Mario's Early Years! facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Mario's Early Years! |
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CD collection cover art
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| Genres | Edutainment |
| Developers | The Software Toolworks |
| Publishers | The Software Toolworks Mindscape (SNES) |
| Composers | Rob Wallace Sam Powell |
| Platforms | DOS, SNES |
| First release | Mario's Early Years! Preschool Fun (DOS)
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| Latest release | Mario's Early Years! Preschool Fun (SNES) November 1994 |
The Mario's Early Years! series is a trilogy of point-and-click educational games released on MS-DOS and Super Nintendo Entertainment System by The Software Toolworks. The three games consist of Fun with Letters, Fun with Numbers and Preschool Fun.
Contents
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 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.
