Editing Mario's Early Years! Fun with Letters

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{{game infobox
|title=Mario's Early Years! Fun with Letters
|image=[[File:PC Box - Mario's Early Years! Fun with Letters.jpg|250px]]<br>MS-DOS version<br>[[File:mariopre3.jpg|300px]]<br>SNES version
|developer=[[The Software Toolworks]] (Mindscape)
|publisher=The Software Toolworks
|release='''MS-DOS:'''<br>{{flag list|USA|1993<ref>{{cite|quote=''[[Mario's Early Years! Preschool Fun|Mario's Early Years Preschool Fun]]'' (music, counting, colors and shapes), ''[[Mario's Early Years! Fun with Numbers|Mario's Early Years Fun With Numbers]]'' (numbers, counting and math), ''Mario's Early Years Fun With Letters'' (alphabet and pre-reading), and ''[[Mario's Time Machine (PC)|Mario's Time Machine]]'' (history) are all scheduled for release during the fourth quarter.|date=October 1993|title=Electronic Games Volume 2 Issue 1|url=https://archive.org/details/Electronic-Games-1993-10/page/n9|publisher=Decker Publications|page=11|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite|title=Working Mother|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9py0wju6wDEC&pg=PA72|publisher=McCall Publishing Co.|date=December 1993|page=72|language=en}}</ref>|Europe|1993<ref>{{cite|language=de|publisher=DMV-Verlag|page=12|date=November 1993|title=PC Player 11/1993|url=https://archive.org/details/PC-Player-German-Magazine-1993-11/page/n11|quote=Im November erscheinen die Lernprogramme ''Mario's Time Machine'', ''Mario Teaches Sums'', ''Mario Teaches Words'' und ''Mario's PlaySchool''. (The learning programs ''[[Mario's Time Machine (PC)|Mario's Time Machine]]'', ''[[Mario's Early Years! Fun with Numbers|Mario Teaches Sums]]'', ''Mario Teaches Words'', and ''[[Mario's Early Years! Preschool Fun|Mario's Playschool]]'' will be released in November.)}} In an article about the European Computer Trade Show Autumn 1993.</ref>}}'''SNES:'''<br>{{flag list|USA|October 1994<ref>{{cite|archive=web.archive.org/web/20120917022521/http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/downloads/completeoldgameslist.pdf|title=Old Games List|format=PDF|publisher=Nintendo|accessdate=May 6, 2024}}</ref>}}
|languages={{languages|en_us=y}}
|genre=[[Genre#Educational games|Educational]]
|modes=Single player
|ratings=
|platforms={{wp|MS-DOS}}, [[Super Nintendo Entertainment System]]
|format={{format|dos=1|snes=1}}
|input={{input|pcmouse=1|snesmouse=1}}
|serials='''Super NES:'''<br>SNS-AMYE-USA
}}
'''''Mario's Early Years! Fun with Letters''''' (known as '''''Mario Teaches Words''''' for the United Kingdom's IBM-PC release<ref>{{cite|url=x.com/MarioBrothBlog/status/1048236161670504449|title="In the UK, the educational PC titles "Mario's Early Years: Fun with Letters" and "Mario's Early Years: Fun with Numbers" were released as "Mario Teaches Words" and "Mario Teaches Sums", respectively; presumably to tie them in with Mario Teaches Typing."|author=Supper Mario Broth|publisher=X|date=October 5, 2018|accessdate=May 6, 2024}}</ref>) is one of several [[Genre#Educational games|educational games]] of the [[Super Mario (franchise)|''Super Mario'' franchise]]. Developed and published by [[The Software Toolworks]] and licensed by [[Nintendo]], this game was released for the MS-DOS in 1993 and the [[Super Nintendo Entertainment System]] in 1994. It was produced as a predecessor to ''[[Mario's Early Years! Fun with Numbers]]'' and ''[[Mario's Early Years! Preschool Fun]]''. The concept of all three games is largely identical; they only differ in which tasks the player has to fulfill. They are all part of the ''[[Mario Discovery Series]]''.

==Gameplay==
[[File:MEY FWL CrazyCat.png|thumb|left|The player is shown the alphabet in Alphabet World.]]
''Mario's Early Years! Fun with Letters'' is intended to teach the basics of the English language to young children. The game gives the player the option to play either as [[Mario]] or [[Princess Peach|Princess Toadstool]]. Which character is chosen does not affect gameplay at all, and is purely a matter of personal taste. The player controls the character indirectly by moving a cursor over the screen. By clicking somewhere on the screen, the player can make the character move to that spot. Clicking on an object will make the character interact with the object.

The game begins on a selection screen, from which every world is accessible. The screen shows a view of the ocean and an archipelago of seven islands with various objects on top, representing the seven worlds of the game. On the bottom screen there is a raft carrying the three playable characters. The player can switch between characters here.

