Mario's Time Machine
Encyclopedia
Mario's Time Machine is an educational
video game developed by The Software Toolworks for DOS
and the Super NES and by Radical Entertainment
for the NES
release. All versions were published by Mindscape
. It was first released in 1993 for DOS, and was later released for the Super NES in December of the same year, and for the NES on April 23, 1994. A deluxe version titled Mario's Time Machine Deluxe was released for DOS in 1996. It is one of several educational games released in the early 90's featuring Mario, and has been compared to a similar educational game, Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?
. It follows Mario as he travels through time, attempting to recover artifact
s stolen by Bowser.
Since its release, Mario's Time Machine has received generally negative reception, holding an average score of 60.25% on Game Rankings
based on two reviews. Its use as an educational title have been mixed; where writer Janet Swift praised it for its educational value for children, author Andy Slaven disagreed, though finding it to be "not a bad game." ABC Good Game found that it would be too confusing for its target audience. IGN
suggested it to be a dull concept for a game, while criticizing it for lacking the series' style as well as the lack of true platforming gameplay.
s from the past, and placed them in what he would consider "...the greatest museum of all time". If the items aren't returned soon, history will be changed permanently. Characters including Luigi
and Yoshi
are featured, though the latter only in the NES version. Mario's Time Machine uses a sidescrolling perspective and requires players to send Mario to different time periods to find the items. When time traveling to another time, players must partake in a surfing mini-game before they can reach it, though in the NES version, players must control Mario through a platforming mini-game. Mario may converse with people in these time periods to get information to help him. At certain points, players are initiated to fill in the blanks of a document discussing something historical, using one of several numerous pre-determined words to fill the blanks in. Mario has a monkey named Bobo
version was developed by Radical Entertainment
. All versions published by Mindscape
. It was originally released for computers in 1993, with a deluxe re-release titled Mario's Time Machine Deluxe in 1996. It was later released for the Super NES in December 1993, and for the NES on April 23, 1994.
Since its release, Mario's Time Machine has received negative reception. It holds an aggregate score of 60.25% on Game Rankings
based on two reviews. Nintendo Power
gave it a 2.65 out of five, while Electronic Gaming Monthly
gave it a 6.75 out of 10. GameSpy
's Brian Altano and Brian Miggels named its ending as one of the worst ever, criticizing it for showing Bowser crying. Fellow GameSpy editor Mike Drucker called it "half-assed." GamesRadar
commented that those who like this game may like Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
, which they gave a negative review to. They later suggested that it was an unpopular game, commenting that "five, maybe six people played the NES version of Mario’s Time Machine". ABC Good Game called it "awful," and was "way too complicated for any school-aged youngster to understand." Nintendo of Canada
included a sealed copy of the NES version as part of a charity auction along with several other sealed NES games. In the book Video Games: A Guide for Savvy Parents, author David Sheff found the educational elements good, but criticized the gameplay. Andy Slaven, author of the book Video Game Bible, 1985-2002, accused the game of ripping off Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?
, also noting that though it is not a bad game, it is not a good educational one.
Authors David Wesley and Gloria Barczak associated Mario's Time Machine with the recent "flood of ill-conceived Mario spin-offs", arguing that these games nearly destroyed the Mario license. The Independent
s Janet Swift discussed Mario's Time Machine in her article on the latest generation of educational titles in 1994. She compared it to Mario is Missing! in its execution, which she found "special." Allgame
's Brett Alan Weiss called the action scenes "dreadfully dull" and the presentation "merely average". He added that while he does not dislike educational games, they must be both "entertaining and enlightening." IGN
's Levi Buchanan included it in their assessment of the "other Mario games," implying that the premise was boring and criticizing the game for lacking any real platform gameplay. He commented that it had "honorable intentions," but that it was "decidedly shallow." He also criticized the act of putting Mario in realistic time periods, commenting that he "occupies the imagination, a place with Star Festivals and giant piranha plants." In 2007, Screwattack
placed Mario's Time Machine as the fourth worst Mario game.
