For some reason, educational kids’ games are near and dear to my heart. So I decided to have that be the next topic for my podcast! And since my brother Jared seemed to be the most prolific when talking about this subject, I decided to have him with me for this episode. So check this one out if you want to learn more about educational games for both kids and adults!
Please listen to the podcast and let me know your favorite educational games, too! Later! --Cary
I never played much in the way of educational games unless you count The Oregon Trail as one. The Oregon Trail was a strangely addictive game. I did have an edutainment game on the TI-99/4A called Beginning Grammar which went over the parts of speech. In Oklahoma, there is a science museum called the Omniplex. They had a bunch of educational video games that looked like they ran off of Apple IIs. One of them was a tooth brushing game where the evil plaques were represented by scary Russian music, namely the Volga Boatmen's Song (the theme that plays when Soda Popinski is introduced). Gotta love the Cold War.
I never got into The Oregon Trail. Not very many opportunities for me to play it, and when I did I found it boring.
And what's the deal with all those tooth brushing games back then?
I found the game I was thinking of. It was Tooth Invaders, for the C64.
I couldn't get your video to work, but yeah it's crazy how many tooth brushing games there were. Now there's a bunch of creepy ones on mobile devices I hear.
I'm always interested in edutainment. I think there should be more of them. This is a not a game, but it felt like one, Mavis Beacon's Typing Tutor. It was fun and I learned how to touch type, a really valuable skill to me.
I played one of the Mavis Beacon typing games. Surprisingly, I never played the Mario typing games. Here's how old I am: I took a typing class in high school and we used actual typewriters. Granted they were electronic typewriters, but I still think they were outdated for the time.
Just saw some manual typerwriters at a Goodwill the other day. Considered getting one then realized I would have a hard time finding ink ribbon for it. The guy who founded Commodore (Tramiel?) started out as a typerwritter repairman. Can you imagine that?
I played Typer Shark on PopCop too. Mavis Beacon is comprehensive though and actually gave me the touch typing ability I'm using right now. Thanks Mavis!
You know what typing game I wish I would've played back then? The Typing of the Dead for Dreamcast. I hate that I skipped out on it.
I played that when I had a Dreamcast. It's fine. I would rather play the House of the Dead lightgun games instead.
Yeah but the typing game just seems so quirky! I'm glad I did play Samba de Amigo, though. Still have the maraca controllers under my bed! Before Taiko Drum Master came along, Samba de Amigo was my favorite music game.
I had those Maracas too up until recently. I never got around to playing the game though. It was always very highly rated. I always wanted to try it.
Shame you never got to play them and don't have the maracas anymore. It's a really fun title and almost as good as the Taiko games. They made a Wii version that you use the remotes with (not as good), but it did have Ulala in it so it can't be that bad. :)
I'll try it someday. I regret getting rid of the maracas but I only have so much room for games in my apartment.
