Guides are cool, they help if you get stuck n' stuff. I find myself buying guides occasionally, even if I don't use them. Sometimes they have free cool stuff in them, like Street Fighter Anniversary and Soul Calibur 3's guides coming with music soundtracks in them. I don't actually use the hardcopy guides all that much, i usually get them for the pictures.

Case in point: I bought Kingdom Hearts 2 Ultimania, 4 months after I finished the game--and it's all in Japanese. Cool art though.