The Dr. Mario series (Dr. マリオ Dokutā Mario) is a series of puzzle video games made by Nintendo, beginning with Dr. Mario that first appeared on the NES. The game marked the first time the Mario character appeared in a game that was not strictly action based, nor was merely a cameo appearance. It thus helped usher in an era in which Mario became a multi-genre character, appearing in many different styles of games.
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Gameplay
Dr. Mario games feature a grid that starts out partially filled with viruses of three colors (red, orange, blue) that Dr. Mario must destroy with pills called megavitamins. These pills are two blocks in size and can contain any combination of two of the three colors, including two sections of the same color. The pills are guided by the player using translational (D-pad) and rotational (button) motion into rows or columns of four or more of the same color, which will disappear. The object is to remove all of the viruses from the playing field by creating these rows or columns using a combination of pills and viruses, though line groups of four or more not containing a virus will still disappear. The playing field is also set up such that no more than two of the same color virus ever appear adjacent to one another in the same line. If the pills reach the top of the playing field, the player retires. When starting a 1-player game, the player can choose the starting level to be from 00 to 20; between these levels, the starting number of viruses in the playing field correspond to the level as Viruses = (Level + 1) x 4. Starting speed can be chosen as low, medium or high, but speed will also progressively increase during play. If level 20 is beaten, levels 21 and onward are identical to level 20, containing 84 viruses. A short congratulations cutscene is shown after beating levels 5, 10, 15 and 20. A 2-player competitive game is also available, in which the first player to clear all viruses before their opponent or force their opponent to retire wins. Level and speed selections are made independently by each player, allowing one to self-impose a handicap if desired. Later versions introduced competitive play against the CPU, which was absent from the original NES version. Dr. Mario 64 contains a story mode which requires the player to defeat multiple opponents of increasing skill in a row to win, as well as 3-player and 4-player competitive modes in which any of the four slots may be filled by a CPU opponent. During versus play, when two or more rows/columns are cleared with one megavitamin, a corresponding number (two, three, or a maximum of four) of random pill halves then drop onto the opponent's screen. This hinders the opponent not only due to the possibly unmatched pills, but also with a time delay; while the pill pieces drop, the player must wait for them to fall slowly to the bottom before they can control their next pill. The music for the series was composed by Hirokazu "Hip" Tanaka.
Games
Main games
- Dr. Mario (Famicom/NES and Game Boy - 1990)
- Dr. Mario 64 (Nintendo 64 - 2001), which introduced the single-player story mode and 3-player/4-player competitive modes.
- Dr. Mario & Bacteria Extermination (Wii, through WiiWare channel - TBA)
Remakes and Ports
- Tetris & Dr. Mario (Super Famicom/Super NES - 1994), which introduced a computer-controlled opponent in multiplayer mode.
- Nintendo GameCube Preview Disc (Game Boy Advance - 2003) - This disc contained a full version of Dr. Mario (NES) that could be transferred to a Game Boy Advance using a Nintendo GameCube Game Boy Advance Cable.
- Nintendo Puzzle Collection (Nintendo GameCube) - 2003 (Japan only. There was also an option to play a port of the Famicom version on the GBA.)
- Dr. Mario (Game Boy Advance) - 2004 (Re-released as part of the Classic NES Series)
- Dr. Mario & Puzzle League (Game Boy Advance - 2005)
Additional note: Dr. Mario has received a rating of E from the ESRB, which typically precedes a re-release on the Wii's Virtual Console. Its release date is not known.
Other games
- WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! (Game Boy Advance) (2003) A version of Dr. Mario titled Dr. Wario with Wario as the doctor was included as an unlockable minigame. The only significant differences were that Wario takes Mario's place, that the viruses have different faces and limited music selection. The original Dr. Mario appears as a microgame in 9-Volt's stage.
- Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day features an unlockable mode called "Virus Buster", which is a simplified version of Dr. Mario.[1]
Cameos in games and other media
- Super Smash Bros. Melee (Nintendo GameCube) - (2001) Dr. Mario appeared as an unlockable character with a similar moveset as Mario. Dr. Mario is heavier and slower than Mario, with a shorter reach and slightly more powerful smash attacks. Dr. Mario also throws Megavitamins instead of Mario's fireballs, and his Cape attack does not gain as much altitude in the air as Mario's. Trophies of Dr. Mario, the Viruses and Megavitamins are also obtainable in Super Smash Bros. Melee. It is unknown if he will return in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
- In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga for the Game Boy Advance, (2003), the viruses from Dr. Mario are prominent enemies on Woohoo Hooniversity.
- A comic book adaptation of Dr. Mario, entitled "The Doctor Is In... Over His Head", was released by Valiant Comics when the company was still printing issues of Nintendo Comics System.
Allusions
- Near the end of "King Scoopa Koopa", an episode of Super Mario World animated series, Mario utters the sentence "go home and eat some vegetables - Dr. Mario's orders!", apparently making reference to Dr. Mario, which was released a year before this episode first aired.
- In Super Mario Adventures, to disguise himself from a gang of Boos and a Big Boo, Mario dons an outfit identical to his doctor's uniform and even pretends to be a doctor, a psychiatrist instead of a physician though.
- After Mario cures a whale of it's stomach ache in Paper Mario, the grateful whale will refer to Mario as "Dr. Mario".
Upcoming Games
- Through the upcoming release of downloadable games from Nintendo Wii's WiiWare, there will be a Dr. Mario game titled Dr. Mario & Bacteria Extermination that takes advantage of the Wii's infra-red control scheme, as well as online multiplayer through Nintendo's WiFi Connection Service.[2][3] No official release date has been announced.
References
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| Main series | Dr. Mario · 64 |
| Spin-offs | Tetris & Dr. Mario · Puzzle Collection · Dr. Mario & Puzzle League · Dr. Mario & Bacteria Extermination |
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| Early Mario games | Donkey Kong · Mario Bros. |
| Main series | Super Mario Bros. · The Lost Levels · Super Mario Bros. 2 · Super Mario Bros. 3 · Super Mario Land · Super Mario World · Super Mario Land 2 · Super Mario 64 · Super Mario Sunshine · New Super Mario Bros. · Super Mario Galaxy |
| Related articles | Characters · Mushroom Kingdom · Games by year / platform / genre |
