Game title: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
System: SNES
Developer: Nintendo

Why it's so cool: Does this game really need an explanation? It is quite simply one of the best 2D platforming games in history. It added a new style and elements to the genre that had never been seen before and have never quite been lived up to since.

This is the one game that fans have been asking for continuously since the launch of the Wii and its Virtual Console service.

3DS Ambassadors already received the Game Boy Advance version last year as thanks for picking up their handhelds early, and while it does contain extra levels and is the superior version of the game, what about those without a 3DS, or late-adopters to the new handheld? I myself have the GBA version on my 3DS, but I'd still love the original SNES version, as the controls and sound are more preferable to me. Plus, I just like playing games on my large HDTV screen better.

So why isn't it out already? This is the tough one. Some speculate that there are issues emulating a certain microchip that was used in the original SNES cartridge called the Super FX 2 chip, which was used to display rotating polygons, morphing shapes and shrinking/growing sprites. This is a very tough pill to swallow, though, as fan-made emulators are able to run the game without any issues. Now, I don't condone piracy in the slightest, but if basement programmers are able to easily get the game's ROM working correctly, why can't Nintendo? The same claims were made about Virtual Console being unable to emulate the Expansion Pack for the Nintendo 64, and that theory was quickly put to rest with the VC release of Majora's Mask. In actuality, the reason Yoshi's Island is still absent from the Wii's lineup remains a mystery.

Game title: Mario Paint / Mario Artist
System: SNES / Nintendo 64
Developer: Nintendo

Why they're so cool: Mario Paint was, to many of us, a first taste of what it was to make art, music, or animation, and what a perfect palette it was. Packaged in with the game was the SNES Mouse and Mouse Pad, which went on to be used by a handful of other games. Essentially, Mario Paint was a drawing program not unlike early versions of MS Paint, but it also featured stamps of pictures to use, various patterns and textures to draw and paint with and even a simple flipbook-style animation tool. Even cooler was the music composer, where you could create your own musical score to set to your animations. If you felt like taking a break from all the artistry, there's the addictive Gnat Attack game that has you swatting flies as they zip about the screen until you eventually face off against the boss bug. 

Following the success of the first title, Nintendo made a four-player sequel known as Mario Artist that came in a series of volumes for the 64DD. Naturally, these were only sold in Japan but contained many similar features as the SNES game, as well as a simple polygon modeling and 3D animation tool. Like the first game, these were compatible with a Nintendo 64 mouse, which also never saw the light of day outside Japan. After the first three applications were released, a fourth disc enabled players to upload their creations to their internet service. More titles in the Mario Artist series had been planned with the eventual intention of combining the software and allowing fans to create entire games, but sadly the 64DD didn't take off in a way Nintendo had hoped, and the latter games were canceled.

So why aren't they out already? Sadly, this is a generation where art programs are abundant and if you want to learn how to draw or make 3D models, you can probably download a free application after 30 seconds of searching on Google. These Nintendo-based games are fairly outdated by today's standard, and showing your completed artwork to friends in the Mario games (unless they do a Wii Message Board deal like with Pokémon Snap) is a lot harder to accomplish than simply saving an image on your computer desktop. Plus, there's the lack of mouse support that I mentioned on the last page. Nonetheless, Mario Paint is just as nostalgic to many players as any of his sidescrolling adventures, and the friendly, encouraging nature of the titles is a lot more inviting than most of the graphics software I've used—I'd be more than happy to teach my younger relatives how to draw with Mario as our guide. Perhaps on the Wii U we'll see a new Mario art game surface with many of the same ideas the predecessors boasted.