Me too. And the Sega games too. It was something to read on the bus back home from the shop where you bought the game.

Also, the box art and booklet typically had much higher quality than the game. As a single example, look at Mega Man: https://retrovolve.com/an-illustrated-history-of-mega-man-bo...

And then there was a period in the 1990s when the FMV intro had higher quality graphics than the rest of the game.

These situations just don't exist these days. Although, admittedly, some people do buy game books and lore books because they're well illustrated (illuminated?)