Ranking the Nancy Drew PC Games from LEAST to MOST Educational!! | Nancy Drew Analysis

Enjoy this Nancy Drew Analysis video where I rank the Nancy Drew games from the least to the most educational! Like, comment, subscribe, and hit that notification bell for more Nancy Drew and cozy game content!
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[@ashleightompkins3200]

The whole reason I got started on ND was because my dad knew I loved ancient cultures and got me Scarlet Hand!

[@WizardKittenYT]

Such a great game!!

[@mackenziewarnick]

These games unknowingly have taught me so much. The amount of random facts and little tidbits of information I still know to this day because of these games are unreal. Another great ranking video!

[@WizardKittenYT]

Same!! I always announce when I know something because of Nancy Drew, lol!

[@katherinelennon668]

What I think is amazing about the education in these games is that they ignite sparks of interest that might not be ignited elsewhere. Deception Island was my first game and it made me fall in love with whales as a kid and I still love them to this day! I became so passionate about them that I wrote a "book" on them when I was 8 and my parents planned a vacation jut so we could all go whale watching. So it's really special to me that ND was able to spark my interest so much!

[@WizardKittenYT]

That is such a lovely story!! And so true, the games spark so many wonderful things!

[@karricompton]

Great vid! I think the only thing you failed to mention about Haunted Carousel was that you learn shorthand!

[@WizardKittenYT]

Good point! I forgot about that since I've just memorized the horse's name, lol!

[@laurencole2937]

I was the only person in my 7th grade history class who knew how to read Roman Numerals thanks to Ghost Dogs. And the best thing Ransom of the Seven Ships did for me was saved my participation grade in AP history class when I did the wrong reading. I was still able to correctly identify an astrolabe. 😂

[@WizardKittenYT]

RAN for the wiiiiinnn! LOL

[@lovelyluna961]

I loved the little giggle at the avalanche pun it was adorable

[@WizardKittenYT]

Hehe, I'm so glad!

[@GraemeCree]

Some of these games have acquired educational value since their release. Secrets Can Kill shows you that people used to use these big clunky VHS tapes to record video, while Stay Tuned For Danger teaches you about floppy disks. At the time it was really surprising how little Midnight in Salem taught. Beyond the basic fact that there were witch trials in Salem once, you learn almost nothing. Everybody had expected that game to be a Deep Dive into those trials, which is why people were so looking forward to it. (It seems so silly now.) Krapu Cave does at least teach you a little about the drudgery of being a scientist, i.e. in collecting and recording data. It's not all Mark Rober shooting squirrels into space. Haunted Carousel at least deserves a callout for making players do shorthand. Conversely, Tomb of the Lost Queen deserves to be dropped a few notches for teaching us that the Egyptians spoke English. In fact, Misinformation in the Nancy Drew Games might be a video in itself. That jetpack from Bill Malloy Castle is begging to be included, not to mention the idea that Irish pubs don't serve alcohol... or that water is an unstable explosive. In Phantom, instead of saying we "eat gelato", it might be more accurate to say we click it. I'm still hoping for the day when someone asks me if I've ever had gelato, and I can say "Yeah, I had some in a Nancy Drew game... And the funny thing was that every flavor tasted alike." Shadow at the Water's Edge did teach me that people in Japan eat Bento, but not why people are so anal-retentive that they need to eat their food in alphabetical order. In real life, does it really matter what compartments you put the pieces in, or is that more misinformation? If it matters at all, I'd think that was a puzzle for the paying customer to solve, not have it solved for him. Scarlet Hand is pretty darn educational, but there should have been a notice on the box or somewhere saying "No fooling, this stuff is actually real. Not like Lizzie Applegate, or that phony-baloney Penvyllyn family history."

[@WizardKittenYT]

Yeah, it can be tough to know what is historical fiction and what is actually real sometimes!

[@fridaylambda3494]

What do you mean by needing food in alphabetical order in Japan? I've never heard of that. The closest I found is an article which mentions how you use the alphabet to label the key Japanese flavors for ease of speaking. It's also supposed to help remind you how to go about adding ingredients so you maximize cooking while minimizing fuel used. Not sure if that was helpful or not.

