The Nintendo Help Line could be argued to be a microtransaction. However, callers talked to knowledgeable players who had the game in front of them, with maps, boss strategies, etc, available.
You could also send them a letter for free. The local rental place didn't have the manual for Wizardry and it's not exactly clear what many of the spells in the game do, since they have names like halito, mahalito, dios, badios, etc.
Nintendo sent me a letter explaining what this all did back in the day.