Dr. Mario World, the latest Nintendo title to land in the App Store, just got a new update — adding 4 new doctors and 20 additional stages.
New doctors include Doctors Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Baby Peach, and Baby Daisy. While I’d quibble about the realism of someone being able to complete a 7-year+ medical course while remaining a baby, I don’t think that’s entirely the point.
The doctor will see you now
Dr. Mario World is a fresh remix of Dr. Mario, the classic 1990s Nintendo puzzle game. For those that have never played it, Dr. Mario is a bit like Tetris. However, in Nintendo’s falling-block puzzle game, you use colored capsules to destroy viruses populating the screen. These are thrown by Mario, who must align similar colors of capsule to remove viruses, before moving on to the next level.
So far, the game’s received mixed reviews. While the game is solid, lots of people hate the “freemium” format with its use of in-app purchases. This is different to Super Mario Run, which Nintendo debuted to great acclaim a few years back. Mario Run, erm, ran with a premium $9.99 model, which let players unlock the whole game in one payment. Unfortunately, Nintendo didn’t rake in quite as much cash as it hoped for.
Since then, it’s embraced micro-transactions as a way to bring in more money. That may be good for the company’s bottom line, but it results in a less satisfying experience for gamers. It’s a shame, since Nintendo is a company which built its reputation on gaming quality.
Hopefully the upcoming Mario Kart Tour will do a bit better. We’ll have to wait and see.
