Mario Paint and More Games Possibly Leaked for Nintendo Switch

Nintendo has long marched to the beat of its own drum, releasing games and peripherals that often raise eyebrows when first announced. Whether its dual screen handhelds, cardboard building sets, or peripherals that make the controller rumble, Nintendo has always come up with unique concepts. Mario Paint is a perfect example, and it still represents one of the stranger games the company has ever published. Released on Super Nintendo in 1992, Mario Paint was a digital art studio that encouraged players to color pictures and create music, which was done using a special mouse accessory packaged with the game. 

For obvious reasons, Mario Paint has never been made available on another platform, but it seems that could change. A new batch of games was recently added to Nintendo Switch Online’s SNES app. A datamine of that update from Tumblr user LuigiBlood has turned up evidence that suggests some of the games that use the SNES Mouse could be coming to Switch. According to LuigiBlood, SNES Mouse support has been enabled since the SNES app first launched several years ago. That wouldn’t be notable on its own, but that emulation was recently updated, allowing the SNES Mouse to be used in either the first or second controller port. 

So, what does this all mean? Well, LuigiBlood notes that the original SNES Mouse emulation looked for three specific games. Datamines don’t actually identify those games, but logic would suggest that two of them are Mario Paint and Mario & Wario. Those are two of the only games that actually required the use of the SNES Mouse, and could not be played otherwise. However, allowing the SNES Mouse to be compatible with the second controller port opens up the number of SNES games that could be played using the peripheral. There were several games that could use the SNES Mouse as a secondary accessory, and we could see that functionality carried over on Switch. 

Mario & Wario would actually be a great candidate for Nintendo Switch Online! The game has never been released in North America, despite the fact that everything in the game is in English. Mario & Wario also happens to be an early game developed by Game Freak, the studio that would later become known for its work on the Pokemon franchise. The game is even referenced in Pokemon Red and Blue, so it would be nice to see it finally given a release outside of Japan. Mario Paint could also be neat, as Switch’s online functions would allow players to easily share their artistic creations in a way that wasn’t feasible in 1992! 

This datamine raises a lot of questions. If SNES Mouse compatibility really is happening, we can probably assume Nintendo is going to rerelease the peripheral, just as it did with the controllers for every other Nintendo Switch Online app. We don’t know if these games would be compatible with non-Nintendo produced mice, or if they would be playable in portable mode. It’s also possible none of this will pan out, and Nintendo will scrap the idea entirely. Hopefully all of this leads to some kind of announcement! 

Would you like to see SNES Mouse support on Nintendo Switch? Do you think we’ll see Mario Paint return? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp, on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!

[H/T: Nintendo Life]