Educational games in the Mario series

In the early 1990s, many educational games were released in the Mario series of video games, including Mario is Missing!, a geography-based game for the PC, Macintosh, Super NES and NES, I Am a Teacher: Super Mario Sweater, a Famicom Disk System game released in 1988, Two Mario Teaches Typing games, Three Mario's Early Years games, Mario's Time Machine, Simailler to Mario is Missing, and Super Mario Bros. & Friends: When I Grow Up'.

I Am a Teacher: Super Mario Sweater

I Am a Teacher: Super Mario Sweater is a Famicom Disk System game released in 1988 only in Japan. It was designed by Royal Industries Co., Ltd., a Japanese appliance and sewing machine company. Using the program, players could design the sweater they want and the company would make it for 2900 yen (~$24).

Mario is Missing!

Mario is Missing! NES cover art

Mario is Missing! is a geography-based game for the PC, Macintosh, Super NES and NES. It was developed by The Software Toolworks and released in 1992 for PC and SNES. In 1993, the NES version was made and developed by Radical Entertainment. The first two versions were published by Mindscape, and the NES version was published by Nintendo.

Mario is Missing! is the first Mario game to feature only Luigi as the starring character, which did not occur again until Luigi's Mansion.

Plot

Screenshot of the NES version

Bowser sets up a castle in Antarctica, and plans to use many hair dryers from Hafta Havit, a mail order company, to melt Antarctica's ice and flood Earth. He sends Koopas to cities across Earth to steal artifacts to fund his operation. Mario, Luigi and Yoshi travel to Bowser's castle to stop him. Luigi is hesitant to go in, so Mario goes by himself and is kidnapped by Bowser, prompting Luigi to rescue him.

Gameplay

Luigi progresses through the game by completing levels in Bowser's castle; each floor is guarded by one Koopaling and contains a number of pipes which transport Luigi to a city containing Koopas. Once a floor is completed, Luigi must defeat the Koopaling guarding that floor to proceed to the next.

The main gameplay consists of moving around a city in side-scrolling manner while jumping on Koopas to collect stolen artifacts (pieces of famous landmarks).^[1] Luigi then must take these artifacts to their respective locations and correctly answer two questions about the landmark. Once an artifact is returned, the landmark is reopened. During the quest to return all three artifacts to their proper landmarks, Luigi must determine his location to receive the assistance of Yoshi by using a device called the Globulator. If Luigi takes Yoshi to the correct location, he can ride him for double the walking and running speed. Once the exit pipe is found, Luigi is returned to the castle as long as he has Yoshi with him to scare the Pokey into the pipe; otherwise he will be unable to return to the castle. He can then proceed to another town to do it again.

In each city, Luigi is able to question the locals to gain clues as to his current location, the general direction of remaining Koopas, and information about the affected landmarks. He is given a map showing where information booths, people and Koopas are in the city.

The game has a difficulty level ranging from preschool all the way up to "adult" (i.e. college) difficulty.

Mario Teaches Typing

Mario Teaches Typing is a video game designed to teach typing skills to children. It was developed by Interplay and published by Nintendo. It was released for MS-DOS in 1991, Microsoft Windows and Macintosh in 1995, and a follow-up named Mario Teaches Typing 2 was released in 1997. Mario is voiced by Ronald B. Ruben in the floppy disc version, and by Charles Martinet in the CD version.

Gameplay

Mario Teaches Typing includes three selectable characters: Mario, Luigi and Princess Toadstool. The game displays two pairs of hands which show which finger to use; for example, if the player has to type "A", the leftmost finger is highlighted. If the player makes an error, the cursor does not advance until they enter the correct key. After time ends, the exercise ends and a chalkboard screen appears, displaying statistics on how well the player performed.

Mario Teaches Typing 2

Mario Teaches Typing 2 is a computer game developed by Brainstorm and published by Interplay Entertainment. As with the previous game, Mario Teaches Typing 2 was designed to teach children to type. In it, Mario and Luigi must recover the pieces of a magical typewriter that was destroyed when Mario incorrectly typed a magical phrase which would destroy Bowser's castle on it. When all the pieces are recovered and the typewriter is repaired, Mario is able to type the phrase correctly and destroy Bowser's castle. The game also features a number of CGI sequences featuring a disembodied Mario head who talks to the player. Players can choose to select to take a placement test (which is scored based upon accuracy and speed) or participate in lessons (whether in order or selected individually). Also, the sequel has numerous new features, including a customizable certificate of achievement, color coded on-screen keyboard, and customizable lesson plans. Mario was once again voiced by Charles Martinet.

Mario's Early Years! Fun with Letters

Mario's Early Years! Fun with Letters is a video game released for SNES on June 1, 1993. It was one of the few educational games for the SNES and had two alternate games with the same gameplay engine, but different things to learn about. The game contains Mario, Princess Peach and Yoshi on a wooden boat traveling from island to island, learning about grammar and letters.

Mario's Early Years: Fun with Numbers

Mario's Early Years! Fun with Numbers was released for SNES on June 15, 1993.

Mario's Early Years: Preschool Fun

Mario's Early Years! Preschool Fun was released for SNES in 1994. It used the SNES Mouse.

Mario's Game Gallery

Main article: Mario's Game Gallery

Mario's Time Machine

Main article: Mario's Time Machine

Super Mario Bros. & Friends: When I Grow Up

Super Mario Bros. & Friends: When I Grow Up is a children's computer coloring game, featuring Mario and Luigi, released in 1991 for the PC Software. Players can paint Mario and other Nintendo characters.

References

1. ^ http://retro.ign.com/articles/897/897225p1.html