The Doctor is Out

Yesterday saw Nintendo close down its block-busting mobile puzzler Dr. Mario World in all global territories. As of today, November 1, the game cannot be played, simply displaying an End-of-Service notice upon log?in on iOS and Android.

Released in the summer of 2019 and based upon the 8-bit classic Dr. Mario, Dr. Mario World was a "Match-3" title that tasked players with matching up germs and medicine pills in order to eradicate the former in classic grid-filling, Tetris-style action. Very unlike the 8-bit classic, Dr. Mario World monetized its players through the application of endurance timers, characters, and power-ups, pur??chased via in-game diamonds or, more commonly, real-world dollarydoos.

Dr. Mario World got off to a promising start for Nintendo, with two million downloads and around $100,000 USD spent on the app at launch. This fast dropped off, however, with the game failing to live up to the persistent almighty revenue gathered by other Nintendo mobile titles such as Fire Emblem Heroes, Super Mario Run, and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. Of course, all the it?ems that the $100,000 was spent on are now, ultimately, dust in t??he wind.

While Dr. Mario World can no longer be played, players can log in to a memorial website to see their overall stats. Dr. Mario is a solid franchise and a fun puzzler. Hopefully the brand will make a more sustained comeback in the form of a fully-paid, non-service Switch release at some poin??t in the future. For now, however, surgery?? is closed.

//twitter.com/Drmarioworld?_EN/stat?us/1454689596906762242?s=20

The post Dr. Mario World closes down its practice? for the last time appeared first on Destructoid.

'Would you like an alcohol?'

I want to see Dr. Goomba everwhere.

I know that Goombas stacking on one anoth?er is a very common motif dating back decades. Maybe these? Goombas are even themed. But to have the audacity to dress them up with a lab coat and deem them a medical professional? It's pretty amazing.

Yep, Dr. Goomba is the newest character in the Dr. Mario World saga, which has been going on since mid-2019. I wasn't so crazy about the game itself, especially around launch, but the teams at Nintendo/Line/NHN Entertainment have been toi??ling away at it, adding?? new content at a regular cadence.

Dr. Goomba will go live on April 26 at 11PM PT. If you still play, give him a shot! Reward this genius, ??and maybe it'll show up in other games.

Dr. Mario World [Twitter]

The post The madmen did it: Nintendo debuts a character that’s just children stacked into an adult appeared first on Destructoid.

Pocket Money

With a mere six mobile games, Nintendo has managed to accumulate a total of over $1 billion USD in lifetime revenue, according to figures from the number-crunchers over at Sensor Tower.

Of the six titles, fantasy battler Fire Emblem Heroes is the most successful by a country mile, racking up $656 million - over 60% of all revenue - since its original release back in 2017. Second place goes to habitat sim Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, which pulled in a still ridiculously impressive $131 million. Dragalia Lost, Mario Kart Tour, Super Mario Run, and Dr. Mario World bring up the rear, as demonstrated in Sensor Tower's graph below.

Late last year, Niantic revealed that its successful AR title Pokemon GO had raked in a cool $3 bill??ion in just four years, with 2019 being its most successful year to date. With this kind of revenue attainable for a successful title, it's hardly any wonder why publishers seem so hell-bent on conquering the mobile market, and will likel?y continue the chase for some time to come.

Nintendo mobile games have br?ought in $?1 billion in lifetime revenue [GamesIndustry.biz]

The post Nintendo’s mobile games have racked up $1 billion in revenue appeared first on Destructoid.

Take 26 bananas and call me in the morning

A selection of new medical experts are heading to Nintendo's mobile puzzle game Dr. Mario World, allowing players to harness the medicinal experience? and anatomy expertise of a selection of classic franch??ise stars

Dr. Donkey Kong and Dr. Diddy Kong are joining the game's roster today as selectable doctors. Dr. Donkey Kong's ability allows him to drop barrels on areas of the playfield to clear out germs, while Dr. Diddy Kong can split dual capsules into two separate capsules, allowing for better block management. Joining the Kongs are a selection of new assistants: Boo, Goombrat, Scuttlebug and Wiggler, ea??ch of whom have unique abilities when used in stage play or multiplayer mode.

Dr. Mario World is available now on iOS and Android devices.

Dr. Mario World trailer introduces Dr Donkey? Kong and new assistants [Siliconera]

The post Dr. Donkey Kong will see you now in Dr. Mario Wo??rl??d appeared first on Destructoid.

'Is there another doctor in?'

Say what you will about Dr. Mario World (and I will!), but you have to give it to Nintendo for constantly supporting it. World's developers have been adding doctors and worlds amid myriad content updates for the past few m?onths, which includes the most recent version 1.1.1.

