Gaming Oddities: Mario Teaches Typing

When I was younger, I used a variety of methods to learn how to operate a keyboard, from typing programs to simply practicing with the keyboard. One of those programs was Mario Teaches Typing, which, like the name implies, is a typing program.

The game, as you might imagine, is solely about learning how to type. There are a few different modes for people at varying experience levels.

The basic level involves single letters and takes place on an overworld stage. For every letter you hit, Mario breaks a block or stomps a Koopa. Unfortunately, the mode seems geared toward beginners, and doesn't seem to handle very fast typists.

The intermediate level involves words and takes place in an underwater stage. Mario gets pursued by an octopus(which is apparently supposed to be a Blooper) and a Big Bertha, but there doesn't seem to be any way for either enemy to catch him.

The last of the main levels involves entire sentences with appropriate capitalization and punctuation, and takes place in a castle. Mario alternates between walking past Thwomps and swimming through quicksand, the latter of which is prevalent in desert levels but rare in castle levels. Mario transitions between scenes by traveling through twisting gray pipes that are a far cry from the iconic green pipes in the series. Somewhat disappointingly, there are no boss fights; like all levels, it lasts until the allotted lesson duration expires.

After that, there's a lesson in which, like the castle level, you type up a passage, with the entire passage being shown on screen. It's a standard and relatively boring typing mode.

The game doesn't have much in the way of special features, so if you're looking for a well-designed program that teaches typing, you'll probably be disappointed. If, however, you're looking for a fun way to practice typing or convince your kids to learn typing, this might be right up your alley.