Mario Paint has been added to Switch Online’s SNES library, supports Switch 2 mouse controls
Switch owners can play the game by plugging in a USB mouse
Nintendo has added Mario Paint to its catalogue of SNES games on Nintendo Switch Online.
The Nintendo-developed art package becomes the 74th game to be added to the SNES library on Switch Online in the West.
Originally released in 1992, Mario Paint was one of the first notable games to introduce mouse controls to console gaming, and came bundled with the SNES Mouse peripheral.
The Switch Online re-release only supports mouse controls, meaning Switch 2 players can use the Joy-Con’s built-in mouse controls to play it. Owners of an original Switch will instead have to plug in a USB mouse.
Mario Paint offers players a basic art software, but with extra features and Nintendo theming. Players can use a variety of stamps (including Super Mario World sprites) to add to their pictures, and can also create basic animations four, six or nine frames in length.
As well as the painting and animation functionality, Mario Paint became more well-known over the years for its music composer, which lets players make their own songs by placing icons representing different instruments onto a musical staff.
Although this mode has limitations – players can only make songs up to 24 measures in length and there’s no ability to assign flat or sharp notes – the Mario Paint composer received a second wind many years later when players started sharing their compositions on YouTube.
The addition of Mario Paint marks the first time the SNES library on Switch Online has been updated since March, when three Koei Tecmo strategy games – Nobunaga’s Ambition, Nobunaga’s Ambition: Lord of Darkness, Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV: Wall of Fire and Uncharted Waters: New Horizons – were added.
NES, SNES, Game Boy and Game Boy Color games are available as part of the standard Switch Online subscription, which costs $19.99 / £17.99 / €19.99 for a 12-month individual membership.
Players can also gain access to further libraries containing Game Boy Advance, Mega Drive / Genesis and Nintendo 64 games, by upgrading to the Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscription, which costs $49.99 / £34.99 / €39.99.
