Dr. Mario

"Mario as a Doctor, in this fun filled puzzle tetris-like game!"

Dr. Mario? It was an unbelieveible change at the time of 1990 when everyone just thought that Super Mario was making his grand career in making action type of rpgs from the original Nintendo and then on the original Gameboy handheld!

Dr. Mario came out in 1990, and people of course, instantly went to buy it... they put their Super Mario Bros 1, 2, and 3 aside for a few moments... and they put Dr. Mario in their game system... and it was a bit different than the usual Mario game.

The game started up with some nice and new music, Dr. Mario standing at the DR. MARIO screen, tapping his foot, and it said 1 player and 2 player game.

1 player game would bring you up to a screen that would let you pick which level you would want to play, what speed the pills would fall at, and the music.

When you first started the game on level 1, you would see Dr. Mario at the north east part of the screen, throwing pills down into a bottle which you would control, and the pills would land onto the viruses of the exact same color. Like 3 red pills in a row that would land on top of a red virus would clear out a red virus. 3 yellow and 3 blue pills would do the same thing to the viruses of their own colors.

Some people actually thought the game was bogus, and wanted more action Mario type of games, but to many other gamers, it was without a doubt, another great game of Mario. Just showing Mario can do just more than action games, he can do racing games, sport games, puzzle games, party games, action games, adventure games, and EVEN RPG GAMES.

When I first played Dr. Mario back in 1991 I was expecting Dr. Mario was the type of game where you controlled Mario as a Doctor and he beat up viruses with his legs and fists like the old Mario games... and I was wrong... at first I was disappointed because the game was not exactly EASY to play in the later levels... but after a few days... it was a GREAT game.

It reminded me of Tetris because for starters, they were both made by Nintendo, and the other reason was due to the fact that Dr. Mario was slightly the same type of style. Block type of items would be thrown into a bottle type of shape and would clear out the area in the little area. Very interesting.

Obviously Dr. Mario was a great success and will always be remembered on the NES system, on the Gameboy system and the Nintendo 64 system! Just like Tetris!

Graphics: 80%
Words: I have to give the graphics a high rating because the fact is they drew the viruses, colors, Dr. Mario and so on so well that it was VERY INTERESTING.

Sound: 86%
Words: Nice Fever and Chill music, you are given the choice to pick the music tunes and play it while playing your game the whole time. GRAND work.

Replay: 50%
Words: Sadly, like Tetris, eventually you will get tired of killing the viruses every time you play, same thing over and over. That is what they upgraded in the newer Dr. Mario 64, but for the original, all else you could do would be to play 2 player mode by killing viruses in your own bottle faster than your opponent! Still fun!

Gameplay: 85%
Words: I give the gameplay a high rating, it earned it!

Story: 0%
Words: No story involved

Characters: 100%
Words: Dr. Mario! NEW FIGURE TO ADD TO THE NINTENDO MASCOT WORLD! GRAND! The viruses! Evil and mean!

Final Words: A game worth having if you like puzzle games such as Tetris. Also, Dr. Mario is available for Gameboy and Nintendo 64 if you prefer updated versions or do not have an old Nintendo system. Still, Dr. Mario made his start on the original Nintendo and he is apart of the top ten greatest puzzle games ever made.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/21/02, Updated 02/21/02