Each world in the game presents a specific task to the player. These tasks range from filling in words to complete sentences, finding words that contain a specific sound, or aligning three objects that start with the same letter. The player usually has to pick the correct solution out of three or four options in order to complete the task. Each world features different rooms accessible through pipes, presenting slightly varying options and tasks to the player. Each task can be played in two different ways. They can either experiment freely with the given options, or they can wake up the sleeping [[Luigi]] in each room by clicking on him, who will then watch the player's actions. If Luigi is awake, he will compliment every right decision the player makes, and sometimes other characters will show up. Giving a certain amount of right answers makes the player advance to the next room, and eventually clear the world. However, since the game keeps no record of completed tasks, this does not serve any purpose.
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==Worlds==
*[[First Letter World]]
*[[Vowel World]]
*[[Alphabet World]]
*[[Sentence World]]
*[[Blending World]] (referred to in the SNES version as Building World)
*[[Building World]] (PC exclusive)
*[[Sound World]]
*[[Last Letter World]]
*[[Sing Song World (Mario's Early Years! Fun with Letters)|Sing Song World]] (PC exclusive)
*[[Story World]] (PC exclusive)

==Audio==
''Mario's Early Years! Fun with Letters'' features voice acting for all of its dialogue. The narration is done by a child's voice, with prerecorded words pasted together to form sentences. Luigi also speaks a few lines during the game's tasks, though his dialogue is not pasted together. The soundtrack of the game features original and remixed versions of ''[[Super Mario World]]''{{'}}s music, and also some common nursery rhymes such as "{{wp|Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star}}" and "{{wp|Itsy Bitsy Spider}}." The sound effects of the game have been taken from ''Super Mario World'' as well.

==Console differences==
The SNES version of the game is largely the same as the PC edition but with some differences due to reduced space.
*Options to turn off music/sounds/voice clips, randomize the questions, and show text in worlds that have it were removed.
*The help screen with tips on how to continue learning outside the program was removed.
*Yoshi was added as a third playable character.
*[[Alphabet World]] lost a second game mode where the sounds of letters are learned.
*Building World from the SNES version is present in the PC version under a different name, being Blending World. This is likely due to the PC version having an entirely different game bearing the name "Building World", which instead involves the Mario crew at a baseball match.
*There are various background graphic differences.
*Two worlds were removed:
**[[Sing Song World (Mario's Early Years! Fun with Letters)|Sing Song World]] is a world where nursery rhymes/children's songs are reenacted with the Mario cast. They are the aforementioned "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," "{{wp|If You're Happy and You Know It}}," "{{wp|The ABC Song}}" (a song recalling the letters of the English alphabet to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"), and "{{wp|It's Raining, It's Pouring}}."
**[[Story World]] is a world where two stories are read aloud. One involves Mario, Luigi, and Bowser in a mud puddle, and the other involves Princess Toadstool and a pig.

==Notable mistakes and errors==
*In the "Pig Out" story of Story World, one of the sentences reads, ''"Mario and Luigi cannot let the Princess Toadstool get the pig."'' In said sentence, the first instance of the word "the" is an unnecessary addition to the sentence structure.

==Staff==
{{main|List of Mario's Early Years! Fun with Letters staff}}
==Gallery==
<gallery>
Mario Teaches Words PC cover.jpg|UK cover for ''Mario Teaches Words''
MEY FWL CrazyCat.png|Crazy Cat
Sentence World.png|Sentence World
MEY FWL Selection.png|World map (SNES)
First letter world.png|First Letter World
Vowel world.png|Vowel World
Mario's Early Years Logo.png|Main logo
IggyJumpsMS-DOS.gif|[[Iggy Koopa|Icky Iggy]] (MS-DOS)
IckyIggyMS-DOS.png|[[Iggy Koopa|Icky Iggy]] (MS-DOS)
IckyIggySmall.png|[[Iggy Koopa|Icky Iggy]] (MS-DOS)
IckyIggyWalkMS-DOS.gif|[[Iggy Koopa|Icky Iggy]] (MS-DOS)
MEYFWLSNESIckyIggyKoopa.png|[[Iggy Koopa|Icky Iggy]]
MarioFunWithLettersDos.png|[[Mario]] (MS-DOS)
MarioWalkEarlyYearsDos.gif|[[Mario]] (MS-DOS)
MarioEarlyYearsFunLetters.png|[[Mario]] (MS-DOS)
MarioWalkFunLettersSNESUnused.gif|[[Mario]] (SNES) (unused sprites)
MEYFWLSNESLuigiSprite.png|[[Luigi]]
File:LuigiMadFunWithLetters.gif|[[Luigi]] (MS-DOS)
PeachEarlyYears.png|[[Princess Peach]] (MS-DOS)
PeachEarlyYearsSmall.png|[[Princess Peach]] (MS-DOS)
MEYFWLSNESPrincessPeach.png|[[Princess Peach]]
BowserFunWithLettersDos.png|[[Bowser]] (MS-DOS)
BowserWalkFunWithLetters.gif|[[Bowser]] (MS-DOS)
BowserSmallFunWithLetters.png|[[Bowser]] (MS-DOS)
BowserEarlyYearsBaseball.png|[[Bowser]] (MS-DOS)
BowserPullFunWithLettersDOS.png|[[Luigi]] tugging on [[Bowser]] (MS-DOS)
Bowser MEL-FWL.png|[[Bowser]]
GreenKoopaEarlyYears.gif|[[Koopa Troopa]] (MS-DOS)
EarlyYearsSunMS-DOS.png|The Sun (MS-DOS)
Last Leter World.png|Last Letter World
Sound World.png|Sound World
Building World.png|Building World (SNES)
Building World PC.png|Building World (MS-DOS)
IggyHugsYoshiFunWithLetters.png|Building World (MS-DOS)
BowserGrabsIggy.png|Story World
RainingPouring.png|Sing Song World
MEY SPointer.png|Cursor
MarioMEY.png|[[Mario]]
</gallery>

==References==
<references/>

{{MEY}}
{{Super Mario games}}
{{SNES}}
{{Computer}}
[[Category:Mario's Early Years! Fun with Letters|*]]
[[Category:Games]]
[[Category:Super Nintendo Entertainment System games]]
[[Category:MS-DOS games]]
[[Category:Educational games]]
[[Category:1993 games]]
[[Category:1994 games]]
[[Category:Games unreleased in Japan]]
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