Dr. Mario has been one of my favorite games since I can remember. Throughout the years I have mastered the art of killing viruses. Spending countless nights and car rides restoring health to the good people of the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario and Luigi’s newest medical endeavor, Dr. Mario: Miracle Cure is the most recent installment in the series available for the 3DS. This is also the first time Dr, Luigi has made an appearance on the 3DS along side his older brother. So grab your white coats and stethoscopes, its time to take your medicine kids!
If you’ve never played a Dr. Mario game, first of all I am shocked! Second, I hope you’ve at least played Tetris or a puzzle type game like it. In Dr. Mario you use the colored capsules to eliminate viruses by matching 4 of the same color. For example there are red, blue and yellow viruses. You would need to match up 3 of your red capsules, vertically or horizontally to dispose of that virus. If your screen fills up or you have no more room to put the capsules you fail! You can use combos and get rid of numerous viruses at a time once you get a bit more skilled. It’s really fun, and some what of an addiction for me.
Dr. Mario: Miracle Cure is a combination of 3 games, Dr. Luigi, Dr. Mario and Virus Buster. Dr. Luigi is pretty much the same concept only the pills are L shaped making for a good challenge. I personally don’t have much experience with the L shaped capsules so I kind of suck for the time being. Virus Buster is another fun way to play, in this mode you will turn your 3DS sideways (like an open book) to drag and drop capsules with your stylus. This mode is really relaxing and enjoyable when your not up for fast paced gameplay.
Virus Buster
The Miracle Cures are something new and fresh that I really enjoy. They’re like power ups that help you get rid of viruses a lot quicker than the original Dr. Mario. When you fill up the bar on the right side of the screen you get a random Miracle Cure. There’s a bomb that destroys anything in its range, special capsules that will get rid of all viruses of one color and tons more. If you’re strictly old school and don’t prefer playing with the Miracle Cures you have the option of turning it off and playing without them.
From the main menu you can choose from Miracle Cure Laboratory: a variety of specially designed stages in which you can experiment with the different miracle cures and learn how best to use them. Custom Clinic: where you can play Dr Mario, Dr Luigi and Virus Buster after configuring various settings to customize your experience, and Online/Local match: where you can play with friends or other people around the world, which is pretty fun! There’s so many gameplay options to choose from this time, its really hard to get bored while playing.
When going up against a friend or someone online you can use the various miracle cures to mess up your opponent, like making it impossible for them to flip the capsules or raising the drop speed for a small amount of time. Also when you use chains and combos it will cause random capsules to fall into the opponents screen, which can add a lot of trouble if done at the right time. These random mishaps can also mess you up pretty bad at times to so beware. If you want some practice you can go up against the computer and test your skills beforehand.
One more option I really enjoyed was the Endless mode. Instead of beating consecutive levels to earn a high score you can just keep going and going and going until you get a game over, I love it. Something I noticed that bugged me a bit was not having the option to choose my music before a level. I play Dr. Mario a lot so its nice to change up the tunes sometimes. You will hear some of the classic songs in the background so it’s not like it’s silent or anything. Aside from that small pointless complaint I’ve really enjoyed having Dr. Mario: MC on my 3DS. It’s a quick cure for your boredom and there’s plenty of different ways to play so it’ll be something you come back to again and again. I highly recommend checking it out on the Nintendo eShop, available now for $8.99.
PN Review: Dr. Mario: Miracle Cure (3DS)
9
Awesome
Just as addictive as ever! If you’re a fan of the Dr. Mario series then you’re in for a treat. Packed with many different gameplay options and online/local play, this is the one time you will never want to leave the doctors office! Also, try the new Miracle Cure mode or check in with Dr. Luigi for even more challenging fun!
Overall
9
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NintendoThe Author
June 25, 2015
This is my first entry in the Dr. Mario world and loving it so far. Haven’t tried the online as I don’t think I’m skilled enough yet. For the price I couldn’t pass this one up. I would have liked to have a hard copy as I am not a digital kind of guy.
June 28, 2015
I do enjoy the Dr. Mario game series although I have not played too much of it. I wish this would have also been released for the Wii U. Does anyone know if you can play two player mode if one person has a 3DSXL and another has a New 3DSXL?
July 6, 2015
The reason why I’m getting is BECAUSE it’s on a handheld. Puzzlers are usually played when I’m out and about. Different folks, different strokes I suppose. As for the compatibility issue, the game is just 3DS software so all of it’s features (including multiplayer) will work on any 3DS system.
July 6, 2015
Okay thanks for that info I guess I would have liked to see them do what they did with Mario vs Dk tipping stars, where you buy it for the 3DS you get it for the Wii U. The main reason I wanted if for the WII U is multiplayer is so I can play with my family but if it works with with any 3DS then that works for me. Oh yeah and thank you for answering my question.