Nintendo has announced that a new entry in the Dr. Mario puzzle game series is being developed for release on mobiles.
Titled Dr. Mario World, the game is being co-developed by Nintendo, LINE, and NHN Entertainment for release on iOS and Android devices. Dr. Mario World will be free to download but will offer free in-app purchases, also known as the dreaded microtransactions – let’s hope that they are implemented in a fair way. Nintendo said that the game will be released initially in “approximately 60 countries/regions including Japan and the United States”, and that release is currently aimed for early Summer 2019.
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 https://t.co/DTRBympHj0 pic.twitter.com/RfMZbbs3Mp
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) 31 January 2019
The Dr. Mario series first debuted on the NES way back in 1990, and has gone on to have entries on numerous Nintendo consoles, including the N64, Nintendo 3DS, and the Wii U. Featuring falling block puzzle gameplay, players are tasked with destroying viruses that populate the screen by matching up the colours of the viruses to those of the coloured medicine capsules that drop from the top of the screen.
I have to confess that I haven’t played a Dr. Mario game in a long time, but I was a big fan of the original when I was growing up, and the concept seems like a great fit for mobile gaming. Hopefully it works well and it’s microtransaction system is implemented in a way that doesn’t exploit players.
Nintendo’s foray into the mobile market seems to have featured prominently in the news the last couple of days, as this latest news comes just a day after we told you that Mario Kart Tour, the upcoming mobile version of Mario Kart, has been delayed until Summer.
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