Super Mario Paint is probably the most popular of the Mario Paint clones (join their discord community!). Notessimo started has a clone of Mario Paint as well even if it has diverged a lot since the first version.

Super Mario Paint v1.3     Notessimo V1

Above Super Mario Paint v1.3 (left), Notessimo V1 (right)

The file format is pretty simple, just a .txt file with each line representing 1 beat.

TEMPO: 400.000000, EXT: 0, TIME: 4/4, SOUNDSET: 
1:0,MARIO C5,MARIO B2,MARIO E3,MARIO C4,VOL: 96
1:1,MUSHROOM B4,VOL: 96
1:2,YOSHI F4,VOL: 96
1:3,STAR C4,VOL: 96
2:0,FLOWER B3,VOL: 96
...

There is some subtilty though, an instrument will continue to play until it encounters another note from the same instrument (or a special “mute” note). Most soundfonts for Super Mario Paint seems to have instruments that cannot play infinitely (no looping sample) so they will end automatically by themselves when their sample’s end (I use this fact to precisely calculate the expected note length in the conversion process so the note “bounce” appropriately).

Since it is only one beat per line, to get really creative, expert painters will use insane tempo (2400+). This makes for a poor viewing experience, so there is an option as well to “compress” the tempo and get to something much more enjoyable (ex: 200).

It is also possible to combine multiple .txt together, so the option to upload a .zip is also available. Custom soundfonts are also supported, a big feature I wanted to add for notessimo was the ability to share custom instruments so the ability to upload a .SF2 was already implemented (a “playlist” of the instruments is created and available as a choice).

Super Mario Paint import is free and available right now to be exported to video!

Big shoutout to CyanSMP64 for testing the features! And check out the result below, Lone Digger by Caravan Palace done by Xanderoni.