Mario's Time Machine

Mario's Time Machine is set in the year 1993. Bowser, who has built a time machine called the "Timulator", travels back in time and steals essential artifacts from various points in human history to place on display in a museum inside his castle. Because these actions will eventually change history permanently, the player character Mario takes control of the Timulator to return the artifacts to their proper areas in time. In the NES version, Bowser also kidnaps Yoshi, who is freed upon completing the game.

The gameplay focuses on teaching the player the historical significance of each artifact (and of the associated historical person); to progress through the game, the player must correctly answer questions relating to the learned information. Mario's Time Machine uses a side-scrolling perspective, with a game engine that varies across all three versions. The player controls Mario using a point-and-click interface in the MS-DOS version, while the console versions use a platforming-based control scheme adapted from Super Mario World, in which Mario can move left or right and jump. , the console versions use a password system to order to resume play from a particular game state.

To capitalize on educational games, which gained popularity at the time, Nintendo partnered with The Software Toolworks to develop educational Mario games. Nintendo licensed the characters, but neither the company nor Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto were involved in the game's development. The MS-DOS and Super NES versions were developed and published by The Software Toolworks while the NES version was developed by Radical Entertainment and published by The Software Toolworks. Mario's Time Machine was originally released for computers in 1993, with a deluxe re-release titled Mario's Time Machine Deluxe in 1996. It was later released for the Super NES in December 1993, and for the NES in June 1994.

Since its release, Mario's Time Machine has received mixed reviews. GamePro praised the game's dialogues with historical figures, commenting that "the scenarios make flesh-and-blood human beings out of people who are usually just static pictures in textbooks". They criticized the Timulator controls as too confusing, especially for the game's targeted age group, but nonetheless summarized the game as both enjoyable and educational. Nintendo Power gave it a 2.65 out of five, while Electronic Gaming Monthly gave it a 6.75 out of 10.

GameSpy's Brian Altano and Brian Miggels named its ending as one of the worst ever, criticizing it for showing Bowser crying. Fellow GameSpy editor Mike Drucker called it "half-assed". GamesRadar commented that those who like this game may like Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, which they gave a negative review to. They later suggested that it was an unpopular game, commenting that "five, maybe six people played the NES version of Mario's Time Machine".