The Strange Mario Typing Game That Will Likely Creep You Out

As one of gaming's most iconic mascots, you can really slap Mario onto anything and people will recognize the plumber. Back in the 90s, this was especially the case, when Mario started making appearances in a series of computer games. Titles during this era included Mario Is Missing!, Mario's Time Machine, and the Mario Teaches Typing series. These lesser Mario entries were a series of educational games that taught children basic geography, history, and computer skills.

While these games were meant to be informative, there were some unintended (and weird) consequences that were a result of really bad game graphics and design. This is especially the case in Mario Teaches Typing 2. The game's graphics are definitely a product of 90s computer technology, but that doesn't excuse the "artistic" choice of featuring what is essentially body horror in a game meant for children. While it may not be gory, Mario Teaches Typing 2 is still a surreal nightmare that should've been looked at a second time before it was unleashed upon the public.

When it was released in 1997, Mario Teaches Typing 2 really tried its best to be an entertaining tool to teach kids how to properly use a keyboard. Despite Interplay Production's efforts to keep Mario fun and friendly, the final result ended up being the Nintendo mascot's floating, disembodied head, swaying back and forth across children's computer screens. It's honestly quite as bad as it sounds.

Charles Martinet, the voice behind Mario, really got into character for this game — he just goes for it. He's constantly cracking jokes, singing covers of "That's Amore," and worst of all, acknowledging the fact that he's a disembodied head with no legs. This could maybe have been endearing, if only the CG animation and Mario's design just weren't so off.

Nintendo has had some blunders in the past when other companies borrowed their IPs, most notably in the case of the poorly-animated Zelda CDi series. At the very least, Mario Teaches Typing 2 hopefully succeeded in doing what the title suggested. But that's only if kids were able to get past this creepy animated version of Mario first.