Overall 5 Graphics 7 Sound 1 Addictive 2 Depth 2 Difficulty 4
5
Heavy Metal Gamer: Mario Teache's Typing HeavyMetalGamer
Mario as an educational game? You wouldn't think it would be a thing, but it is, matter of fact, it was on PC. This was around the time that we never expected Mario to be on PC, I mean back when I first heard about this game, I thought it was some sort of joke, but it isn't. Mario Teaches Typing is a thing, and sometimes I wonder...who the hell thought this was a great idea? Mario Teaches Typing was developed and published by Interplay and was released on the PC in 1991/1992. It was only developed for MS-DOS and Macintosh.
I can't believe a friend of mine had a copy of this, but he did have a younger brother that use to play it all the time back then. Mario Teaches Tying teaches you how to type with 4 mini games which are Mario's Smash and Dash, Mario's Wet World Challenge, Mario's Tunnel of Doom and Mario's Expert Express. Now going into a educational game back in the day, especially if they involved Mario or Sonic, you can't really expect much, at least when you are an adult. Of course back in the day, I always was hoping they were platformer games, or something like that, and to a point this game has some platforming elements to it.
I mean take a look at Mario's Smash and Dash, look at how you are hitting letters, numbers, and symbols on your keyboard while going right in a platformer like setting. This is actually my favorite mini game in the whole game, but that isn't saying much, because after a while that mini game can become a bit boring. Mario's Wet World is nice, but the name can really set you up for some perverted joke, but this time you go swimming and must avoid enemies by typing. Tunnel of Doom is fun, you type out sentences and so on, and you are in a tunnel with traps, which to me it looks more like a castle rather then a tunnel.
The graphics are nice for Mario Teaches Typing, at least for the time. I mean Mario actually looks like Mario it's not some cheap knock off, the enemies look nice, the game is colorful. I am kinda surprised Mario didn't look like a cheap ass knock off. Not much to really complain about here. The music and sound effects are just awful, the music in MS-DOS games from some developers just completely sucked, and the sound effects mixing in with the music really makes it a jumbled mess, and that can be very frustrating. The music is suppose to be from the Mario games, but damn, that PC speaker sound is awful. Even with a sound card the game is just trash. The controls are pretty simple, you just type, they do respond, I mean they almost have to, it's a educational software program, it kinda has to be good when some schools used this, but mostly families bought this for their young children.
Mario Teaches Typing isn't bad, but there are some flaws, the mini games after a while can get boring, and the music is awful, everything else is just ok, I mean the graphics are nice for it's time, the controls work how they should, but everything else is just...there. The game could of been a lot better if maybe Nintendo handled it and I am not saying Interplay is an awful company, because they use to make some great games, but I think it could be better.
Here is a video review I did back in 2015 of the game. There is some NSFW like jokes (nothing to harsh or vulgar) so I will warn you now:
[youtube]evES3X57P8Y[/youtube]
Graphics 7 Sound 1 Addictive 2 Depth 2 Difficulty 4
Review Rating: 3.5/5
Submitted: 08-18-16
Review Replies: 0
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