Overall Rating: 1/5 Stars
In 1994, Nintendo let developer Radical Entertainment/Software Toolworks create another educational video game using their characters. Whereas a year before it was Mario Is Missing, a geography lesson that notably had Luigi as the protagonist, Mario’s Time Machine was a history class on a cartridge. So-called “edutainment” titles have a poor reputation, and especially the 8-bit iterations on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) console, but could this actually be a good game?
Gameplay
The player controls Mario as he enters Bowser’s Museum, which has some amazing exhibits, such as Newton’s apple and the original acient Greek Olympic torch; however, these items were stolen from their respective time periods, so our favorite plumber must restore them to their original positions in order to repair the space-time continuum. Also, seemingly just for kicks, Bowser kidnapped Yoshi and he must be rescued as well.
Mario walks down the long hallway of the museum, which has seven doors. Each door opens to a Mario Bros.-style screen in which Mario must defeat three turtles to earn a historical item, then hop into the time machine to try and select the right location to bring it back. Each historical location has minor platforming elements for Mario to explore and hit clue blocks, which give more information about the period. These clues will later be used in a history test that must be passed before Bowser can be fought.
Throughout the museum, Mario Bros. homage, and period-specific stages, Mario can walk, jump with the A button, and even spin-jump with coordination of the Up button. However, his physics are a little off, as he slides noticeably far after each landing from a jump, can duck but not while moving (nor can he jump while crouched), and most annoyingly, the time pressing A has no effect on the height of the jump, which is a constant.
Also, Mario can hit the select button during the time-travel portions to switch between being able to view the time map (timetable, timeline, whatever), ask the locals a question, or something else utterly bland and boring.
Let it be perfectly clear: This is not an exciting game, nor is it challenging. Mario cannot die, he merely freezes for a moment in a crouched position when he touches a turtle, including Bowser, who is defeated with three stomps on the head, despite only walking back and forth. The entire experience is a futile ho-hum walk in the park through historical factoids. Though it certainly, in parts, looks like a Mario game, it hardly plays like one, as any sense of challenge, urgency, action, or awesomeness has been stripped away.
Graphics
Being one of the very last official releases on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) console, the graphics are swell, and the visual version of Mario is even made to resemble the 16-bit appearance in Super Mario World, complete with the spin jump. The historical locations are rendered interestingly; while they do retain a certain sense of distinctive charm (Einstein’s equations on a chalkboard in the background, for example), they are also somewhat oddly watered-down as well, as though the graphics team did not fully commit. Or, perhaps more likely, did not have permission to use expensive additional memory on enhanced background imagery, etc. All in all, the game looks alright for an 8-bit cart.
Sound
The background music is subject to an overly twangy, all-channels-playing-to-near-the-same-frequency issue, despite otherwise showing some almost-impressive compositional depth. As with Mario Is Missing, it just sounds like the sound team only knew one way to use the NES channels and certainly stuck to it, producing similar noise and sounds throughout. The effects are okay. Mario jumps.
Originality
It is in this reviewer’s opinion that educational games suck. Some would defend them as saying that they should be judged within the context of being played by a child; however, this view is asinine, seeing as how many other games (especially on the NES) are for children but are much more fun, provide a deeper experience, and, frankly, are more educational in more valuable ways. While Mario’s Time Machine has some interesting visuals and puts Mario into situations he has never been in before and may never return to, nonetheless, this title gets a rating of one star out of five.