Educational game
Educational games are games that have been designed to teach people about a certain subject, expand concepts, reinforce development, understand an historical event or culture, or assist them in learning a skill as they play...
video game developed by The Software Toolworks for DOS
DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
and the Super NES and by Radical Entertainment
Radical Entertainment
Radical Entertainment is a video game developer based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was founded in 1991 and previously developed games for game publishers such as THQ, Microsoft and Fox Interactive. It is now an entirely owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard after being acquired by...
for the NES
Nes
-Localities:In Norway:* Nes, Akershus, a municipality in the county of Akershus in Norway* Nes, Buskerud, a municipality in the county of Buskerud in Norway* Nes, Hedmark, a former municipality in the county of Hedmark in Norway...
release. All versions were published by Mindscape
Mindscape
Mindscape is an international software publishing company, previously part of The Learning Company. They are now affiliated with EA . As of 2004, the group has offices in Europe, Asia, Australia and South America. It has an annual turnover of €38 million and employs 150 people. Mindscape...
. It was first released in 1993 for DOS, and was later released for the Super NES in December of the same year, and for the NES on April 23, 1994. A deluxe version titled Mario's Time Machine Deluxe was released for DOS in 1996. It is one of several educational games released in the early 90's featuring Mario, and has been compared to a similar educational game, Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?
Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?
Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego? is the title of three edutainment computer games in the Carmen Sandiego series that teach history. The concept was later adapted into a television show on PBS.- Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego? :...
. It follows Mario as he travels through time, attempting to recover artifact
Artifact (archaeology)
An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...
s stolen by Bowser.
Since its release, Mario's Time Machine has received generally negative reception, holding an average score of 60.25% on Game Rankings
Game Rankings
GameRankings is a website that collects review scores from both offline and online sources to give an average rating. It indexes over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 games.GameRankings is owned by CBS Interactive...
based on two reviews. Its use as an educational title have been mixed; where writer Janet Swift praised it for its educational value for children, author Andy Slaven disagreed, though finding it to be "not a bad game." ABC Good Game found that it would be too confusing for its target audience. IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
suggested it to be a dull concept for a game, while criticizing it for lacking the series' style as well as the lack of true platforming gameplay.
Overview
Set in 1993, Bowser is in possession of a time machine. He went back in time to steal many artifactArtifact (archaeology)
An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...
s from the past, and placed them in what he would consider "...the greatest museum of all time". If the items aren't returned soon, history will be changed permanently. Characters including Luigi
Luigi
is a fictional character, featured in video games and related media released by Nintendo. Created by prominent game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, Luigi is portrayed as the slightly younger fraternal twin brother of Nintendo's mascot Mario, and appears in many games throughout the Mario series,...
and Yoshi
Yoshi
, is a fictional dragon-like character who appears in video games published by Nintendo. His debut was in Super Mario World on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as Mario and Luigi's sidekick , and he later established his own series with several platform and puzzle games, including Super...
are featured, though the latter only in the NES version. Mario's Time Machine uses a sidescrolling perspective and requires players to send Mario to different time periods to find the items. When time traveling to another time, players must partake in a surfing mini-game before they can reach it, though in the NES version, players must control Mario through a platforming mini-game. Mario may converse with people in these time periods to get information to help him. At certain points, players are initiated to fill in the blanks of a document discussing something historical, using one of several numerous pre-determined words to fill the blanks in. Mario has a monkey named Bobo
Development
The computer and Super NES versions were developed by The Software Toolworks, while the NESNes
-Localities:In Norway:* Nes, Akershus, a municipality in the county of Akershus in Norway* Nes, Buskerud, a municipality in the county of Buskerud in Norway* Nes, Hedmark, a former municipality in the county of Hedmark in Norway...
version was developed by Radical Entertainment
Radical Entertainment
Radical Entertainment is a video game developer based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was founded in 1991 and previously developed games for game publishers such as THQ, Microsoft and Fox Interactive. It is now an entirely owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard after being acquired by...
