First Released: 1990 (NES, Game Boy)

Now Available On: Wii U, 3DS

Mario has had more jobs than your average video game mascot, moonlighting as a boxing referee and tennis umpire, as well as dabbling in countless other professions while plying his trade as a plumber.

The jack of all trades even served as a medical professional in one of his more memorable spinoffs Dr Mario, a game that celebrates its 25th birthday this week.



Following the runaway success of Super Mario Bros in 1985, anything with the character's likeness plastered over it sold by the lorryload - but Dr Mario was more than a mere cash-in.

The game was the brainchild of a supergroup of developers, comprising Game Boy creator Gunpei Yokoi, Metroid producer Takahiro Harada, and renowned composer Hirokazu Tanaka.

Released for NES and Game Boy in 1990, Dr Mario was a Tetris-inspired puzzler that saw players matching medical capsules by colour, rather than arranging blocks by shape.



After vanquishing a Koopa army in the Mushroom Kingdom, who'd have guessed that Mario would be battling viruses in a hospital setting just five years later?

Each level took place within the confines of a medical bottle filled with germs that players had to wipe out by laying the corresponding colour capsules on top of them.

The pills dropped down from the top of the screen, descending faster as the game progressed, and the number of germs steadily increased with each level.

Dr Mario's multiplayer mode saw two players go head to head, attempting to clear the playing field before their competitor in best-of-three matches.



Taking its cues from Tetris, players could dump debris in their opponent's screen by triggering a combo, a risky move in the days when the second player was within slapping distance, not halfway across the world via an internet connection.

Mario's role involved little more than standing in a box at the top right of the screen, holding the next capsule aloft so players knew what was coming next.

It's amazing what a familiar, moustached face can do for sales figures, but Dr Mario earned its commercial success and critical acclaim on merit alone.

The game came along at a time when puzzlers were flooding the market, and it stood out as one of the best thanks to its playful visuals, simple yet addictive gameplay, and infectious soundtrack.



Tetris was the yardstick that all puzzlers were measured against, and Dr Mario was a match for the block-shifting classic in almost every respect - and its tunes were almost as catchy.

Although Dr Mario was well received, some parents expressed concerns about the depiction of drugs in a Nintendo game - you have to wonder what these people made of the drug-dealing mini-game in Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.

Despite this minor controversy, the game became a significant piece of Mario's legacy, featuring in numerous 'best of' NES compilations and receiving several remakes and sequels over the years.

Elements of Dr Mario have cropped up in various Nintendo compilation titles, such as WarioWare, Inc: Mega Microgames!, Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day!, and Brain Age: Concentration Training, as mini-games.



Mario dusted off his doctor overalls for 2001's GameCube hit Smash Bros Melee, which includes this incarnation of the character as a secret fighter, while the game's germs have appeared as enemies in the Mario & Luigi role-playing series.

Dr Mario has also gone on to become a series in its own right, the latest instalment launching only last month for 3DS in the shape of Dr Mario: Miracle Cure, which includes power-ups and online play.

Why Mario holds a license to practice medicine remains a mystery to this day, but we're glad he was granted one because Dr Mario is one of the best - and most addictive - puzzle games of the 8-bit era.

The game's simplicity makes it just as much fun today as it was 25 years ago, and the original is readily available for Wii U and 3DS as a digital download for anyone who has hours to whittle away.

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