What was the DEFINITIVE version of MS Paint?

MS Paint was the program that introduced me to making Art on a Computer.
But how has Paint evolved over the years and was there ever a Definitive version of Paint?
Let's go by every update to see if we can find the answer to that question.
Special thanks to my brother @Brick_Mark for helping out with the recording the comic book stuff and creating the "New Iron Golem Added" Paint 3D picture with me

0:00 Intro
0:40 PC Paintbrush
3:43 Paint 1
7:14 PC Paintbrush 2.0
9:48 Paint 3.1 (Paintbrush)
11:34 Paint 95
13:36 Paint XP
15:53 Paint 7
20:24 Paint 3D
25:03 Paint 11

Music Used in this video
============================
Mission "Welcome to the Amusement Park" - The Smile of You ~theme from Elebits~
Gitaroo Man OST - 08 The Legendary Theme (Acoustic)
Mario Part 2 - Let's get this Party started
Mario Artist Paint Studio Drawing Track #3 - Monkey's
Bomberman Hero - Milky
Megaman Legends - the 3 Bonne Brothers
A Hat in Time - Oh it's you!
Glover - Training Room
Auto Modellista OST - Save & Exist
Tetris CDI - Level 3/5
Pilotwings 64 - Handglider
Yooka Laylee & The Impossible Lair - Cliffside Quest
Splatoon 2 - Inkopolis News
Tomodachi Life - Office
A Short Hike - Somewhere in the Woods
Animal Crossing City Folk - 3AM
The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild - Hateno Village (Night)
Stardew Valley - The Sun can bend an orange sky

[Mallerd]

Just to clear something up about PC Paintbrush. I was not aware at the time that a lot of the issues I was experiencing with it might have been caused by the VM I was using and my inexperience with such old computer operating systems and software. I simply installed PC Paintbrush and reviewed my experience with it as it was. I also want to clarify that I did not rank these older versions compared to the newer ones. I ranked them based on how simple, accessable and fun they are to use. The earlier versions had a lot of issues and annoyances that made me place them where I did on the list. If I where to change something though I'd place the original PC Paintbrush in E (given the VM issues arent there) and would put PC Paintbrush 2.0 in D. And one more thing. If I skipped a version, its because little to nothing was changed in that update. I explain that being the reason for skipping Vista in the video but the same rule applies for Windows 8 and 10 Paint.

[pikaboo]

Paint deserves to be called a part of internet history, if we didn't make mlp bases or draw warrior cat oc animatics in Paint I think majority of internet artists wouldn't exist

[MattHedgern]

Fun fact about Paint 3D, it used to have the ability to browse user-submitted models and add them to your project. I can't find much on it other than A) a single article from 2018, and B) two images I have saved on my PC using models retrived from it. Those two images also probably hint at why the feature was removed, as they both contain actual models of Sonic the Hedgehog. I'm guessing copyright concerns from people doing junk like that are what did it in but, again, can't find much. I just remember opening Paint 3D one day and that feature was gone.

[cjdestroyahanimation]

I first started drawing digitally on paint 7. Really takes me back when I made low quality animatics. Awesome video buddy.

[Jocemadness]

can we talk about how good these drawings are?! ms paint for windows 7 was my first introduction to digital art and I remember I didn't know how to screen record anything, so I used my phone pointed at the screen, and recorded that way lol

[Mostly_Roblox]

I always thought of Paint 3D as a different software than regular Paint

[Nesamons]

I was cracking up a lot at the insane drawings with 0 context. Excellent video Mallerd!

[JorArg-cs]

I feel like most of the problems are caused by using a virtual machine, But I don't blame you for not going through old pc/windows bs

[wiatrakx]

win95's paint actually has a normal colour picker, and it draws pretty much the same as xp one, with some very minor differences.

the reason it did those weird gradients in the video is because windows 95 was running in 16 bit colour mode, as opposed to the full colour mode. moreover, that also impacts performance, hence drawing wasn't the comfiest.

vista had a bigger update with a different default colour palette and updated icons.

[Nefnoj]

ok but the MS Paint with Bob Ross was kinda pretty and I think I'm considering giving it a go

[greenknight]

I know people have probably mentioned it before, but for the sake of my sanity: The pixel gradient is caused by Windows 3.1 and 95 running in 16 Colour Mode. in 256 colour mode (and beyond) you mostly get the actual colours

[JuanGamer]

You hit the nail with this one, paint being this simple is the reason why it is so good, as a child I would find myself spending countless hours on my parents pc just drawning on paint, and even nowdays as I just got into University (I'm coursing for Eletrical Enginner) I find myself going back to paint cuz drawning eletric squematics for some of the exams IS SO DAMN EASY and confortable, draw some lines, name the components, boom, that is why I love paint.

[beegyosh]

One thing Paint 3D did have to offer 3D-wise was that you could select parts of an image and turn them into flat 3D planes, which, when used right, allowed for a very rudimentary layer system. This was neat until Microsoft added an actual layer feature into MS Paint, still, great video. Really made me appreciate Paint even further

[keepyo]

It makes me SO MAD this video is that underrated.
I thought this was some video from 8 months ago with at least a million views but dude
Peak content right here, please keep it up

[kleidisc]

i grew up on paint 7, and win 7 in general. its where i learned about flash games, youtube, and the internet in general. i mainly played purble place or minesweeper, but could barely remember paint. the second i saw the text bubbles i instantly remembered. what a classic version

[cocoelacanth]

12:12 for what it's worth, windows 95 fully supports 32-bit colour with the right driver. the colours are just becoming quantized because your display is set to a lower colour depth. in fact, even windows 3.1 supported this.

the issue isn't with paint; it's trying its best to approximate a colour that the operating system isn't configured to display properly. windows xp will act similarly if you reduce the colour depth.

[Zekh]

Windows XP-7 paint will always be the nostalgic version for me it also really helped me get intouch with digital art as a whole and just messing around with stuff back when i was a kid was the most fun thing ever Thanks for making this video it really brought back a lotta nostalgia!

[Tally_Hall_fan]

14:50 HAWAII PART: II!!!!
24:00 there’s the guy from Hawaii part: II album cover
27:56 more Hawaii Part: II
28:59 Hawaii Part: II stair case
29:14 full Hawaii Part: II

[konstidog]

The main reason your colors were gradiented/dithered under Win3.1 and 95 is because of the color depth settings for the OS itself, this isn't because of the version of paint itself. 95's paint is capable of doing the same colors, this is just its way of approximating em when Windows 95 itself is disabled from showing more accurate ones.

[Advenit]

your editing style is incredibly engaging!! fantastic video!