The Mario's Early Years! series is a trilogy of point-and-click educational games released on MS-DOS and Super Nintendo Entertainment System developed and published by The Software Toolworks under license from Nintendo. The three games consist of Fun with Letters, Fun with Numbers and Preschool Fun.
| Mario's Early Years! | |
|---|---|
 CD collection cover art | |
| Genre(s) | Edutainment |
| Developer(s) | The Software Toolworks |
| Publisher(s) | The Software Toolworks Mindscape (SNES) |
| Composer(s) | Rob Wallace Sam Powell |
| Platform(s) | DOS, SNES |
| First release | Mario's Early Years! Preschool Fun (DOS)
|
| Latest release | Mario's Early Years! Preschool Fun (SNES) November 1994 |
Gameplay
editIn each product, the player has a number of islands to choose from. Each island contains a different activity. The game highlights any items or characters which are clickable. Throughout the activities the player is prompted by voiced instructions and every word, letter or number is read out. The SNES versions of the products contain less activities than the original DOS ones. The SNES versions support the SNES Mouse peripheral.[citation needed]
Development
editTo create the games and ensure suitability for children, Software Toolworks hired child development specialists, educational research experts and speech and language teachers.[2]
Educational goals
editThe three games are each made up of several minigame activities designed to reinforce or foster basic skills[3] and help children in discovering aspects of everyday things, providing them many hours of entertainment.[4] The respective games help children recognise colors, letters and numbers.[5] Fun with Letters teaches phonics to users. Fun with Numbers teaches grouping, separating and organising objects to/from a set as well as thinking about numbers through songs.[3] Preschool Fun teaches learning materials for children on their first school year with a mix of Mathematics and English language.[6] All three products aid in promoting self-esteem, interaction between children and parents,[2] developing new skills and imagination as well as confidence and being positive about learning.[4]
Release
editIn the United Kingdom the games were released as Mario Teaches Words, Mario Teaches Sums and Mario's Playschool respectively. Software Toolworks also released a compilation on the PC titled Mario's Early Years CD-ROM Collection,[3][7] also known as Mario's Early Years! CD Deluxe.[2] The game were also released in the French and German languages.[8]
Reception
edit| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| CD-ROM Today |   (DOS)[3] |
Computer Gaming World said that the PC version of Fun with Letters "has enough balance between active and passive activities to keep kids engaged for hours".[9] Nintendo Power wrote in December 1994 that Preschool Fun noted that the "simple learning activities provide lots of reward" but that "such simple activities without any game play elements will become tedious even to the youngest players over a short period" and that the digitized voice is "annoying".[10]
References
edit- ^ "Mario Turns Schoolmaster". Electronic Games. Vol. 2, no. 1. Decker Publications. October 1993. p. 11.
- ^ a b c "Children soon to embark on learning adventures with Super Mario Bros". Standard-Speaker. April 16, 1994. p. 11. Retrieved September 12, 2019.
- ^ a b c d Scisco, Peter (June 1994). "Education Reviews - Mario's Early Years!". CD-ROM Today. No. 6. Matt Firme. p. 107.
- ^ a b Scisco, Peter (December 1993). "Fun + Learning = Mario's Early Years". Working Mother. McCall Publishing Co. p. 72. Archived from the original on 2023-10-09. Retrieved 2020-09-15.
- ^ Scisco, Peter (August 1994). "Tyke Casting". CD-ROM Today. No. 7. Matt Firme. p. 41.
- ^ "Mario's Playschool [v1.0.1]". Internet Archive. July 30, 2015. Retrieved September 12, 2019.
- ^ Scisco, Peter (May 1994). "New! From the Software Toolworks!". Electronic Entertainment. No. 5. IDG. p. 113.
- ^ Mindscape International Catalogue (PDF). Mindscape. 1993. p. 8. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-04-10. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
- ^ Donovan, Felicia (March 1994). "Mario's Early Years: Fun With Letters". Kids & Computers. Computer Gaming World. p. 134.
- ^ "Now Playing". Nintendo Power. Vol. 67. Nintendo of America Inc. December 1994. p. 105.