Mario Teaches Typing

In the modern society of today, typing is a very essential, even crucial, skill.

So who should teach your kids to type? You? Your local school system?

Nay I say – Your kids should be taught by Mario.

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

The game features 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.

Despite my delight in the thought of Mario teaching my children to type, the game was less than well received, or remembered.

It’s ranked 10th on ScrewAttacks “Top Ten Worst Mario games” saying it was a terrible attempt to cash in on the rise of computers in the 1980s and the music sounded like “a retarded R2-D2”.

Check out the game play for yourself.

The sequel, Mario Teaches Typing 2 was developed by Brainstorm and published by Interplay Entertainment. 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 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.

Here are a few current auctions:

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In collector terms, the game is far from a big deal. The original, quite frankly does not sell – no one wants it. The sequel however normally fetches between $10.00 – $20.00, possibly worth a year sale pickup.