Finally, Little Johnny’s taking his piano lessons seriously.
PLAYERS: 1
PUBLISHER: Mindscape
DEVELOPER: Software Toolworks
GENRE: Musical Instruction
RELEASE DATE: 1990
Imagine strutting your way to your local Target or Funco-Land, cane in hand, top hat perched precariously on your head. It’s 1990 and the NES is the king of the consoles. You decide to look through the glass case at the games, to see if anything strikes you. Being a man of taste, you can’t just have any old fiddle-faddle of a game. You won’t settle for anything less than the finest of the fine. As you scan the case, your eager eyes latch onto a large keyboard box lumped below all the other regular games. “A music simulator that teaches how to play keyboard for one’s Nintendo?” you mumble to yourself, while fiddling with your thin mustache. “How preposterously queer!” Then you look at the price tag of $500. Your monocle falls to the ground. “I say! That’s a king’s ransom of a price. I shan’t pay it!” You doff your hat at no one and shamble out of the store, forgetting why you’re behaving like an old stingy rich man.
Miracle Piano Teaching System will not be getting a proper review, and unless one of my readers comes out of the wood work and offers me the chance to play, it will remain this way. Without the keyboard peripheral, you can not play this game. No amount of button-smashing will get it to progress past the demo. The cartridge itself is not that rare or expensive, but the rarity of the keyboard and all the cables needed to make the program work pushes the full game into the several hundred dollar range. Worth it if you’re a collector, but everyone else would be happy to pass.
It’s a shame the game was so expensive. According to the funions over at GameFAQs and Wikipedia, Miracle Piano Teaching System actually gets the job done and teaches you piano. And on your NES, no less! There are different skill levels, hundreds of songs, solos, duets, exercises, etc for you to wet your whistle. If there’s any reader out there who has even played this bizarre curio, please drop me a comment. I’d love to hear thoughts. Until then, here’s a couple links to more information about the game, should you be curious.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_Piano_Teaching_System
http://www.gamefaqs.com/nes/587464-the-miracle-piano-teaching-system/reviews/review-115887
http://www.gamefaqs.com/nes/587464-the-miracle-piano-teaching-system/faqs/59003
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6 replies on “#427 – Miracle Piano Teaching System”
I owned this thing (long after its price dropped). It was a good idea, but didn’t quite work — the jump from playing basic notes to huge chords was way too quick and I found it kind of overwhelming. Alas!
@parish: That’s too bad. It certainly has the potential.
for not being able to do a proper review, this was quite an entertaining review.
-j
Well I bought this about 5 years ago from a second hand store and I used to play as a kid and I am really loving this. I just plugged in a 12 volt I had laying around and wella! I didnt even know there was software out there for this but I love this little miracle. I am going to do somemore hunting to see what I can find. God Bless
We actually have the whole system (except for ear piece) as it has been stored away for all of these years. We never even put the decals on but they too are in the box along with all of the other components. I think our kids were too young at the time and am honestly surprised at the interest with this unit. It is is excellent shape and I mean excellent. Should you be interested, leave a post and we can go from there.
@Anonymous: I’d love to try it, if only for this review, but for how much it’s worth, I wouldn’t be able to purchase it. If you’d be interested in letting me try it, I’d be grateful, but I understand that I’m a complete stranger to you, and as such, could very well swindle you (I won’t, but I understand that thought process).
Shoot me an e-mail (located in the About the Quest section) if you still want to talk about it.