Collection essentials #215: Mario Paint (SNES)

This is a rather unorthodox idea for an early-’90s game. It almost feels weird calling Mario Paint a game, because it’s more like art software. This game shipped with the “SNES Mouse” which is needed to control the mouse cursor on screen, and this plays more like an application you’d find on a computer rather than a Super Nintendo game. 


Mario Paint, as you might guess from the name, functions as art software. The primary activity in the game is to draw stuff. And the game provides many tools and templates to facilitate this. The game also features a music creator which lets users write their own music which can be played back, and it’s pretty sophisticated. And the most “game” feature of this cartridge is the Fly Swatter game, where you control a hand holding a fly swatter and you must kill insects and avoid their attacks for as long as you can. 


By today’s standards, Mario Paint is pretty outdated. You can do much more than what’s here on any modern computer or phone. But what makes it stand out is the charm. This game is loaded with personality. This is apparent right from the title screen, when you can click on any of the letters of “Mario Paint” to make something amusing and unexpected happen. Sound is a big part of the game’s identity, with the main background music instantly recognizable to anyone who’s played it, and lots of cartoony sound effects being present for the various actions in the game. Mario Paint is very beloved by creative types who grew up with it. Lots of people enjoy trying to get the most out of the music creator, and basically any kind of popular song you can think of has a Mario Paint version on YouTube somewhere.


Sadly, I did not grow up with Mario Paint. But I do remember seeing it once or twice at other people’s houses, and it definitely left an impression. It’s the type of game that’s memorable even if you only had minimal exposure to it as a kid. It’s not something I’m likely to spend a lot of time with in my life, but it’s one of those things that just has to be a collection essential.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Intro

Image
  I'm about to start a long-term personal project relating to my video game collection. It's actually something I'm doing mostly for myself, but sharing it with others is certainly a nice little side perk. As you probably already know, I have a large video game collection that would make many nerds jealous! I did the bulk of my collecting from roughly 2012-2018. Now I don't buy nearly as many games as I used to. In fact, in 2021 my collection actually had a net shrinkage because I sold more than I bought. Does that mean I've just been a hoarder all this time and I'm slowly growing to regret my life decisions? HECK no. I feel quite satisfied and vindicated with the legion of games into which I've invested time, energy and resources to assemble and I've merely reached a point of satiation. I scratched all the most important stuff from my bucket list. I purposefully was liberal in my choice of buying stuff because I knew how to find deals and I knew that th
Read more

Collection essentials #89: Ninja Gaiden (NES)

Image
Originally, Ninja Gaiden was an arcade game, but rather than simply bring that game to the NES, Tecmo decided to build an entirely new game from the ground-up, tailored for the console, and it paid off.  Ninja Gaiden is a side-scrolling action platformer that takes place across a series of linear levels. You play as Ryu Hayabusa, a ninja armed with a sword, the ability to cling to walls, and to use power-ups that you find throughout the levels which grant strong and important attacks with a limited number of uses. The controls are tight and the game just feels good to play. And what is perhaps most notable about this game are the cutscenes in between areas. Previously, the stories in most NES action games were pretty simplistic, and sometimes not even mentioned in the game itself, only the instruction manual. But Ninja Gaiden takes things to the next level in making the story an integral part of the experience, as you guide Ryu to get revenge against those responsible for his father’s
Read more

Collection essentials #106: Tecmo Super Bowl (NES)

Image
Tecmo had previously released “Tecmo Bowl” nearly three years before this game, and while I don’t own it and don’t consider it essential, it was a very good football game for its time. But fans of that game had seen nothing yet. Tecmo Super Bowl provided a major upgrade, and is widely considered the best sports game on the NES, and some would even say one of the best sports video games of all time in general. The first noticeable difference is that Tecmo Super Bowl, unlike the original, got the license to use real NFL teams with their logos, and all the real players, which maybe sounds frivolous to a non-sports fan, but believe me when I say people who like sports enjoy controlling fantasy versions of their favorite teams and athletes much more than generic made-up counterparts! When making a sports video game, there are different ways a developer can go about it. The most obvious path, perhaps, would be to try and make it as realistic and true to the real thing as possible. That’s oft
Read more