''Dr. Mario'' is a 1990

puzzle video game Puzzle video games make up a broad genre of video games that emphasize puzzle solving. The types of puzzles can test problem-solving skills, including logic, pattern recognition, Sequence, sequence solving, Spatial ability, spatial recognition, ...

developed and published by

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...

for the

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...

and

Game Boy The is a handheld game console developed by Nintendo, launched in the Japanese home market on April 21, 1989, followed by North America later that year and other territories from 1990 onwards. Following the success of the Game & Watch single-ga ...

. It was produced by

Gunpei Yokoi , sometimes transliterated as Gumpei Yokoi, was a Japanese toy maker and video game designer. As a long-time Nintendo employee, he was best known as creator of the Game & Watch handheld system, inventor of the cross-shaped Control Pad, the ...

and designed by Takahiro Harada. The soundtrack was composed by

Hirokazu Tanaka , also known as Chip Tanaka, is a Japanese musician, composer, sound designer, and executive who pioneered chiptune music. He is best known as one of Nintendo's in-house composers during the 8- and 16-bit era of video games. Tanaka also had a role ...

. It is a falling block puzzle game, in which the player's objective is to destroy the

virus A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living Cell (biology), cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Viruses are ...

es populating the on-screen playing field by using colored vitamin capsules that are automatically tossed into the field by Dr.

Mario Mario (; ) is a Character (arts), character created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the star of the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise, a recurring character in the ''Donkey Kong'' franchise, and the mascot of the Ja ...

. 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 Level or levels may refer to: Engineering *Level (optical instrument), a device used to measure true horizontal or relative heights * Spirit level or bubble level, an instrument designed to indicate whether a surface is horizontal or vertical *C ...

. ''Dr. Mario'' was a commercial success, with more than copies sold worldwide across all platforms. It received generally positive reviews, appearing on several lists of "Best Nintendo Games of All Time". It has been

ported In software engineering, porting is the process of adapting software for the purpose of achieving some form of execution in a computing environment that is different from the one that a given program (meant for such execution) was originally desig ...

remade Bas-Lag is a fictional universe in which several of China Miéville's novels are set. Bas-Lag is a world where both magic (referred to as thaumaturgy) and steampunk technology exist, and where many intelligent races live. This world and the nove ...

, or had a sequel on every Nintendo home console since the NES, and on most portable consoles, including a re-release in 2004 on the

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...

in the ''

Classic NES Series This is a list of games that are part of the ''Classic NES Series'' in North America, in Japan, and ''NES Classics'' in Europe and Australia. The series consists of emulated Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo Entertainment System#Region ...

''. It was modified into

minigame A minigame (also spelled mini game and mini-game, sometimes called a subgame or microgame) is a short game often contained within another video game. A minigame contains different gameplay elements and is often smaller or more simplistic than th ...

s in '' WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames!'', '' Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day!'', and '' Brain Age: Concentration Training''. '' Dr. Luigi'' is a spin-off for

Wii U The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. The W ...

, released on December 31, 2013, as part of the

Year of Luigi The Year of Luigi was the 30th-anniversary celebration of the fictional character Luigi. He was created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto for the 1983 arcade game '' Mario Bros.'' and has appeared frequently as a minor or supporti ...

celebration.

Gameplay

''Dr. Mario'' is a falling block

tile-matching video game A tile-matching video game is a type of puzzle video game where the player manipulates tiles in order to make them disappear according to a matching criterion. In many tile-matching games, that criterion is to place a given number of tiles of the ...

assumes the role of a

doctor Doctor, Doctors, The Doctor or The Doctors may refer to: Titles and occupations * Physician, a medical practitioner * Doctor (title), an academic title for the holder of a doctoral-level degree ** Doctorate ** List of doctoral degrees awarded b ...

, 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 ''Tetris'' () is a puzzle video game created in 1985 by Alexey Pajitnov, a Soviet software engineer. In ''Tetris'', falling tetromino shapes must be neatly sorted into a pile; once a horizontal line of the game board is filled in, it disa ...