This time you'll get a Mario Galaxy-themed activity, which includes Dr. Rosalina and Dr. Luma, the latter of whom does not seem qualified at all?. The powers that be have gone all out on the details, complete with screens and a video you can watch below. As of now today's scheduled maintenance is completed, and you can grab the update now!

It'll al?so f??eature some bug fixes, which come with three staff tickets as an apology for various outages.

Dr. Mario World [Twitter]

Blue: "I've done some research and gathered information about the two new doctors and four new assistants who will be appearing at 1 AM PT on Oct. 4. Apparently one will let you move again, and that's just no good for me at all!" #DrMarioWorld pic.twitter.com/Nl2hGWH7Mc

— Dr. Mario World (@Drmarioworld_EN) October 4, 2019

The post Dr. Mario World employs Dr. Luma, and I’m not sure it has a medical license appeared first on Destructoid.

On September 5

[Update: Dr. Baby Luigi is confirmed to be part of the update as well!]

On September 5, Dr. Mario World will welcome a content update that features a new 20-s?tage world and Dr. Baby Mario. The game will enter maintenance mode on September 4 to make way for it, then you'll have the chance to continue your adventure/unlock a new character respectivel??y.

Dr. Mario World launched in July, and saw a similar August update that brought a new mountain-themed world and Dr. Daisy into the fray. The whole free "world + character" concept seems here ??to stay for the foreseeable future.

I occasionally still boot up World to keep up with it, but don't play it regularly due to how busy the UI is and fact that I get advertised to constantly with "buy crystals!" popups. I own various incarnations of Dr. Mario 10 times over, so I may as well play those: my current go-to is Dr. Luigi.

In-game notices [Dr. Mario World via Perfectly Nintendo]

The post (Update) Dr. Mario World is getting a new zone and Dr. Baby?? Mario th??is week appeared first on Destructoid.

Dr. Feelgood microtransactions

The more I heard about Dr. Mario World the more I wanted in. The idea of multiple characters from the Mario-verse donning doctor outfi??ts beyond the scope of just Mario and Luigi was a sight to b?ehold: I mean Bowser in a coat helping cure the kingdom of viruses?! It's so absurd it works.

It's also obvious now why they left out details ??regarding the monetization?? strategy leading up to launch.

Dr. Mario World (Android, iOS [reviewed]
Developer: Nintendo, LINE, NHN Development
Publisher: Nintendo 
Released: July 10, 2019
MSRP: Free-to-Play w/ microtransactions

There's two elements afoot in Dr. Mario World: the single-player quest directly linked to multiple microtransactions (power-ups and energy, where you can pay money or use Facebook/LINE connect chicanery to play), and the multiplayer element that's devoid of most of that. Let's start with the former.

The idea of a level-based Dr. Mario game is easy to accept, especially since the series evolved past the "match" concept and into more deliberate puzzles over time. In World, you get a certain amount of pills to "solve" each puzzle, which have set virus locations and col?ors. By matching pills to viruses (in a literal match-three fashion) you clear them out: so long as you don't dip past your allotment of pills you're good, and are rewarded for being thrifty with a typical mobile three-star system.

Pills drift up, contrary to most Tetris-likes, and the game allows you to manipulate multiple pills to form your own combos. It's a joy to reach your Matrix moment and "set and forget" multiple pills as you divine a perfect solve, and the game gives you a ton of control with the precision-based touch system; which is way better than you'd think. When you start adding unique objects like shells into the mix (which blow up entire lines) and character-specific specials (that clear rows/columns and the like), it gets exciting. Time-sensitive nail-biting challenge levels also do some really great things with the Dr. Mario?&?nbsp;formula that I'd like to see more of in a real release (if we ever get one of those again) 

This loop is fun at first. Maybe it's because you didn't really notice the energy/heart meter at the top left of the screen and hope that Nintendo didn't implement it. Nope, it kicks in after the first 20 levels, which serve as a tutorial:  after that it becomes a "wait and play" or "pay to play" affair as you sacrifice hearts to some of t??he later tougher levels. The heart timer is 30 minutes, and it costs 30 gems to get "unlimited" 60 minute sessions. Gems come in intervals of 20 and 50 (then 100, 200, and so on up to $69.99 bundles), so you can't just buy hearts for 30 gems outright. Using the lowest currency purchase as a constant, it costs three dollars per hour for unlimited play.

"Daily bonus" style incentives for freemium currency (gold) are also in, as well as "you failed, but you ca???n pay money to try again at the end with upgrades " transactions. If, at any point, you pause the app, you'll ??need to spend five to 10 seconds re-connecting to the online servers to play it. Oh, and they threw in a gacha system just for the heck of it (for random character and "helper" rewards) with pulls for a high amount of freemium currency (4000 coins) or premium gems (40, or roughly $4 per pull).

