

Yeah, I hate the system manuals too. I mainly read the game manuals for fun.