humble beginnings…

In an effort to relive my childhood, I will be sharing with you guys the most nostalgic games of my kid years. These games span what I consider my childhood…ages 3-12, and will hopefully give an insightful glimpse at what life was like for me when I was growing up. I am a 90’s kid. I watched the Power Rangers and loved everything that had Ninja Turtles or Batman on it. I was also lucky enough to have a dad who had (and still has to this day) a passion for video games. My origins begin with the NES but it wasn’t until we got the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and the Sega Genesis that I really got into gaming.

the format

Ok, these articles will be part game review, part factual background information and all nostalgia…Be prepared for several tangent memories and barely coherent mumblings as I rediscover my childhood. I will try to show as many screenshots from the games as possible…if not for you..for me to help fuel the nostalgia further. Now that that is out of the way….

Number 10: Mario Paint

I fondly remember my last days before starting school playing this game. What sticks out to me the most about it was the fact that it used a Mouse instead of the controller. I still have the Nintendo mouse…which uses the same plug as a controller…Quite sexy.

The game consisted of several drawing/painting and object oriented ‘programs’. I say programs because there really wasn’t an objective or a way to ‘beat the game’.

After an interesting animation of two baseball players doing sit-ups you’ll be brought to the paint screen. From here you have access to an impressive selection of paint tools…3 different pencil widths…over 15 colors to choose from..and 10 ways to erase (my favorite is the rocket ship). In addition to the drawing, you can also place letters on your drawing as well (english and kanji).

If you’re not much of a free form doodler…Mario Paint still offered many options. There was the Stamp menu which allowed you to create pictures by filling in squares…I always drew castles here while listening to the catchy music. Each section has its own memorable music that will keep looping in your head for days at a time.

There was also the Coloring Book which would load a background image into the drawing program and allow you to fill it in instead of trying to draw it yourself. I was never good at staying in the lines…but it was always fun erasing Mario’s mustache.

Another very cool feature which I messed around with quite frequently but never really understood was the animation page. You could actually animate your drawings and control their play speed. However, I have saved my two favorite parts of the game for last…

Mario Paint included an entire musical composing program. Each of the different icons such as mario’s head or the fireflower represented different sounds heard in games such as Super Mario World. It included the Super Mario theme as a preset and I would replace all of the icons with the dog bark…In the end, it sounded quite amazing…This little program right here is probably the reason I got into music later.

Lastly, Mario Paint had this incredibly addictive and insanely frustrating minigame where you would swat at mosquitoes with a flyswatter. I spent hours trying to beat it. As pictured above…stronger and stronger bugs will appear that you must kill before they shoot out their stingers. If one manages to slip through the deadly wrath of your swatter, you will be stung (above left) and lose a life. The “uaagg” sound effect for losing a life almost makes it worth it…Nevermind…I hated that sound…

Mario Paint…a great game, although it lacked depth and options when compared to modern games…it is still a unique and entertaining game for the age group it was aimed at. As a huge Mario fan from birth, I loved this game and it will always have a special place in my heart. Tune in for my next article as I continue the countdown of my top ten most nostalgic games!