The ''Mario's Early Years!'' series is a trilogy of point-and-click educational games released on

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few oper ...

and

Super Nintendo Entertainment System The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South ...

The Software Toolworks The Software Toolworks (commonly abbreviated as Toolworks) was an American software and video game developer based in Novato, California. The company was founded by Walt Bilofsky in 1980 out of his Sherman Oaks garage, which he converted into a ...

. The three games consist of ''Fun with Letters'', ''Fun with Numbers'' and ''Preschool Fun''.

Gameplay

In 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 The Super NES Mouse, sold as the in Japan, is a peripheral created by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It was first released on July 14, 1992, in Japan, in August 1992 in North America, and on December 10, 1992, in Europe. ...

peripheral.

Development

To create the games and ensure suitability for children, Software Toolworks hired child development specialists, educational research experts and speech and language teachers.

Educational goals

The three games are each made up of several minigame activities designed to reinforce or foster basic skills and help children in discovering aspects of everyday things, providing them many hours of entertainment. The respective games help children recognise colors, letters and numbers. ''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. ''Preschool Fun'' teaches learning materials for children on their first school year with a mix of Mathematics and English language. All three products aid in promoting self-esteem, interaction between children and parents, developing new skills and imagination as well as confidence and being positive about learning.

Release

In 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'', also known as ''Mario's Early Years! CD Deluxe''. The game were also released in the French and German languages.

Reception

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American computer game magazine published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 1993. It expanded greatly through t ...

'' said that the PC version of ''Fun with Letters'' "has enough balance between active and passive activities to keep kids engaged for hours". ''

Nintendo Power ''Nintendo Power'' was a video game news and strategy magazine from Nintendo of America, first published in July/August 1988 as Nintendo's official print magazine for North America. The magazine's publication was initially done monthly by Nint ...

'' 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".

References

External links

* * * {{Mario educational games Early_Years! 1993 video games DOS games Super Nintendo Entertainment System games Video games developed in the United States Video games scored by Sam Powell Nintendo franchises The Software Toolworks games Children's educational video games