I've been playing mobile games consistently since Flight Control in 2009; so you could say I've had many encounters with energy systems and the like. The situation is definitely case-by-case, nuanced, and depending on the game the juice can absolutely be worth the squeeze. But seeing cute Mario characters reduced to this, with all of the psych?ological tricks in the book thrown in, is depressing. Just energy, just "you can finish this hard level if you pay," or just gacha would have been a lot? as it is.

There is a saving grace though: when you reach level 20 you can play multiplayer, which is a separate mode. Seemingly scared of being accused of pay-to-win mechanics (though they may as well went for it given the above), Dr. Mario World is mostly devoid of microtransaction influence, outside of the character roster you ??can bring in from the campaign.

It ?does have direct play and online matchmaking, and you can play as much as you want (imagine that). It's fun! Obviously the catch is that after a while you'll want to play with other characters? and get sucked into the wide world of payment methods, but I'm perfectly content messing around with Bowser for the time being and callously clicking that "matchmake" button.

It's a shame Nintendo cut and ran with microtransactions after one misstep — their first, no less — in the mobile market. Super Mario Run's "buy the entire game" concept likely would have worked at a different pricepoint, or perhaps it was worth experimenting further instead of hitching their wagon to one of many runners in an already-bloated runner market. Instead we now have energy meters and gacha-gambling in nearly every mobile release; an extreme 180 compared to the original strategy. Dr. Mario World had plenty of potential to be added to my list of regular mobil??e games, but I literally can't play it as often as I'd like for that to happen.

_{[This review is based on a retail version of the free-to-play game.]}

The post Review: Dr. Mario World appeared first on Destructoid.

That upcoming mobile game

Nintendo is low key getting ready to unleash Dr. Mario World into the mobile realm (and I say low key ?because no one I know is aware that it's coming very soon), and they're detailing how multiplayer works with the below video. Man the weird-ass voiceovers are great!

Unlike some of Nintendo's other mobile games, this will allow real-time multiplayer versus play, as well as the chance to check and see how your friends are doing, statistics-wise. It'll operate similar ??to other puzzle versus games, with you building an "attack meter" to shift v??iruses ("trash" in other games) to the other side. If your side fills up, you lose.

The video also gives us a look at how individual doctor charac?ters work, with specific "skills." Dr. Peach's ability clears a random column for instance, and Dr. Toad clears five random objects.

Yes, we are seeing a massive lore expansion ??here folks, beyond the confines of just Dr. Mario and Dr. Luigi.

The post Here’s how multiplayer works in Dr. Mario World appeared first on Destructoid.

Getting sick is now free...wait

Nintendo has announced that Dr. Mario World, the mobile spin-off of its popular puzzle series, will be launching for iOS and Android on July 10, 2019. Pre-registration is now open in the US from the official website and you can stay up-to-date with news by following the Dr. Mario Twitter account. There doesn't seem?? to be any benefit to signing up currently, though I'm sure Nintendo will be offering some kind of incentive t??o users that do so.

I'll be honest and say that I forgot Dr. Mario World was even a thing. Despite loving what Nintendo does, its mobile offerings haven't inspired confidence in me. Some titles are completely free of microtransactions nonsense, but then feel truncated and ill-fit for the mobile platform. Others are loaded with scummy business practices and dole out unlocks at a snail's pace. They aren't the worst offenders you'll find on mobile, but they aren't really worth your time either. I'm not sure if Dr. Mario World will buck that trend, but i??t doesn't appear to be so bad.

Welcome to Dr. Mario World [Nintendo Mobile via YouTube]

The post Dr?. Mario World launches next ??month, pre-registration now open appeared first on Destructoid.

Launching this summer on iOS and Android

The just-delayed Mario Kart Tour isn't the only Nintendo title coming to mobile devices this summer. In the briefest of announcements, the company revealed Dr. Mario World for iPhone and Android.

The doctor is in! Mario puts on the white coat once again in the mobile game Dr. Mario World, targeting an early summer 2019 global release. #DrMario //t.co/DTRBympHj0 pic.twitter.com/RfMZbbs3Mp

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) January 31, 2019

Dr. Mario World is a "new action puzzle game" co-developed by Nintendo and LINE along with development and operation support from NHN Entertainment. (Yes, that LINE.) It'll be a "free-to-download" release subsidized by in-app purchases, with an initial launch in "early summer 2019."

I don't see Dr. Mario World setting the world on fire, but it's easy to picture how the classic puzzle hijinks could lend well ??to mobile devices. Like all of Nintendo's mobile experiments??, I'll at least scope it out.

Two other stray observations: 1) the original Dr. Mario for NES is the same age as me and I'm not okay with hearing that fact, and 2) the viruses on the box art are weirdly unnerving. Little creeps.

Nintendo Announces Mobile Game ??Partnership with LINE?? Corporation and a New Game for Smart Devices [Nintendo]

The post Nintendo is trot?ting out Dr. Mario World for mobile appeared first on Destructoid.