Dr. Mario 64

Pros • Perfect no commitment “play it when you want to” gameplay • Addictive Tetris-esque puzzle action • Can adjust difficulty level separately for each player in multiplayer mode • Single player story mode is a nice addition • Lots of single and multiplayer modes • 100% girlfriend friendly!!! • Excellent family game	Cons • Typical Nintendo made Mario plip-plop-bop-bop music…..’nuff said • Unlocking hidden characters is too tough • Not a huge upgrade from Dr. Mario • Even on the easy setting, you need a PhD to play in story mode
Bottom Line Hooray! Pill popping goodness the whole family can enjoy! I have a friend who absolutely fell in love with his Dreamcast when he realized how effective the simple and addictive gameplay of many of Sega’s releases was in drawing the attention of females towards videogames. Every male gamer is familiar with this problem; you love video games and you like/love your girlfriend, or are trying to catch the attention of a young lady, who will hopefully become your girlfriend. The problem is most girls aren’t all that interested in videogames, and very few males have ever successfully picked up a girl based on their incredible skill playing Street Fighter or Perfect Dark. This is where the power of the Dreamcast entered into my friend’s life; invite a girl over, pop in Crazy Taxi or Jet Grind Radio and watch, with utter glee, as the girl is drawn to the screen, picks up the controller, and begins mashing away at the buttons. The perfect combination right? Unfortunately, I don’t have a Dreamcast. However, I do have a girlfriend. She hates videogames, and has trouble trying to understand my fascination with them. So imagine my surprise, and glee, when I discovered that I too could achieve my friend’s perfect situation. The solution was simple, Dr. Mario 64.

The gameplay of Dr. Mario 64 couldn’t be simpler; drop multicolored pills on top of viruses, if you get four of the same color in a row, the pills, and viruses, explode and are removed from the screen. Clear the screen before your opponent, or wait until your opponent’s pills stack up to the top of the screen, and you win. The overall concept is nothing more than Tetris with a twist, but the true beauty of Dr. Mario 64 is the number of different ways Nintendo manipulates this most basic concept into so many amusing modes of play. It is these simple, but slightly different game modes that allow Dr. Mario 64 to be challenging for both videogame neophytes (my girlfriend), and videogame gods (that would be me), making it the perfect game for drawing my girlfriend into the world of videogame consoles.

It began innocently enough; I sat my girlfriend down, introduced her to the Classic mode of play, adjusted the difficulty level and speed of the game, then sat back and watched her play. Classic mode provides the most basic of Dr. Mario 64 experiences; drop pills on viruses and clear the screen to advance to a more difficult stage. Almost anyone can pick up a controller and quickly become proficient with the Classic mode, making it perfect for introducing new players to the Nintendo 64.

Now that I had her attention, I decided it was time to increase the stakes, make things a bit more interesting. This is where “Dr. Mario and the Cold Caper” story mode came in. Using simple paper cutouts, you play your way through a short story line that leads into multiple pill dropping battles against a wide assortment of opponents of increasing difficulty level. Although the story isn’t overly complicated, or original, it still adds purpose to the game as you attempt to discover who is behind the mysterious plot to stop Dr. Mario from curing his many patients.

At this point Dr. Mario 64’s addictive gameplay had easily captured my girlfriend’s attention, so it was time to strike the finishing blow and draw her further into the world of videogaming. I introduced her to the many different versus modes of the game; there is nothing like a little bit of competition to get the blood flowing and liven things up. Dr. Mario 64 provides multiplayer contests for up to four players with a wide variety of different game modes including a basic versus mode (first person to clear the screen wins), flash mode (eliminate specific flashing viruses to win), and score attack (obtain the highest score in a set amount of time) or, if you manage to round up three friends, the four player mode also allows you to compete in a two-on-two tag team battle. The best part is all of these competition modes are extremely user friendly, allowing you to set the difficulty level separately for each person playing. Perfect for playing against your loved one without continuously destroying them (a very bad idea), or having to try and let them win (a better choice but still ugly if they figure you out).

After a few lively, and at times physically dangerous, rounds of two-player Dr. Mario 64 my girlfriend was obsessed with the game, practicing continuously until, eventually, the unthinkable occurred; she started to beat me. In only a few days my anti-videogame girlfriend had become a wide-eyed, pixel staring “let me try this level just one more time” gaming geek.

Dr. Mario 64 will definitely have its critics. The game’s graphics haven’t been upgraded much since the SNES version, the concept behind the game is exactly the same as its predecessor, and there isn’t much, if any, new ground broken by this title. However, the simplicity of the gameplay, while still requiring a great deal of strategy as the difficulty level goes up, results in a perfect combination for bringing gamers of all skills, and interest levels together for some console gaming fun. Simple or not, it is hard to argue with gameplay this addictive, making Dr. Mario 64 an excellent puzzle gaming purchase, and a perfect method of introducing anyone to the world of console gaming.

Of course, hooking your girlfriend on a videogame does create some new problems,

“Ummm, dear, can I have a turn now please?”

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