The Greatest Non-Game Game Ever
Mario Paint was released in 1992 and it was the first console game to accommodate a mouse that gives you the ability to interact in a hands-on way with complete control over what is happening. Although, the mouse was one of those iffy things that would probably quit working. Mine never quit, but from what I have heard and read, the mouse wasn't exactly reliable. I remember thinking I was really smart when I opened the bottom of the mouse to take out the ball and blow inside it to make it work better (you know, like we do with the game cartridges…).
So, the title screen is pretty much the best title screen of all time. It's like a mini game in itself. In order to actually begin the game you have to click on Mario who is running across the screen but the thing that is fun is you can play with the letters "MARIO PAINT" and they all do something unique. The only one I will mention what it does is the "O." If you click it, it will explode and play Totaka's song. Totaka's song is a short little melody that is normally well hidden in games in which Kazumi Totaka composes the music for. It is an "Easter Egg song" because it is pretty hard to find. Since it is so easy to find in Mario Paint, people have labeled it the "Mario Paint Song." But they're wrong.
There are actually quite a few random silly things sprinkled into this game that make no sense whatsoever. Like the dancing paintbrush…
You can create your own sprites, pixel by pixel. This was something that was either extremely cool or extremely hilarious when playing with my cousins; along with the animation mode which is done frame by frame. This is a very simple looping system, but it's really neat nonetheless. There are stamps that you can use that were all Mario-game based, which was really fun. So, you could use these in your animations. We normally made Mario's head explode or something similarly destructive and demented. It was a very simple concept, but that really did not matter because you could do whatever you wanted.
There is a coloring book mode. What made it fun for me was coloring it the wrong colors just to see what Mario and Yoshi would look like. Also, the game offered several different options on how to erase the screen clean. It was even fun to experiment with that.
Then, of course, there is Coffee Break, or more commonly known as "Gnat Attack." This is a really random and ridiculous game that has nothing to do with Mario… But it's fun, so who cares? You are a glove holding a flyswatter and you swat at every bug flying onto the screen. It is really satisfying to kill all those flying insects. Each level has 100 insects to kill and then a boss. Once you get past the last level, it loops back to the beginning.
The background music is great and very memorable. Also, I love the sound effects. Something that was really advanced for an SNES game was the music creator. I mean, you could make your own compositions! On a Super Nintendo cartridge, for goodness sakes! But there were of course limits, such as: you cannot stack more than 3 notes on top of each other and there aren't any sharps or flats. You can download a program now online of the Mario Paint Composer which gives you way more freedom, and people actually use it to compose very complex music.
The only negative things to say about Mario Paint are: you can't really do anything with your work once you're done. So, you'd better enjoy it and not get angry when it is gone. You can save one thing at a time, which doesn't really make sense, if you ask me. I read that people used to video tape their work with a VHS.
Also, another thing about this game is if you aren't creative, then you're going to get bored. So, this game isn't for just anybody.
Mario Paint was a genius idea for Nintendo to put out. It stimulates creativity and it is all about imagination. I can create stuff on my TV screen, how amazing is that? Mario Paint is a blank canvas of endless possibility...