1992 · Port · Mani · Arcade · Puzzle

Dr. Mario

Nintendo console exclusivePort

Dr. Mario is one of the two LCD game watches belonging to the Gamewatch Boy line released in 1992 by Mani Industries. It plays similarly to the original game.

Released: 31 December 1992
Platforms: Apple IIGS Game Boy Game Boy Advance Handheld Electronic LCD NES SNES
Genres: Arcade Puzzle
Developers: Mani
Publishers: Zeon Mani
Modes: Single-player
Perspective: Side view
Themes: Fantasy Science fiction
Copies sold: 5.3 million

About

Dr. Mario (stylized as D℞ MARIO) is a 1990 puzzle video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy. A spin-off of the Mario series, it is a falling block puzzle game in which the player's objective is to destroy the viruses populating the on-screen playing field by using colored capsules that are automatically tossed into the field by Dr. Mario.

The player manipulates the falling capsules, to align the same colors, which destroys viruses. The player progresses through the game by eliminating all the viruses on the screen in each level. The game was produced by Gunpei Yokoi and programmed by Takahiro Harada, with the soundtrack composed by Hirokazu Tanaka.

Keywords

virus
lcd display
handheld electronic game

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Dr. Mario is a falling block tile-matching video game. Mario assumes the role of a doctor, tossing two-colored medical capsules into a medicine bottle representing the playing field. This area is populated by viruses of three colors – red, yellow, and blue – which stay in their starting positions until removed.

In a style similar to Tetris, the player manipulates each capsule as it vertically falls, able to move it left or right and rotate it 90 degrees clockwise or counter-clockwise. When matching colors of capsule halves and viruses touch sequentially 4-in-a-row, they disappear. Any remaining half or whole capsules which are not supported will fall to the bottom of the playing field or until hitting another supported object, and any new 4-in-a-row alignments also disappear. The main objective is to eliminate all viruses from the playing field, finishing each level.

Development

Dr. Mario was produced by Gunpei Yokoi, creator of the Game Boy and Game & Watch handheld systems. Takahiro Harada, who would later produce Wario Land: Shake It!, was its programmer. Its music was composed by Hirokazu Tanaka, and has been re-used and arranged such as in the Super Smash Bros. series.

Dr. Mario spawned several remakes and ports that were released on various Nintendo consoles. The original version's multiplayer portion was ported to two Nintendo arcade systems: the Nintendo VS. System (as Vs.

Reception

Dr. Mario received generally positive reviews, although some parents were critical of the premise of medicine in a children's game. The Game Boy version received positive reviews from Joystick and Zero magazines, the latter comparing it favorably with Tetris and Connect Four while stating it is "easy to play and impossible to master". ACE criticized the uninspiring graphics, repetitive play, and "plagiarism" while comparing it unfavorably with Tetris and Connect Four.

In the Japanese magazine Famicom Tsūshin, the four reviewers said that while the game is similar to Tetris, they still found it fun with one reviewer saying it was more fun to play as a two-player game. The same four reviewers also complimented the Game Boy version of the game, with one reviewer feeling that the game was slightly worse due to the lack of color on the Game Boy making it harder to decipher some gameplay elements.