I’m thrilled about Nintendo’s recent announcement: the return of the OG Mario Paint! This game was one of my most cherished cartridges from the golden days of the early ’90s, and probably the one I spent the most time with growing up.

Mario Paint is a “game” that lets the player create using a 2D digital canvas for drawing and painting. While that’s the main attraction, it’s also bundled with light animation, pixel stamp/brush design, and music-making tools. If you don’t know, Mario Paint wasn’t just another Super Nintendo title to me. It was the spark that ignited the creative fire that would eventually drive my career.

Back in 1992, my family didn’t own a computer. But we did have a Super Nintendo, and as a die-hard gamer, that was enough for me. Mario Paint was originally bought for my sister as a holiday gift (while I finally got my hands on Street Fighter II: The World Warrior). At first glance, I assumed Mario Paint was a shallow, simple tool for doodles and rudimentary music loops. And I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Watching my sister explore it changed everything. She created pieces that felt thoughtful and expressive, and I began to see that Mario Paint was more than a gimmick. It was a visionary, creative playground that rewarded anyone willing to dive in and explore its full potential. It allowed you to build, compose, animate, and imagine, with the only limit being the creator’s imagination.

Soon, I was recording videos of my projects and gameplay, combining art, music, and animation. I created fan art of Batman: The Animated Series, Jurassic Park, Street Fighter II, and my original projects, complete with soundtracks. For years, Mario Paint became my go-to creative toolkit. I recorded my animations onto cassette tapes and VHS. If YouTube or TikTok had existed back then, I probably would have been a regular content creator. But even without an audience, I poured myself into these projects purely for the joy of creating.

Mario showcases his artistic skills in a charming, pixelated style, painting a cheerful caterpillar in the nostalgic setting of Mario Paint. AI Art generated by Chat GPT. Mario and Mario Paint are properties of Nintendo.

I had always hoped Nintendo might expand the series. I remember reading magazine articles about the Mario Artist collection in development for the Nintendo 64. It sounded like a dream come true. Sadly, it never saw the light of day. Other creative gaming tools followed, each offering something different with aspects that were included in Mario Paint. But over time, they faded from the mainstream.

I recognize Nintendo did bring Mario Paint back before, in spirit—first with WarioWare: D.I.Y., and later likely paving the way for the Mario Maker series. However, those focused heavily on level design rather than full artistic expression.

But Mario Paint was special. Long before Photoshop, FL Studio, or TikTok. It gave creators, especially a generation without access to computers, a way to make something entirely their own. It was intuitive, fun, and surprisingly deep. A true creative studio in a cartridge.

Now, seeing it return via Nintendo’s online service is a beautiful thing. It’s not just nostalgia; it’s another long-awaited classic now with a second chance for a whole new generation to discover what made this “game” so magical. I’m genuinely happy to see how deeply it resonated with others, and that it’s not being discarded as just a one-trick pony in a sea of groundbreaking games. Nintendo is beloved and forever the company not to shy away from doing something truly different for its community.

Whether you’re an old fan or a newcomer, I hope you get lost in it the way I did!

P.S. My eternal gratitude goes out to my family for their love and the great times we shared, and to the Nintendo development team for creating something that helped shape so many imaginations. Your work mattered more than you know.