'', 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

. A

game over "Game over" is a message in video games which informs the player that their play session has ended, usually because the player has reached a loss condition. It also sometimes appears at the successful completion of a session, especially in ga ...

occurs if capsules fill the playing field in a way that obstructs the bottle's narrow neck. After each 5th level is completed on Medium or High difficulty, up to level 20, a

cutscene A cutscene or event scene (sometimes in-game cinematic or in-game movie) is a sequence in a video game that is not interactive, interrupting the gameplay. Such scenes are used to show conversations between characters, set the mood, reward the ...

shows the virus trio sitting on a tree as music plays and an object flies across the screen.
The options screen configures the starting

, game speed, and music. The player chooses a starting level between 0 and 20 that determines the number of viruses to clear, and one of three speeds of the falling capsules. The player's

score SCORE may refer to: *SCORE (software), a music scorewriter program * SCORE (television), a weekend sports service of the defunct Financial News Network *SCORE! Educational Centers *SCORE International, an offroad racing organization *Sarawak Corrido ...

is based on the elimination of viruses and the chosen game speed, with bonus points for clearing more than 1 in a single line. ''Dr. Mario'' offers a

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

gaming mode in which two players compete in separate playing fields. Each player's goal is to clear the private playing field of viruses first. Eliminating multiple viruses or initiating chain reactions can add capsules to the opponent's playing field. A player wins a single game upon eliminating all the viruses or upon the other player's bottle filling. The first player to win three games wins overall. The NES and Game Boy versions of the games have slight differences. The Game Boy version has a slightly smaller playfield than the NES one and the games features slightly different cutscenes showcasing the viruses in different locations. If the player manages a chain of four or more in the Game Boy version, then the Invincible Music from ''

Super Mario Bros. is a 1985 Platformer, platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It is the successor to the 1983 arcade game ''Mario Bros.'' and the first game in the ''Super Mario'' series. It was origi ...

'' (1985) will play briefly.

Development

''Dr. Mario'' was produced by

, creator of the

and

Game & Watch is a series of handheld electronic games developed by Nintendo. Designed by Gunpei Yokoi, the first game, ''Ball'' was released in 1980 and the original production run of the devices continued until 1991. The name Game & Watch reflects thei ...

handheld systems. Takahiro Harada, producer of the ''

Metroid is an action-adventure game franchise created by Nintendo. The player controls the bounty hunter Samus Aran, who protects the galaxy from Space Pirates and other malevolent forces and their attempts to harness the power of the parasitic M ...

'' series, was its designer. Its music was composed by

, and has been re-used and arranged such as in the '' Super Smash Bros.'' series.

Re-releases

''Dr. Mario'' spawned several

remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same s ...

s and

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

s that were released on various Nintendo consoles. The original version's multiplayer portion was ported to two Nintendo arcade systems: the

Nintendo VS. System The is an arcade system that was developed and produced by Nintendo. It is based on most of the same hardware as the Family Computer (Famicom), later released as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). As Nintendo was planning to release the ...

(as ''Vs. Dr. Mario'') and the PlayChoice-10. ''Vs. Dr. Mario'' was first shown at Nintendo's Seventh Annual Distributor Meeting in San Diego, and both versions were released simultaneously in August 1990. An

enhanced remake A video game remake is a video game closely adapted from an earlier title, usually for the purpose of modernizing a game with updated graphics for newer hardware and gameplay for contemporary audiences. Typically, a remake of such game software sh ...

of ''Dr. Mario'' was paired with ''

'' in the

Super Nintendo Entertainment System The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in No ...

compilation game '' Tetris & Dr. Mario'', released on 30 December 1994. This was re-released in Japan on 30 March 1997, as a downloadable game for the Super Famicom's

Satellaview The is a satellite modem peripheral produced by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Famicom in 1995. Containing 1 megabyte of ROM space and an additional 512 kB of RAM, Satellaview allowed players to download games, maga ...

peripheral, with the name ''Dr. Mario BS Version.'' It was re-released again in Japan for the Super Famicom's and Game Boy's downloadable Nintendo Power cartridges. The NES version was ported twice to the

: first in 2004 as one of thirty games in the ''

'' (''Famicom Mini Series'' in Japan), then bundled with a version of the '' Puzzle League'' series in 2005 as ''Dr. Mario & Puzzle League'', with updated graphics and new music. '' Nintendo Puzzle Collection'' and the ''Nintendo GameCube Preview Disc'', both released in 2003 for the

GameCube The is a PowerPC-based home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. It is the suc ...

, can copy the NES version of ''Dr. Mario'' to the Game Boy Advance using the

Nintendo GameCube – Game Boy Advance link cable is a Japanese multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi founded the company to p ...

. The NES version was released on the

Virtual Console in 2014 and was one of the launch games for the

Nintendo Classics Nintendo Classics is a line of Video game console emulator, emulated retro games distributed by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch family of systems and Nintendo Switch 2. Subscribers of the Nintendo Switch Online service have access to games for ...

service on September 19, 2018. The original Game Boy version was re-released on the

Nintendo 3DS The is a foldable dual-screen handheld game console produced by Nintendo. Announced in March 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS, the console was released originally on February 26, 2011 and went through various revisions in its lifetime, ...

