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In 1992, Nintendo released a program for its Super Nintendo system entitled Mario Paint, a cartridge bundled with a PC-style mouse that was probably ground zero for my interest in, um, digital art. But in addition to letting those without home computers sketch 16-bit masterpieces, Mario Paint also included a simple MIDI program that allowed players bleep and blorp your way through tunelets like this Mario-ified version of Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up.” And because the Internet refuses to let anything recede into pop cultural history, there are not only multiple programs that recreate the Mario Paint sequencer for the ProTools age, there’s a thriving YouTube underground dedicated to reviving the sounds of musical mushrooms and fire flowers. Now, after spending a few hours trawling through multiple shakily captured takes on “In Da Club” and “Chocolate Rain,” we present five of our favorite Mario Paint musical moments, pop recreated through meowing kitties and bouncing Mario heads.
