This month marks the 30th anniversary of one of the most spectacular Mario spin-offs ever, and the game is none other than Mario Paint’s masterpiece. Most people think of platforming when they hear the name Mario, but this iconic hero has found himself in dozens of different spin-off games over the years.
Some of these spin-offs aren’t much out of the ordinary, like racing in Mario Kart or games like Mario Golf. But in Mario Paint, however, he plays an art teacher. This isn’t the only weird role that mustache plumbers have found themselves in over the years. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Mario Paint, here are 10 weirdest Mario spin-off games.
mario’s time machine
10 Weirdest Mario Spin-Offs To Celebrate Mario Paint’s 30th Anniversary
When Mario wasn’t busy being a plumber or a hero for princesses, he spent his time in the ’90s teaching kids through educational games. Mario’s Time Machine was one of the earliest examples; It was first released for MS-DOS, then later for NES and SNES.
Mario’s Time Machine was designed to teach kids all about history. In the game, Mario uses a time machine called the Simulator to visit different eras in time to return ancient artifacts stolen by Bowser.
The player’s task was to answer questions about these different time periods in history to progress through the game.
Mario is missing!
10 Weirdest Mario Spin-Offs To Celebrate Mario Paint’s 30th Anniversary
Mario is missing! There was another educational game that was released for MS-DOS, NES and SNES, similar to Mario’s Time Machine. This time, players assume the role of Luigi and must travel the world in search of Mario who, as I’m sure you can guess from the title, is missing.
The game was actually the first time that Luigi would be the main playable protagonist, prior to Luigi’s Mansion by nearly a decade.
Mario Is Missing! In the game, players learn about important cities in the world, such as New York City, Mexico City, London, Paris, Cairo, and more as Luigi travels to each of them in search of Mario. As Luigi arrives at each location, he must trace and talk to other characters to collect clues and find out where he is.
Mario’s Early Years! trilogy
10 Weirdest Mario Spin-Offs To Celebrate Mario Paint’s 30th Anniversary
If the above two games were too advanced for kids, Mario’s Early Years! Young children were included in the trilogy of educational games. The trilogy consisted of three games: Fun with Letters, Fun with Numbers, and Preschool Fun.
The first two titles are pretty self-explanatory; Point-and-click games were meant to teach letters and numbers to toddler-age children. Preschool Fun had similar concepts but included learning games involving shapes, colors, animal sounds and more.
My own personal claim to fame is that I had a copy of Mario’s formative years! Preschool fun When I was a kid, that means I can officially say that Mario was my teacher, right?
mario and wario
10 Weirdest Mario Spin-Offs To Celebrate Mario Paint’s 30th Anniversary
Before Game Freak struck gold with Pokémon, the company was busy with other experimental titles, one of which was called Mario & Wario and was released exclusively in Japan. To play the game, players need the Super Famicom Mouse accessory.
In Mario and Wario, players control Mario through the levels as he places objects on his head. These objects obstructed their view, so players had to use the mouse accessory to move them safely through various obstacles.
Impressively, the game had 100 different levels, and for some reason, it was entirely in English, despite never being localized outside of Japan.
I’m a Teacher: Super Mario Sweater
10 Weirdest Mario Spin-Offs To Celebrate Mario Paint’s 30th Anniversary
If you were a kid in the ’80s and wanted to learn how to design sweaters, there was no better program than I’m A Teacher: Super Mario Sweater Game.
Yes, it was actually an actual game that was released in Japan on the Family Computer disc system. Players can put in the actual measurement size and then design their own sweater with photos of Mario, Luigi, Peach and Bowser.
The idea for I’m A Teacher: The Super Mario Sweater came from a sewing company called Royal Industries that wanted to profit from the budding video game industry. Sadly, the Stitch Simulator video game never debuted, but surprisingly it wasn’t the only Stitch Mario game we’ll touch on later…
mario paint
10 Weirdest Mario Spin-Offs To Celebrate Mario Paint’s 30th Anniversary
Mario Paint for the SNES was simply magical. The game was bundled with the SNES mouse accessory and was designed to teach players how to use it.
The game had several different modes. The Art Mode was originally free-draw, the Stamp Mode allowed players to create sprite artwork, the Music Mode was to create melodies using 15 different instruments and sounds, and the Animation Mode taught players to create simple looping animations.
There were also a variety of mini-games and easter eggs throughout the game that could be accessed by clicking on things with the mouse accessory. Mario Paint was a quirky yet fascinating and ambitious game that certainly inspired many young artists.
mario teaches typing
10 Weirdest Mario Spin-Offs To Celebrate Mario Paint’s 30th Anniversary
Mario Teaching Typing was a CD-ROM computer game that was never released on consoles. As the title implies, Mario has returned to being a teacher, this time instructing players to type on the keyboard.
In the game, players must correctly type the letters that appear on the screen in each lesson in order for Mario to run through the level. All the music comes from the game Super Mario World, and it was the first example of Charles Martinet as the voice of Mario.
Hotel Mario
10 Weirdest Mario Spin-Offs To Celebrate Mario Paint’s 30th Anniversary
In the early 90s following a CD-ROM partnership agreement with Sony, Nintendo licensed its Mario and Legend of Zelda franchise to Royal Philips Electronics to develop four titles for the Philips CD-i console. The only Mario game to come out of this deal was Hotel Mario.
For those unaware, the Nintendo games on the Philips CD-i weren’t the best. They featured choppy animations, laughable voice acting, and boring gameplay. Hotel Mario is considered one of the worst Mario games ever.
In Hotel Mario, players control Mario who explores seven different hotels in the Mushroom Kingdom to find the Princess Toadstool. All doors to the hotel must be closed while avoiding enemies. Why hotels and closed doors, you may ask? Well… we don’t even know.
mario family
10 Weirdest Mario Spin-Offs To Celebrate Mario Paint’s 30th Anniversary
If I had a nickel every time the Mario Stitch game was released, I’d have two nickels—which isn’t a lot, but it’s odd that it happened twice.
Hardcore fans of I’m a Teacher: Super Mario Sweater rejoiced in 2001 when the second sewing simulator, Mario Family, was released. It was called Mario Family, released for the Game Boy Color and also exclusive to Japan.
This time, the game actually controlled a sewing machine. There were a total of 32 patterns to choose from, all of which were Mario-related designs, of course. It was meant to teach basic sewing skills while making fun Mario designs.
Mario vs Donkey Kong 2: March of Minis
10 Weirdest Mario Spin-Offs To Celebrate Mario Paint’s 30th Anniversary
Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis, the sequel to Mario vs. Donkey Kong, is the last title to make it to this list of weird Mario games. It was released on the Nintendo DS in 2006, making it a lot older than the other titles on this list, but it was still pretty quirky and weird.
Unlike in the first game, instead of playing as Mario himself, you used the DS touch screen to control a group of Mini Mario wind-up toys to save Pauline. Once every Mini Mario wind-up toy made it through the exit door to safety, the level was complete.
It was a little odd because unlike Mario, these wind-up toys weren’t bothered by hazards like spikes or pools of lava. This made it more of a puzzle game than an action platforming game as players had to figure out the best way to get all the Mini Mario to the exit door.
All images courtesy of MobyGames.
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