[@GraemeCree]

@@fridaylambda3494 Well, in the game you have to put the food in exactly the right compartments before you can eat it. Apparently that's not the way it works with real Bento, there are compartments, yeah, but nobody's going to care if you eat something out of the wrong one. It's fun to think about, though. There's a taco place, near here where I sometimes get a plate. I'd love to complain that hey, you put the refried beans in the potato slice compartment, and vice versa. They'd never get the joke, though, and explaining it wouldn't help.

[@fridaylambda3494]

But real bento is based on placement of the food. Yes, generic bento is designed around making sure to separate the foods, but even then, you always pick a variety of foods to ensure it's nutritious and diverse. However, in this case, we're referring to the arrangement of Bento which is immensely popular in Japanese cooking. There's even competitions where the arrangement of foods is judged for whichever is most attractive. Yumi is likely one of those fancy expensive bento places where you get to aesthetically design your own bento based off preferences. It's just made into a puzzle rather than the normal pairing of colors. In IRL bento, the focus would be on adding say a plum to rice to make it look like the Japanese flag or to complement the colors off one another. Here they overthought the design aspect to make a more logical puzzle. However, this is something that's typical of Japanese cuisine. You want your food to look good when you eat it not just be in the lunchbox like here in the US.

[@GraemeCree]

@@fridaylambda3494 You see something a bit like that in Ghost Dogs, where the soda display is arranged to form a pattern. Lots of places have thing like that too. If you go to a Blue Bell Creamery, they always have a display where ice cream tubs are arranged to form an American flag or a cow, or some kind of design. I'll maybe do some checking around KZbin for videos about real Bento.

[@SouthernSleuth]

This was great and so on point for both Academia Nancy and HeR's recent Instagram posts about learning games and putting out the KEY Learn and Play!

[@WizardKittenYT]

The KEY Learn and Play sheets looked so fun!

[@annapfefferkorn2379]

Hi WizardKitten, I enjoy your videos. I’m so curious about you saying ‘similarily’. Is that a regional expression? I’ve only ever heard ‘similarly’ or ‘similarity’ as variations on ‘similar’.

[@katiehamilton3915]

I look forward to these every Wednesday morning!!! I love how the thumbnail is Scarlet Hand bc whenever I think "ND's are super educational" that's THE GAME I think of lol I got extra credit in highschool for knowing how long the 100 years war was off the top of my head, and I knew it from listening to Ethel and Jane discuss history XD

[@WizardKittenYT]

Omigosh, love the extra credit win!! Lol!

[@terrikoop416]

I wrote a paper in 7th grade about Mayan culture because of SSH. It’s still my favorite nostalgic game. I learned so much naturally playing that game while still being engaged while playing it.

[@WizardKittenYT]

@@terrikoop416 that is so cool!!

[@doctorwhorosetardis]

I learned about circuit breakers from Treasure in the Royal Tower, that one works just like real ones!

[@WizardKittenYT]

@@doctorwhorosetardis good point!

[@arianas9831]

No way deception island is more educational than deadly device. Great video tho!

[@WizardKittenYT]

@@arianas9831 whales rule! Lol!

[@jacksampsonforever]

Woo! I guessed the top spot! Not surprised Salem was near the bottom. What a wet fart of a game

[@WizardKittenYT]

@@jacksampsonforever truly 😅

[@gabrielplays3065]

I wish we could learn more in creature of kapu cave it'd be to lean more about hurricanes or something

[@WizardKittenYT]

Yeah, CRE was really a missed opportunity!

[@StinkyFacePal]

I'd like a Nancy Drew game in which we have to run SDS-PAGE

[@ryanpepper8188]

I love that Twister and Labyrinth ranked high here and of course Scarlet Hand being #1 at anything! (A slow burn game with an underrated story and fun ending :) 🕵🏼‍♀️

[@katherinelennon668]

Love the love for Scarlet Hand!! I just read a book about how unethical many museums are. It was written from the perspective of a Nigerian man and he spoke about how many of Africa's artifacts were stolen and are sitting in museums in Europe. And I thought of Scarlet Hand and how ahead of its time that it is for speaking about such important issues!

