Dr. Mario
Reviewed by Dominic Cote
Over the years, Nintendo's two hottest commodities have been Mario and Tetris.
Why did the NES, Super NES, and N64 sell so well? Mario. And why did the Game Boy
sell so well? Tetris. Both of these titles are known throughout the video gaming
world. Dr. Mario is an ingenius product that can only be gotten by combining these
two titles into one unique game. In Dr. Mario, the world famous plumber hangs up his
wrench and plunger and takes on the role of a doctor trying to destroy the viruses
that would otherwise cause harm.
Dr. Mario's graphics are nothing all that flashy, and in fact, are very basic, but
that's common in the puzzle gaming scene. The main graphics are composed of the
pills that Mario tries to defeat the viruses, as well as the viruses themselves.
The simplicity of Tetris returns, as there are only three shades of colors that
are used throughout the majority of the game. Your job is to match up the
colors so that the same colors are lined up in rows vertically or horizontally.
While this seems simple at first, it can sometimes get complicated by the fact
that in certain lighting, it can often times get difficult to distinguish between
one shade and another.
Other than that, there is very little substance to the graphics, though Nintendo
does manage to spice it up here and there. For example, in the bottom corner, the
viruses that you've yet to kill constantly make funny faces at you, until the right
alignment of pills leads to their demise.
While the tunes were okay, I found it best to just set the music to off (which
many Tetris gamers often do when playing that game). In addition to the two
musical options, there were a few other sound effects, though not many. Every
time you moved the pills a certain way, like the blocks in Tetris, you'd hear a
sound. One thing that I liked were the sounds that told you how well you did.
For example, there were different sounds when you killed one virus as opposed
to two, and the sounds change with each increase of virus killed. One cool effect
was when you killed four or more viruses. While this is very rare and will not
happen often, anyone who manages to do so will get treated to the Super Mario
Bros. invincibility music.
When it comes to puzzle games, the most important thing is definitely the
gameplay. Like Tetris, this game was simple, yet addictive. The basic object
was to line the pills up in the proper order so you can destroy all the viruses
and move onto the next level. While this may not sound very exciting, it can
become quite fun after a while. The pills were all the same length, differing
only in color. Anyone who has played Tetris would immediately get the hang of
this game's controls, which couldn't be more simple. Press left or right on the
D-Pad to move the pill and press A to rotate it one way and B to rotate it the
other way. The learning curve is very short, which is why this game can be
enjoyed by almost anyone.
This is definitely one of the most unique games you'll come across. Whoever
decided to put Mario into a Tetris type environment is truly creative.
Dr. Mario is fun to play, perhaps because it can be played by anyone at any skill
level. Younger gamers will enjoy seeing Mario and trying to kill the viruses
that are antagonizing them on the lower levels, while older gamers might prefer
to skip to the higher levels or the higher speeds after getting used to the game's controls.
Due to the fact that it never ends, Dr. Mario has a ton of replay value. While beating
the game on level 20 on low speed or on level 5 on high speed might produce an
amusing ending where the viruses are sleeping with the fishes, the game continues
even after what you may consider the end, basically until the viruses get to an
amount that is so high that it is impossible. Pressing on to higher levels is always
possible as you develop your skills.
Overall, Dr. Mario is a good game. While it doesn't have any flashy graphics or
sounds, it still manages to captivate the gamer with its addictive gameplay
and the combination of Mario and Tetris in one package.
Graphics-7.3
Sound-7.5
Gameplay-9.3
Concept-10
Fun-8.9
Replay Value-9.1
Overall-9.0