Virtual Console in 2011 and 2012, and on the Nintendo Classics service on March 12, 2024.

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 0 (zero) is a number representing an empty quantity. Adding (or subtracting) 0 to any number leaves that number unchanged; in mathematical terminology, 0 is the additive identity of the integers, rational numbers, real numbers, and compl ...

'' magazines, the latter comparing it favorably with ''Tetris'' and

Connect Four Connect Four (also known as Connect 4, Four Up, Plot Four, Find Four, Captain's Mistress, Four in a Row, Drop Four, and in the Soviet Union, Gravitrips) is a game in which the players choose a color and then take turns dropping colored tokens int ...

while stating it is "easy to play and impossible to master". ''

ACE An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or a club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the ...

'' criticized the uninspiring graphics, repetitive play, and "plagiarism" while comparing it unfavorably with ''Tetris'' and ''Connect Four''. In the Japanese magazine ''

Famicom Tsūshin , formerly , is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the form of special to ...

'', 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. In Japan, copies were sold for the

, for the

Famicom The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...

, and 248,045 for the

, for a total of 3,858,045 cartridges sold in Japan. In North America, copies were sold within six weeks of release. Worldwide, copies were sold for the Game Boy and for the

, for a total of cartridges sold worldwide across all platforms.

Retrospective reception

Allgame RhythmOne , a subsidiary of Nexxen, is an American digital advertising technology company that owns and operates the web properties AllMusic, AllMovie, and SideReel. Blinkx was founded in 2004, went public on the Alternative Investment Market, ...

'' praised the NES version, stating that on its release, "when puzzle games were flooding the market, ''Dr. Mario'' stands out as one of the best, combining a smooth learning curve, playful graphics and memorable tunes" and "fundamental concepts may be simple, but the addictive gameplay becomes progressively more complex as the speed increases and additional viruses are added." ''Dr. Mario'' was rated the 134th best game on a Nintendo system in ''

Nintendo Power ''Nintendo Power'' was a video game news and strategy magazine from Nintendo of America, first published in July/August 1988 as Nintendo's official print magazine for North America. The magazine's publication was initially done monthly by Ninte ...

''s Top 200 Games list, the 7th best ''

'' game of all time on '' ScrewAttack's Top 10'', and the 51st best NES game of all time by ''

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

''. ''IGN'' also rated the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

, composed by

, as seventh in its list of the top ten greatest

8-bit In computer architecture, 8-bit integers or other data units are those that are 8 bits wide (1 octet). Also, 8-bit central processing unit (CPU) and arithmetic logic unit (ALU) architectures are those that are based on registers or data bu ...

soundtracks. ''

GamesRadar ''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites ''Total Film'', '' SFX'', '' Edge'' and ''Computer ...

'' ranked it the 13th best NES game ever made, calling it "one of the most celebrated of the uzzlegenre". ''

Game Informer ''Game Informer'' (''GI'' is an American monthly Video game journalism, video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and video game console, game consoles. It debuted in August 1991, when the video game reta ...

''s Ben Reeves called it the seventh best Game Boy game. In 2019, ''

PC Magazine ''PC Magazine'' (shortened as ''PCMag'') is an American computer magazine published by Ziff Davis. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009. Publication of online editions started in late 1994 and continues . Overview ''PC Mag ...

'' included Dr. Mario on their "The 10 Best Game Boy Games". The

re-release in the ''

Classic NES series This is a list of games that are part of the ''Classic NES Series'' in North America, in Japan, and ''NES Classics'' in Europe and Australia. The series consists of emulated Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo Entertainment System#Region ...

'' is rated 66/100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

based on 10 reviews. Most reviews pointed out the game's addictiveness and praise the addition of

wireless Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information (''telecommunication'') between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided transm ...

multiplayer, but some questioned the relevance of the standalone re-release. ''

Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 alongside parent company Gamer Network. In 2008, it started in the formerly eponymous trade fair EGX (Eurogamer Expo until 2013) organised by its parent company. Fr ...

'' said the game was "still as playable, addictive, and maddening as it was back in 1990" but criticized Nintendo for re-releasing classic games as standalone games in the ''Classic NES Series'' instead of as a compilation, like

Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French holding company Atari SA (formerly Infogrames) and its focus is on "video games, consumer hardware, licensing and bl ...

's '' Atari Anthology'' or Midway's ''

Midway Arcade Treasures ''Midway Arcade Treasures'' is a video-game compilation of 24 arcade games, emulated from the original printed circuit board, PCBs. The compilation was developed by Digital Eclipse and issued by Midway Games, Midway for the PlayStation 2, Xbox (c ...

