Back in the day Mario did more than run and jump games and kart racers.  From edutainment games to playing doctor, Nintendo’s little Italian plumber got around the world of games.  Dr. Mario was promoted by a rather catchy commercial (embedded below), thankfully the game was good and able to back the hype that swelled for it. 

Dr. Mario 64 New Take on Classic

For those that have not played a Dr. Mario title over the years (SNES, Game Boy and Nintendo 64), you are tasked with eliminating various colored virus in a “bottle” shaped well.  Much like Tetris, the pieces fall from the top of the screen- unlike Tetris, you are not trying to create lines across the well.  Lining up four of the same color pieces, up/down or left/right, in any combination of pills and viruses.

The challenge comes in the speed increase of pills dropping and the number of viruses that need removing.  It can get hectic in later levels as the viruses are nearly jumping out of the pill bottle.

Parents get upset

Nintendo received a fair bit of grief over the setting of Dr. Mario when this was released on the Super Nintendo and Game Boy.  Parents were concerned about their children getting the wrong idea about pills, pill bottles and drugs in general.

Nintendo has seen fit to release Dr. Luigi, a remake of sorts of Dr. Mario, for the Nintendo Wii U. While Nintendo has certainly treated Luigi like a step child, they do occasionally bring him down from the attic and let him shine.

Dr. Mario 64 is not available digitally.  Other versions are available and listed below:

Dr. Mario on NES (Wii Virtual Console)
Dr. Mario on GB (3DS Virtual Console)
Dr. Luigi on Wii U
Dr. Mario 64 on eBay. and Amazon

What other genres has Mario and company entered that you find to be fun and entertaining? For more puzzle games check out our other articles.

Carl Williams

It is time gaming journalism takes its rightful place as proper sources and not fanboys giving free advertising. If you wish to support writers like Carl please use the links below. https://www.paypal.me/WCW https://www.patreon.com/CarlWilliams