[@ryanpepper8188]

@@katherinelennon668 Oh wow that's fascinating to learn ! Scarlet Hand is definitely a more mature and realistic game when compared with the others 🕵🏼‍♀️ Glad you enjoy it so much too! :)

[@WizardKittenYT]

@@ryanpepper8188 all super educational!

[@deedeeschecklie1702]

Totally agree on the list, even though it did make me gasp at seeing one of my favs on the last place 😂 I think what stuck with me the most was learning a few elements of the periodic table in Last Train. Since we call the elements mostly very differently from the way they're written in the table and in the formulas, it was definitely less confusing to learn them at chemistry lessons after playing the game. What made me memorize them better was the fact that the local voice of Nancy was saying the names with funny intonations, so I clicked on the elements to make her say them over and over again. So, yeah, Plumbum, Cuprum and all that... 😂 Also as a non-native English speaker I learnt A LOOOOT from watching Argle's letsplays back in 2009-2011. And being an English teacher now, I use the same thing with some of my students giving them some no-commentary walkthroughs for homework to watch as if they were movies and to discuss later. Professor Hotchkiss was an inside meme in one of the groups last school year 🎉

[@deedeeschecklie1702]

Oh, and also the series made me learn to GOOGLE, I remember being so stuck at the tea for Minette, I had to ask my mum to use our at the time sloooow modem connection to search for the solution. Totally WORKED for this solution, still don't think it was cheating 😂😂😂

[@WizardKittenYT]

It is SO fun that you get to implement the games in your lessons as a teacher! I've wanted to find a way to do that forever!!

[@NDcrafts]

I can definitely agree with the rankings most so far, if we aren't talking about the mental skills for certain puzzles being naturally educational. This ranking seems to be focusing more on history and cultural educational tidbits

[@WizardKittenYT]

Exactly!

[@Adam-go6qv]

You should do another objective ranking video of every ND game now that it’s been over 3 years and you have a lot more subscribers for a bigger sample size, just a thought :)

[@WizardKittenYT]

@@Adam-go6qv I plan to in October! 😁

[@DarkSithBarbie]

No joke, I taught the rest of my college computer development class how to read binary because of ND.

[@WizardKittenYT]

@@DarkSithBarbie that is so cool!!

[@kaileeamburgey302]

I have googled lizzie applegate before because I thought she was a real person 😭

[@WizardKittenYT]

@@kaileeamburgey302 me too 😅

[@emilymlau5813]

I knew scarlet hand was going to be number one the moment I saw the title of your video.

[@WizardKittenYT]

Pretty indisputable!

[@nerdygeekgamer5528]

I don't want the STREAMATHON TO END

[@WizardKittenYT]

@@nerdygeekgamer5528 me either 😭

[@stacyk123]

I was in knowledge bowl in middle and high school. I don't think there was a single practice or competition that I didn't say "I learned it in a Nancy Drew game". I kid you not one of the questions in a practice once was "How tal is a horse that's 15 hands". Wanna guess how hard and fast i smashed that buzzer?

[@WizardKittenYT]

OMG, I was in Knowledge Bowl too!! ND was so helpful!

[@stacyk123]

@@WizardKittenYT I was so excited when that question came up because that is legit one of Tex's questions in Shadow Ranch. Word for word.

[@PianoGirl091]

I work in a bookstore and often deal with older books that were dated with Roman numerals. Because of Ghost Dogs I am one of the only booksellers who can read them at a glance. Lol. Such a good idea for a video, love it!

[@WizardKittenYT]

So cool that DOG taught so many of us how to read Roman Numerals!!

[@ForSureTotallyLauren]

Agree wholeheartedly!! Personally, the game I've retained the most from is the Haunting of Castle Malloy because I struggled with those puzzles for so long/so many times I refuse to forget anything out of spite

[@WizardKittenYT]

Oh gosh, that is so relatable! LOL

[@GN77340]

❤❤❤

[@WizardKittenYT]

🥳

[@writerspen010]

Nice, I already know that Midnight in Salem is going to be listed at #1 😎

[@WizardKittenYT]

Bahahaha!!