Mario Paint

"I like Cheese.... but not when it's this cheesy.."

I only bought this because I thought it might be worth a bit in a few hundred years (I have the box set). Onwards...

Concept:9/10
The box and leaflets and all the poop that is included with the game makes it very convincing that the game is trying to do something good. Clearly aimed towards preschoolers and others of that age range, Mario Paint sits you in front of a blank canvas and tells you to draw. To add to the *cough* 'fun', there are pictures for you to colour and a music composer mode, and even a fly swatting game to practice your SNES Mouse skills.

The good bits
The main good bit is that thought has gone into many aspects of the game. You have various tools, about as many as your average computer paint program, which include 3 sizes of brush, fill pot, line tool, repeat tool, etc.
The tools are selected by 'clicking' onto various symbols on the bottom of the screen, while colours are selected by clicking on them at the top. Along with plain colours, there are textures, and picture stamps of various items and Mario characters.
When boredom sets in (for the older game, it will pretty quickly, you can whisk yourself off to a music composing mode. By dragging and dropping various icons representing sounds, you can compose a basic musical piece. The premade examples are amazing though, someone managed to compose the full Mario World overworld music!
You can change your mouse speed, and save one of your masterpieces.

The bad bits
*Deep breath*
This will not hold your interest for longer than an hour at most. I understand that the younger gamer will most likely enjoy the colourful graphics and the opportunity to, in effect, interact with various famous characters and add them to their own creation.
Older gamers, like moi, will find the whole experience boring and will not satisfy for very long.

Sound:3/10
Sound really doesn't come into it. The music are dull tunes that do not stand up to the likes of the modern day music featured in games like Sonic Adventure and Rez.

Graphics:7/10
As previously mentioned, the graphics are bright, and adequate to many people's taste, if a little basic. Some of the buttons have obscure pictures, but if you have the manual, you could probably work around that.

Sprite likes...
Good for younger people
Colourful
Uses the SNES mouse

Sprite doesn't like...
Boring
Repetitive
Just...not...good?

Overall:6/10
A good gamer for the little people, but only good for older people if you find it in a complete box set, so it will be worth a few bob in the future.

If you like this try...
Seeing a psychiatrist
Paint (Windows 3.1, 9x, XP)

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 07/12/02, Updated 06/14/03