Nintendo gamers surprised with free game we've all been waiting for

Nintendo Switch Online users can grab a new free game with any subscription, on both the original Switch and Switch 2.

Nintendo regularly adds older games from its rich 40+ year portfolio to the Nintendo Switch Online library.

Titled Nintendo Classics, older titles like Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, and Super Metroid are available to play if you’re a subscriber to either the cheaper tier or the more expensive Expansion Pack tier.

Now, Nintendo has added the classic SNES game Mario Paint to the Nintendo Classics catalogue, which has surprised a lot of players.

You see, many Nintendo fans believed that the company was done with adding SNES games to the catalogue, instead moving on to Nintendo 64 and GameCube games.

Mario Paint is available on both Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2, but those playing on the latter will be able to take advantage of the Joy-Con 2’s mouse controls.

The original SNES version of Mario Paint took advantage of the Super NES Mouse, an extra peripheral that simulated mouse movement in supported games. You’d use the mouse to draw, paint, compose music, and play minigames.

Considering the original Switch Joy-Cons don’t have mouse controls, it wouldn’t have made much sense to release Mario Paint on the previous console.

But now that Switch 2 does support mouse controls, it feels like the right time to release something like this onto the Nintendo Switch Online service.

It’s worth bearing in mind that the original Switch can still play this game though, you’ll just need to hook up a compatible USB mouse. Not a great workaround, but a workaround nonetheless.

Funnily enough, this might make Mario Paint the best game on Nintendo Switch 2 to take advantage of the console’s mouse controls. It’ll be the cheapest at least, if you compare it to the recently-released next-gen port of Super Mario Party Jamboree.