. All versions published by Mindscape
Mindscape
Mindscape is an international software publishing company, previously part of The Learning Company. They are now affiliated with EA . As of 2004, the group has offices in Europe, Asia, Australia and South America. It has an annual turnover of €38 million and employs 150 people. Mindscape...
. It was originally released for computers in 1993, with a deluxe re-release titled Mario's Time Machine Deluxe in 1996. It was later released for the Super NES in December 1993, and for the NES on April 23, 1994.
Reception
Game Rankings
GameRankings is a website that collects review scores from both offline and online sources to give an average rating. It indexes over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 games.GameRankings is owned by CBS Interactive...
based on two reviews. Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power magazine is a monthly news and strategy magazine formerly published in-house by Nintendo of America, but now run independently. As of issue #222 , Nintendo contracted publishing duties to Future US, the U.S. subsidiary of British publisher Future.The first issue published was...
gave it a 2.65 out of five, while Electronic Gaming Monthly
Electronic Gaming Monthly
Electronic Gaming Monthly is a bimonthly American video game magazine. It has been published by EGM Media, LLC. since relaunching in April of 2010. Its previous run, which ended in January 2009, was published by Ziff Davis...
gave it a 6.75 out of 10. GameSpy
GameSpy
GameSpy Industries, Inc., known simply as GameSpy, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game websites and provides online video game-related services and software. GameSpy dates back to the 1996 release of an internet Quake server search program named QSpy. The current...
's Brian Altano and Brian Miggels named its ending as one of the worst ever, criticizing it for showing Bowser crying. Fellow GameSpy editor Mike Drucker called it "half-assed." GamesRadar
GamesRadar
GamesRadar is a multi-format video game website featuring regular news, previews, reviews, videos, and guides. It is owned and operated simultaneously in the UK and US by worldwide publisher Future Publishing...
commented that those who like this game may like Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (video game)
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian is an action video game developed by Amaze Entertainment and Pipeworks Software and published by Majesco Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, Wii, Nintendo DS and Xbox 360. The video game is based on the film of the same name. It was released on May...
, which they gave a negative review to. They later suggested that it was an unpopular game, commenting that "five, maybe six people played the NES version of Mario’s Time Machine". ABC Good Game called it "awful," and was "way too complicated for any school-aged youngster to understand." Nintendo of Canada
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
included a sealed copy of the NES version as part of a charity auction along with several other sealed NES games. In the book Video Games: A Guide for Savvy Parents, author David Sheff found the educational elements good, but criticized the gameplay. Andy Slaven, author of the book Video Game Bible, 1985-2002, accused the game of ripping off Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?
Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?
Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego? is the title of three edutainment computer games in the Carmen Sandiego series that teach history. The concept was later adapted into a television show on PBS.- Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego? :...
, also noting that though it is not a bad game, it is not a good educational one.
Authors David Wesley and Gloria Barczak associated Mario's Time Machine with the recent "flood of ill-conceived Mario spin-offs", arguing that these games nearly destroyed the Mario license. The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
s Janet Swift discussed Mario's Time Machine in her article on the latest generation of educational titles in 1994. She compared it to Mario is Missing! in its execution, which she found "special." Allgame
Allgame
Allgame is a commercial database of information about arcade games, video games and console manufacturers.Allgame is owned by All Media Guide, along with Allmusic and Allmovie....
's Brett Alan Weiss called the action scenes "dreadfully dull" and the presentation "merely average". He added that while he does not dislike educational games, they must be both "entertaining and enlightening." IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
's Levi Buchanan included it in their assessment of the "other Mario games," implying that the premise was boring and criticizing the game for lacking any real platform gameplay. He commented that it had "honorable intentions," but that it was "decidedly shallow." He also criticized the act of putting Mario in realistic time periods, commenting that he "occupies the imagination, a place with Star Festivals and giant piranha plants." In 2007, Screwattack
ScrewAttack
ScrewAttack . is a video game-related website that showcases original entertainment for an audience of video game enthusiasts. Its content is also shown on GameTrailers and IGN...
placed Mario's Time Machine as the fourth worst Mario game.