RetroGaming: Dr. Mario 64

I unlocked all the characters in Dr. Mario 64! Since I just completed Wario Land 3 again, it seemed like the perfect time to check out this weird spin-off game that features a bunch of Wario Land 3 characters, all of which were never seen again outside of this one game (and Wario Land 3, where they came from).

What caused Nintendo to build their Nintendo 64 entry in the Dr. Mario series around this one somewhat obscure Game Boy Color game is beyond me. The character line-up looks like something from an alternate universe where Rudy the Clown and Spearhead were somehow classic Nintendo characters instead of Bowser and Koopa Troopa...

As for the game itself, I enjoyed it way more than I expected to going in. It's basically just Dr. Mario, which I have played before and which never grabbed me very much - most falling block puzzlers haven't. In fact, my only fuzzy memory of this game before playing it this time was of renting it from Blockbuster one weekend at around 7 years old, because it was a brand new "Mario" game I had never seen before. I was VERY unimpressed when I got home and it featured a bunch of characters I had never heard of before and gameplay where a bunch of colored dots moved around the screen!

That said, the gameplay really hooked me this time. I don't know what it is that ha changed, but I'm enjoying puzzle games like this more as I get older. I played way more of this than I expected to!

This version of Dr. Mario is also unique in that it is the only one to feature a story mode. I ended up completing the story mode on hard mode (for both possible story paths - Wario's Story and Dr. Mario's Story). The hardest part was completing the two story modes on Normal without losing a single time... That's nine levels of increasingly difficult Dr. Mario levels you have to win in a row! But I did it. And my reward for this achievement? Unlocking two of the most fake sounding characters to ever be playable in a Mario game - Metal Dr. Mario and Vampire Wario.

All in all this was a great experience. Maybe I'll get to try the multiplayer modes someday - I've heard good things about them!