Mario Paint

"More memory would have been a godsend, but will satisfy those interested in this type of title"

Control: 8/10
Concepts: 9/10
Limitations: 7
Fun Factor: 9.5/10
Replay Value: 8.5/10
Overall: 8.4/10 (8/10)

It's quite difficult to rate this game because it really isn't a game at all, so I'm going to have to review this in a more unorthodox manner than all the other games I've previously reviewed.... So here it goes...

Okay...first off, I can't really give this game an adequte or fair call on it's graphics and music, because for the most part you are the one making the graphics and sounds and animations. There are pre-made stamps of Mario, kitty cats, doggies, 'shrooms and the stuff you see in the fly swatting game, but nothing super duper outstanding that I need to make mention of. The types of tunes you can use on the music composition section are rather limiting in terms of quality.... Who the hell wants to toss cat and dog noises in a song? Seriously... If I had to give these two items a point evaluation, I'd have to give the music and graphics a 7 out of 10. Like I said...you make most of this stuff anyway, so...

Controls: Well, the pack in with Mario Paint is a mouse and trying to use a controller is rather pointless. This is where MP stands out because of Mr. Mousey. Only bad thing (the reason I dropped the score to an 8 in this category) was due to the repetitive and annoying reoccurrence(s) of the mouse getting clogged with dirt or just simply not tracking well, which was a real problem in the fly swatter game and just trying to make a detailed picture in the paint program. The mouse is the backbone of using MP and when you get tracking problems it really sucks...

Concepts: You cannot slash the concepts behind this title at all. This was made for those of us with a bunch of creative ideas behind our backs. If you want a hard hitting shooter, or action game don't even look at this because this does not fall under those categories whatsoever. You can compose music, make rather simplistic animations, draw and play a fun little (yet simple) mouse game and it's all rolled up nicely into this one cart. The downside? Memory... A small one file save slot really doesn't cut the cheese here to be blunt. You may have had a bomb-ass pic or piece of music, but you always have to repace it if you're making something new and want to save that. Another noted feature is that you can take your animations and incorporate them into a video...that is to say... If you have recording equipment and a huge pile of time to do so. That's a really awesome concept right there... A cool concept like MP that allows the person using it has endless possibilities but the price is the limited memory. This could be a turn off to some people. It's a take or leave situation in the overall sense...

Limitations: As I said above, the one thing that murders MP's truly killer outlet for one's creativity is the low amount of memory. If this was a 32 bit game, you'd have a blast for hours on end.

Fun Factor: MP is just endless because you call the shots. The fly swatter is a lot of fun as well. The “game” also comes with a “strategy guide” that has some really cool ideas that you can try doing yourself, but you can ALWAYS invent something that's not in there. It's neverending pending on how many good ideas you have and if you can translate them well onto MP's format.

Replay Value: As previously stated, MP provides a never ending outlet for creativity as long as you got the ideas for it and the patience to set it all up. Checking out something you made yourself is quite a satisfying feeling, but if you're dry on ideas, MP can be something you won't touch for a while. It's sure to bring you back several times, however.

Recommendations: Check this one out if you go for these kinds of things. The low memory might turn you off, but if you can work around this limitaion, MP is worth your money. Every last penny of it.

Overall: 8.4/10 (8)

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99