Mario has long been the busiest mascot in the video game industry. Though he was originally conceived as a plumber his trademark occupation soon became that of a humble plumber. Since then he has been a referee, doctor, go kart racer, party host, and more. These are what he’s best remembered for, but today I’m going to talk about when he tried his hand at being an artist. Mario Paint was an interesting experiment from Nintendo in an era where they were at the peak of their creativity. Though drawing and painting utilities were commonplace on personal computers at the time Nintendo tried their hand at it, and the results were stellar. Unfortunately a directional pad is a poor tool with which to draw, and Nintendo addressed this by packing in a mouse peripheral to enhance the experience. My family didn’t have a computer back then, and after seeing the commercials for Mario Paint I absolutely had to have it. It certainly helped that I was a sucker for video game peripherals. The prospect of purchasing a home console equivalent to Microsoft Paint might sound stupid, but this title still holds its own.
The thing about Mario Paint is that there’s more than meets the eye. Let’s start with the title screen. It features the game logo with an animated Mario running underneath it. I absolutely loved the fact that you can click the individual letters in the logo for a myriad of effects. You can shrink Mario, cause one of the letters to fall on him knocking the character off-screen, change the background, and more. The effects might just be for sure, but it’s a very charming feature and shows that the developers really put their hearts into what would otherwise be a mundane release. After moving on from this you’re introduced to your blank canvas wherein you navigate your cursor around to select different tools, switch modes, and more. You can draw with thick or thin lines, fill areas with paint, and everything in between. The tool set is surprisingly robust, and you can actually make some pretty decent pictures. Includes are several character templates so that you can simply stamp the Super Mario World version of Mario and Luigi and other basic items like trees and bricks. You can also create perfect shapes using the included tools. I always really liked the fact that the game even contains pictures that you can color yourself, and even use the fill tool if you’re lazy.
Where the game really excels is in the stuff you can do other than simply drawing or painting pictures. While I was never any good at it (and still am not) there’s a cool music maker wherein you place a series of sound effects (represented by picture stamps) that come together in song form. It’s surprisingly robust; just look on youtube for what truly talented people have re-created with it. You can also create custom animated sequences. While you only have a few separate frames to use that loop endlessly you can make use of just about every drawing tool in-game for this. There’s a lot of freedom here, and some of the fondest memories I have with this game is here. You can save all of your work to display to others which is also really cool despite the long winded loading screens.
Last up we have a mini-game of sorts called Gnat Attack. This is a departure from the creativity aspects of this title; you guide a hand holding a fly swatter as you do battle with a myriad of different insects that fly in from off-screen. You swat these buggers by clicking with the mouse. It’s surprisingly robust with three different levels, several types of insects with different attack patterns, extra lives granted by swatting glowing hands, and even bosses. To be perfectly honest Gnat Attack always kind of scared me when I was a kid, but I couldn’t stop playing it. This was a perfect demonstration of what the mouse was capable of, and even returning now I’m still addicted.
Graphically Mario Paint doesn’t really push the Super Nintendo hardware in any meaningful way. The color palette is nice, and for the most part the stamps are traditional fare for as far as details are concerned. While I’m not particularly talented when it comes to drawing I’ve seen some absolutely amazing pieces of art online that people have created using this game. That just goes to show how much freedom this title offered at the time of release. The fact that you can actually create your own stamps is an awesome feature and the sky is the limit. User created animations lack detail because you’re offered so few of frames to work with, but you can still create some pretty interesting things here. Some of the effects this game uses are also impressive; I’m speaking particularly about the full screen erasers and the fact that you’re given so many different ones to choose from. One thing I always liked about this game is the soundtrack. You have several different options for background audio, and each song is highly iconic and very memorable. I still find myself humming the default theme even as an adult. The music composer is difficult for someone without actual talent, but as youtube has proven there’s a real possibility for gold here.
Recommending image editing software released back in 1992 is a very weird concept. Fortunately Mario Paint transcends the idea behind it. The interface is surprisingly simple and easy to grasp and the whole package is overflowing with charm. This cartridge is absolutely brimming with content. This was one of my most played games for the Super Nintendo by a wide margin simply because it has so much to offer. Mario Paint is absolutely still worth playing today. Unfortunately you’ll need the mouse, and so make sure it’s included in any purchase. This is an iconic title, and it’s a crime we haven’t seen a follow up.
