Paint it Black, Mario

Remember Mario Paint for the Super Nintendo? It was essentially MS Paint on crack. The “game” came with a mouse, which you could use to create your own 24-colour masterpieces, including crude animations (“crude” as in minimal, though the descriptor probably works in the other context as well given the target audience).

There was also a music-maker which allowed conventional notes to be replaced by little Nintendo noise-makers—Game Boy beeps and the like. Technically the idea was to combine Nintendo and music to trick kids into learning, but if anything the multiple sound effects available only added to the confusion. So kids made a lot of noise with Mario Paint’s music bit, but not much else.

Thanks to the magic of Youtube, the few individuals who were capable of actually making (somewhat) gorgeous Mario music can now share their efforts. Here’s a rendition of the infamous Chicken Dance.