Dr. Mario (game): Difference between revisions

'''''Dr. Mario''''' (stylized as "'''D℞. MARIO'''" on the western logo) is an arcade-style [[Genre#Puzzle|puzzle]] video game created by [[Nintendo]], and was released for the [[Nintendo Entertainment System]] and [[Game Boy]] in 1990. The gameplay is very similar to that of ''[[Tetris]]'', although in ''Dr. Mario'', the object is to line up pills to destroy [[virus]]es.

[[Dr. Mario]] works in a virus research lab at the [[Mushroom Kingdom Hospital]], alongside [[Nurse Toadstool]]. When one of the experiments goes wrong, the hospital is flooded with tri-color [[virus]]es. Armed with [[Megavitamin|vitamin capsule]]s–a medicine of his own invention–Dr. Mario sets out to neutralize the outbreak.

All the ''Dr. Mario'' games feature a large grid as the main game interface. This grid (in the shape of a large pill bottle) starts out partially filled with three types of viruses, Chill (blue), Fever (red), and Weird (yellow). The main objective of the game is to clear the grid of the viruses. This objective can be fulfilled with the help of multi-colored pills called vitamin capsules. These pills are two-blocks wide and come in the same color as the viruses. Usually, they are sectioned off into two random colors, but occasionally contain only one random color. These pills are guided down the grid by using left and right on the {{button|nes|Pad}} Control Pad, and they can be pulled to the bottom of the screen more quickly by holding down on the Control Pad. They can be rotated clockwise by {{button|nes|A}} and counter-clockwise by {{button|nes|B}}. To eliminate a virus, four blocks of a color (pill or virus) must be piled up. The stack will then disappear. If a virus was contained in the stack, the virus will be eliminated as well.

If the stacks of pills or viruses reach the top of the grid, the player receives a Game Over.

When a 1-Player game is started, the player can choose one of 21 levels (from 0 to 20). The number of viruses at the beginning is equal to four times the level number plus four, all the way up to level 20 (although the level number can go up to 24 in the NES version, there will always be 84 viruses at the beginning of levels 20 and above<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwp5OoX4jqA&ab_channel=MichaelBirken Dr. Mario AI Defeats Level 24 and Beyond]</ref>). The speed of the pills as they fall can also be selected: low, medium, or high. As the game level progresses, though, the speed will gradually increase.

A 2-Player Vs. game mode is also available for selection. In this mode, two players battle to either clear their grid first, or cause their opponent to get a Game Over. The game ends after one of the players wins three rounds. The Level and Speed options are chosen independently by each player before the game begins.

During a two-player battle, whenever a row or column is cleared with one vitamin capsule, a corresponding number (two, three, or the maximum, four) of randomized pill halves drops on to the opponent's grid. The player who is given the pill halves must wait for the random colors to drop onto their screen before they can drop a vitamin capsule. As time passes, pills fall faster, just like in one-player mode.

In most of the cutscenes, they start with the viruses will be sitting on the tree.

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