''. Craig Harris of ''

'' sarcastically expressed unease over the game's use of medicine. He enjoyed the addictive gameplay, but criticized the

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

manual which made it difficult to understand the colored gameplay mechanics. '' 1UP.com'' noted that the game's "color-matching action is more engrossing than ''Mario Bros. turtle-punching platform hopping", but strongly questioned whether this re-release is worth its sale price by itself when a version of ''Dr. Mario'' was included in another Game Boy Advance game, '' WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames!''.

Henk Rogers Henk Rogers is a Dutch-born American video game designer and entrepreneur. He is known for producing Japan's first major turn-based role-playing video game '' The Black Onyx'', securing the rights to distribute the Russian puzzle video game ''Tet ...

of the Tetris Company spoke negatively about the game in an interview published in 2018, saying he "was pissed off about that game, ''Dr. Mario'' was a blatant attempt to come up with a ''

'' replacement and I thought they did it in a cheesy way."

Legacy

After the commercial success of ''Dr. Mario'', Nintendo released several follow-up games. '' Dr. Mario 64'', released in 2001 for the

Nintendo 64 The (N64) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on June 23, 1996, in North America on September 29, 1996, and in Europe and Australia on March 1, 1997. As the successor to the Super Nintendo E ...

, features

Wario is a character in Nintendo's Mario (franchise), ''Mario'' franchise that was designed as an Archenemy, archnemesis to Mario. Wario first appeared as the main antagonist and final Boss (video games), boss in the 1992 Game Boy game ''Super Mar ...

and several '' Wario Land 3'' characters, and offers numerous

game mode In tabletop games and video games, game mechanics define how a game works for players. Game mechanics are the rules or ludemes that govern and guide player actions, as well as the game's response to them. A rule is an instruction on how to play, wh ...

s, including a story-focused

single-player A single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the gameplay. Video games in general can feature several game modes, including single-player modes designed to be played by a single player in add ...

mode. The game supports simultaneous

for up to four players. ''Dr. Mario 64'' was subsequently released in Japan in '' Nintendo Puzzle Collection'' for the

. '' Dr. Mario Online Rx'', released in 2008 on

WiiWare WiiWare was a digital media entertainment service operated by Nintendo that allowed the download of games and applications developed for the Wii video game console. These games and applications could only be purchased and downloaded from the W ...

, offers

online multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

via

Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection (sometimes shortened to Nintendo WFC) was an online multiplayer gaming service run by Nintendo that formerly provided free online play in compatible Nintendo DS and Wii games. The service included the company's W ...

. '' Dr. Mario Express'', released in 2009 for the

Nintendo DSi The is a foldable dual-screen handheld game console released by Nintendo. The console launched in Japan on November 1, 2008, and worldwide beginning in April 2009. It is the third iteration of the Nintendo DS, and its primary market rival was ...

, does not support multiplayer gameplay. '' Dr. Luigi'' was released in 2013 with Luigi as a playable character, all the modes in ''Dr. Mario Online Rx'', and a new mode with L-shaped capsules. The latest installment, '' Dr. Mario: Miracle Cure'', was released in 2015 and introduced power-ups to the series. '' Dr. Mario World'' is a

mobile game A mobile game is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any Mobile device, portable device, including from mobile phone (feature phone or smartphone), tablet computer, table ...

. Various games in the '' Super Smash Bros.'' series have remixed musical tracks from ''Dr. Mario'', or Dr. Mario as an unlockable playable character. ''Dr. Wario'' replaces Mario with Wario, as an unlockable minigame in '' WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames!''. A simplified version of ''Dr. Mario'' is in '' Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day!'' as the "Virus Buster"

, using the touch screen to drag the capsules around the playing field. The viruses are enemies in '' Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga'' and '' Mario & Luigi: Dream Team''. They change colors when attacked, and are all defeated when they are all the same color. In 2018 the Classic Tetris World Championship featured a Dr. Mario championship as a 'side event.'

Notes

References

External links

* covers ''Dr. Mario''
''Dr. Mario''
on the

40th Anniversary page {{Authority control 1990 video games Dr. Mario games Game Boy Advance games Game Boy games Nintendo arcade games Nintendo Entertainment System games Nintendo Research & Development 1 games Nintendo VS. System games PlayChoice-10 games Satellaview games Video games developed in Japan Virtual Console games Virtual Console games for Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console games for Wii U Multiplayer and single-player video games Video games scored by Hirokazu Tanaka Nintendo Classics games