 It's not easy reviewing a game like Mario Paint, because, well, obviously this isn't an ordinary game, where do you even start here? I guess the only way to start is to consider the time when Mario Paint came out. In 1992, Photoshop didn't exist, personal computers were scarce, and most computers that people did own ran on Windows 3.1, and it looked like this. So what Nintendo wanted to do was utilize some of the hardware firepower the Super Nintendo contained and use it to perform some functions you'd usually see on a PC at the time, going as far as creating a mouse peripheral to use open-ended drawing software, an animation tool, and a MIDI music composer. That's pretty heady stuff for the time. I mean, it made easy to use approachable software available for millions of people, no pain in the ass boot disks or installation nonsense. But, uh, not only can anyone do any of the three main Mario Paint programs on a handheld device anytime we want, but we're already bored with that, and we've moved on to other things, like angering birds and slicing fruit. So that means Mario Paint is totally outdated and not worth playing anymore, right? Well, objectively, I guess, but maybe not. I will admit the number one appeal of a game like Mario Paint in this day and age is its individual nostalgic appeal, the music, the effects, and even the flyswatter game. They just bring you back to a simpler time before we all became bored with the ahem, mind-blowing, extremely powerful mini computers that we all carry around in our freaking pockets. So yeah, Mario Paint is certainly an interesting historical artifact and a reminder of how far we've come, and while I didn't grow up with this game myself, I'm guessing if you did, it's just about impossible not to love and have good memories of. Why? Because this game is whatever you want it to be. As a kid, how can you not love that kind of freedom? That's much different than something like Mario World or Link to the Past. Someone else made those games for you. With Mario Paint, you're the one doing the creating. But yeah, let's face it, the stuff you can do in Mario Paint is totally outdated. There's no way around it. And only that, there's no way to export your work out of the game onto a computer or anything outside of taking a picture of the computer screen or holding up a microphone to the speakers or whatever. Now if you're playing this game on an emulator, that's a different story altogether. Then you can screenshot your artwork and even capture your drawings and music in real time as you create them with the help of some additional software and do all sorts of weird, crazy stuff as you can see on YouTube. But as far as being limited to the actual cartridge, you're kind of stuck. I will say objectively, Mario Paint's biggest strength in this day and age is that it is an absolutely fantastic retro game for young kids. I'm talking kids like age eight and under. So if you're stuck babysitting and you're at your wits end or if you have kids of your own that you want to get into retro gaming, there are three games I suggest. Ms. Pac-Man, Curvy Superstar, and Mario Paint. You can't go wrong with those three, especially Mario Paint without a doubt. Although you'll likely have to be patient with the child as they complain about it not being a touch screen. Since we're here, I might as well break down a list of what is in this game, just to make sure all you kiddies out there don't miss a single feature. There's of course the static paint screen that looks like Microsoft Paint, that has all your usual bells and whistles, different sized brushes, an airbrush, a paint bucket color fill, shape templates, a handy undo button, and a variety of clear all effects. You gotta love how some of these work. There's a stamp editor where you can create a repeatable stamp pixel by pixel, and this is especially handy in the animation tool where you can design 4, 6, or 9 frame animations. Not only that, but you can set it to music that you can create yourself in the music editor using all sorts of sounds that you may have heard used in other games. Each tool is actually surprisingly sophisticated even by today's standards. For instance, the music tool allows you to switch between a couple time signatures and manipulate the tempo. That's pretty cool. There's also the fly swatter game that has three levels that loop endlessly, and the title screen where you do stuff if that counts. If you really want to get in-depth in the world of Mario Paint, there's an officially licensed Nintendo strategy guide that has tons upon tons of shortcuts and creative ideas that you can utilize. Seriously, there's a lot in here. Anyway, is Mario Paint worth playing today? On its own, objectively, probably not. But if you have a small child you want to get into retro gaming, then heck yeah. And for what it's worth, I want to reiterate the point about nostalgia. Now, most of the time with this channel, I try and break through the rose-colored glasses and look at a game for how it exists now, objectively. But it's kind of pointless to do that with Mario Paint. Of course it's outdated, duh. But Mario Paint isn't just another game. It's as personal a game as it gets on the Super Nintendo because you got to create your own world, create your own music, you can do what you want. So looking back at Mario Paint has a different kind of nostalgia associated with it. It's kind of like remembering the battles you made up with your action figures or the stories you made up with your Legos, and however you decide to value that is completely up to you.