* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The exercise scene. After the title screen, the game plays a short, black-and-white animation of sit-ups and a handstand. The audio, chosen at random, is either applause or a crowd chanting and cheering. Music/BrentalFloss used this scene, with the chanting, in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl5wZwgSHZg a video]] with the comment, "Seriously, wtf was this about? Seriously."
* CultClassic: Although it didn't sell well when it was released, it has become popular now, especially due to its fly-swatting game and Website/YouTube videos of songs made in the game's music sequencer.
* JustHereForGodzilla: Given how barebones the art tool is, if a player isn't here for the fly-swatting minigame, then they're likely here for the composer tool, to the point where it got its own fanmade program with added features.
* OnceOriginalNowCommon: Given how many professional level art programs exist now and have a lot of ease of access features to them, it can be hard to see the appeal of ''Mario Paint'' these days, as it's fairly limited even by the time it came out. (Microsoft had its own version of MS Paint as far back as 1985.) What most people don't understand, however, is how much rarer it was for a family to own a computer at the time. For many in the early 90s, ''Mario Paint'' was their first time ever experiencing a digital art program.
* SelfImposedChallenge: Many artist take it as a challenge to make high-quality art in the limitations of the program, with rather impressive results.
* SidetrackedByTheGoldSaucer: The fly-swatting minigame, especially considering half of the main trope page is about it. In later years, the music composing section became this in spades, to the point where finding footage of anything besides it on Website/YouTube is a challenge.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIGB5mmx_lk "Mysterious"]] features a twinkling synth lead that bears a striking resemblance to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uaz_AZcjH6c the one]] used in [[Music/{{Technodelic}} "Light in Darkness"]] by Music/YellowMagicOrchestra.
* VindicatedByHistory: Despite being constantly acclaimed and selling well enough to warrant a sequel in the form of the ''Mario Artist'' series on the 64DD, the game was generally remembered as a weird little one-off experiment of Nintendo's done to appeal to educationally-minded parents. Since the 2000's, however, it's gone on to be regarded as a landmark title that laid the groundwork for later entry-level digital art and audio workstations, helped by the sudden popularity of its music sequencer and the vocal praise given to the game by digital artists who credited it as inspiring them to take up careers in art.
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