There was a game in the 80's on Nintendo where you could make your own song by putting in turtle shells...

Question

they had a demo song (the theme song to Mario) but you could make your own song, and each little shape/symbol had its own noise.... i can't remember the name of that program

Answer 1

Mario Paint for the Super Nintendo had something like this. It wasn't back in the 80s though.

Answer 2

the first answerer is right.

there is no such game from the 80s, none that used shells and other symbols

but mario paint, a game that used the super nintendo mouse, had such a program, and was released in 1992

there were other things in there as well, like the fly swatting game