19 October, 2011

Dr. Mario


  • Release Date: 1990
  • Platform(s): SNES, NES, Satellaview, Game Boy
  • Developer: Nintendo
  • Genre: Puzzle
In Nintendo's rush to create a Tetris clone unencumbered by the legal disputes of the original, it seems nobody stopped to ask a few fundamental questions. For example, when did this world-saving plumber find the time to acquire a medical degree? Perhaps the reason no one raised such pressing issues is that they were too busy playing Dr. Mario.

Instead of the blank slate that beings most Tetris-like games, each level of Dr. Mario is contaminated with red, yellow, and blue viruses. Mario attacks them by way of double-sided capsules, each half coloured either red, yellow, or blue. Stack like colours atop or next to one another to eliminate them, match for or more in a row and they disappear.

One major difference between Dr. Mario's capsules and Tetris's tetrominoes is that the coins of Dr. Mario's realm are much more manuverable. The result is a greater focus on agility: if you want to succeed, you'd better master split-second reactions. For a Tetris knockoff, Dr. Mario is remarkably original. The game spawned a thriving branch of the falling puzzle genre, and without it there might have been no Lumines or Bejeweled.



5 memories:

thank god this was invented, cos i love bejeweled!
always playing it via MSN with my mates :D

Yes, love Dr. Mario!

The theme song popped in my head when I read the title of your post, hahaha.

hahha played that game so many
hours

when looking at that game just makes me want to cry how old i am getting. i remember i was always playing it sigh* those times T_T

One of my favorites from the past.
I love it. Hired it at the video store and played it multiplayer with my bro

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