After you sign in, you can choose from many activities that suit your level of typing proficiency. If you are a beginner, the game will teach you from the ground up, letter by letter. The interface is one of the best I've seen in this type of program: you will see two cartoony hands at the bottom third the screen, which will flash the finger you should use to press keys when the letter shows up in in the top screen. The top two-thirds of the screen is taken up by attractive graphics, showing Mario (or Luigi or the Princess, whomever you choose) doing his cutesy Mario-things (e.g. knocking blocks, jumping on turtles, etc.) when you press the correct key. Do it right, and you will see Mario advance to the next level, just like in the Super Nintendo version.

In addition to many difficulty levels you can choose from, one of the program's best features is the Report Card, which not only displays your accuracy as a percentage and your WPM (words per minute) count, but also "problem keys", i.e. keys you have the most trouble with. And as if that was not enough, many sentences you will be typing are taken from famous plays, novels, or historical documents, with the source always given at the end. This adds extra educational value to the package, and makes you want to come back to it even after you have mastered typing. Overall, Mario Teaches Typing is a very enjoyable typing tutor that no house should be without. Two thumbs up!