Buongiorno! We all know that Mario and Luigi are an Italian-American duo by now, right [32] [38] [39]? Since the brothers have been known for speaking in Italian accents since the mid-‘90s, thanks to the talented Charles Martinet [33], I believe that sometime later this new decade can be a great opportunity for them to star in a new educational game that heavily focuses on teaching young children how to speak Italian. Do not get me wrong. I understand that “Mario Teaches Typing” and its sequel were not so great examples of a memorable educational game and the edutainment genre within the Mario franchise died out before the late ‘90s [31] [40], but there is always a chance to provide major improvements when it comes to giving an unsatisfactory genre another chance in a new era; the 2020s. I shall proceed to elaborate on what to expect in a passable educational game about the Mario brothers teaching mostly young children Italian, similar to how Rayman once aimed to teach children French in an educational spin-off of his first adventure and how The Powerpuff Girls: Princess Snorebucks featured Bubbles’ nightmare that taught me a bit of Spanish when I was a child [11] [24] [26] [43] [44].
- Greetings
- Colours
- Numbers
- Clothing items
- Weather
- Animals
- Places
- Food
I know this sounds very stereotypical, but the food category of Italian words to learn might as well include spaghetti and pizza [12] [16]. Why not? The premise would be quite similar to how a smart device user would learn Italian or any other language, such as French or Spanish with the Duolingo app [3], but there does need to be some form of originality and excitement put into the experience of learning Italian of Mario and Luigi to make it at least fun for gamers and help it excel in sales.
- Make sure that the graphics are the lively and polished 3D ones from Nintendo today, not sloppy and cheesy 2D ones [5] [31]
- Refrain from portraying Mario as a talkative disembodied head as that occupation belongs to Deadpool’s Head in this new age [31] [54]
- Do not make the gameplay seem uninspiring, such as providing the method of having to type exactly what needs to be typed at the top of the screen [5] [21] [31]
- Provide the timeless gameplay of a side-scrolling platformer with the challenge of guessing the correct translations for each Italian word or phrase instead [11]
- Check errors within the learning material and fixing them for the final outcome [41]
- Perhaps include a more convenient plot that does not involve a typewriter, especially a giant one that crushes a castle [5]
Sticking to requirements for huge improvements can help the “educational” genre of Mario games return gracefully [40]. As the old saying goes, those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.
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