Virus

VIRUS

Appearing on screen at basically the exact same moment as Dr. Mario, are a trio of little multicolored gremlins filling up a large, bottle-shaped grid.

These are the Viruses, Dr. Mario's perennial nemeses across every game in the series. They often come in the main set of primary colors, each being named Fever, Chill, and Weird respectively, but later games would introduce more, such as the three introduced in Dr. Luigi following the CMYK color trio instead.

As fighters, they will be small, quick, and tricky, hopping around and being incredibly difficult to catch. If you could program it so that they were damaged more by attacks of matching colors that would be fun, but probably a nightmare to code, so . . . Their moveset would come from their demonstrated abilities as well as those extrapolated from their sickness names.

Likelihood rating: Piranha Plant clause.

Second Chance: Virus

VIRUS

So, for the Dr. Mario viruses, I originally overlooked them because they were pretty basic overall. They were basically just the blocks for the game, just given faces to add a bit more flavor. And even in games like the Mario & Luigi games, they were basically just "bumping-type" enemies, with no more attack than just charging into their opponent. Plus, they worked really well as a Dr. Mario attack (which I guess they still can be, if I say yes, if Dr. Mario just throws the small block forms of them or something).

One thing I do notice though, is that one comic at least, did ascribe specific attributes to the three main colors: Fever could control heat, Chill could control cold, and Weird could morph their victims into new shapes. On their own, not quite enough still, but it does give us fair reason to assume we can extrapolate from the other viruses added in other games. For instance, Dr. Luigi added a Dizzy, Confused, and Drowsy, which can give us some things, while Dr. Mario World added in a floatie virus that could change locations on the game grid, and some were shown with spears in the Mario & Luigi games.

Overall, I think it's easy to see why I said no, at first. These are all very minimal, and somewhat extrapolate-y, especially spread out across a wide variety of sources, but I think I can ultimately say . . .

YES

Here is their moveset, as well as I remember it for Foreman Spike:

Standard B: Infection

The Virus will latch on and bite its target, inflicting a poison status if it holds on long enough.

Side B: Fever OR Chill

Either one of these two elemental attacks can be used here. I think I prefer fever best, but either way.

Up B: Floatie

The Virus will float up into the air for a second with a dazed look on its face before coming back down.

Down B: Weird OR Drowsy

Either could work here. Weird would basically cause the target to mutate and become slower as a result, or Drowsy would put the player to sleep.

Final Smash: Epidemic

Based on Dr. Mario 64's plot, hundreds of viruses will flood over the stage, leaving all players behind with various effects of being ill.

Entrance: A bottle will break open and they will come out.

Taunts: Up, a pill will fall from above, the Virus will catch it and then start shaking. Side, the Virus will look side to side all sneaky-like. Down, the Virus will sit down and cough as if sick.

Kirby Hat: He will turn the red color of the Fever Virus.

Kart: A giant pill bottle with them inside.

Special Move: They will cause an area of effect around themselves that will cause any racers that pass through it to become slow with sluggish controls.

Spirit Battle: A horde battle on Pill Bottle, with Dr. Mario as an ally.

Victory Screen: Their opponent will become pale and sickly as they hop around them.

Losing Screen: Pills will fall from above, striking them and causing them to disappear.

Color Swaps: Fever, Chill, Weird, Dizzy, Confused, Drowsy, the pink one from World, and the green one from World.

Thanks for reading! Next up, a long-forgotten enemy from Super Mario Land 2.

Pill Bottle

The original Dr. Mario certainly left its mark in gaming, taking its place alongside other similar puzzle games such as Tetris and Puyo Puyo, not to mention the main character’s regular appearances in the Smash series. Naturally it deserves some stage representation as well.

I think the natural choice would be to set a stage within the giant pill bottle the game takes place in. The players would fight inside the bottle, with some red, yellow, and blue blocks making up platforms throughout. It would be a bit of an officially sanctioned “boom box,” common in Smash’s stage maker, with only one exit at the top, although particularly strong attacks will be capable of shattering a hole in the bottle’s side.

Potential theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-d1pPzACR0

Dr. Mario

Riding high off the consistent success of so many games, Nintendo likely felt Mario could do no wrong, and so felt comfortable enough to start branching out the franchise and plastering Mario’s name across various new titles to help them sell just that little bit better. Among these was a brand-new puzzle game, similar in style to Tetris, where you starred as a doctor version of Mario and had to drop multicolored pills into a bottle filled with little gremlin-looking viruses, matching them up color by color to eliminate them all.

This is Dr. Mario, one of Mario’s more notable spinoff forms. His game would see great success among the puzzle game community and would frequently see re-releases in Puzzle collections alongside its contemporaries like Tetris and Puyo Puyo. Numerous sequels would also crop up here and there, all with more or less similar gameplay, and the character would even see playable appearances across three different Super Smash Bros. titles.

As a character, Dr. Mario would have more or less similar stats to ordinary Mario, if a little bit heavier and slower. He is a doctor after all, not a fighter. His moves will pull from all aspects of the Dr. Mario series, making use of his pills, the viruses he contends with, and even the bottle they are contained in.

Likelihood rating: Already in

Classic NES Series

CLASSIC NES SERIES

Today, let's cover the Classic NES Series, a series of special edition emulations of old NES games released for the Game Boy Advance. While these games covered the full gamut of the NES's library, for our purposes today, we're only covering six of those. Donkey Kong, Dr. Mario, and Super Mario Bros. were released internationally, and Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, and Wrecking Crew were only released in Japan. Generally speaking, they largely seem unchanged from their original versions, so today's blog was pretty easy.

Here's what we've got so far:

Characters:

Mario: handstand, jump, crouch, spin, spin on bar, hammer, spring, key, pick up and throw, giant, float, fly

Luigi: invisible

Wario: metal

Yoshi: fire breath, tongue

Donkey Kong: punch, barrel, stomp, jack, grow giant, throw enemies

Donkey Kong Jr.: hop, throw switches

Pauline

Birdo: Robirdo

All characters appearing in SMB2, SMW, SMW2, and SMB3

All characters appearing in the DKC series

All characters appearing in SM64

Bosses:

King Bob-Omb

Goomboss

King Boo

Chief Chilly

Stages:

Construction Site

Big City

Forest

Ship

Jungle

Desert

Airplane

Iceberg

Rocky-Valley

All stages appearing in SMB2, SMW, SMW2, and SMB3

All stages appearing in DKC series

Palm Beach

Poison Swamp

Secret Factory

Ice Area

Thanks for reading! Next up, let's cover Diddy Kong Racing's DS remake!

Super Mario Roster, Updated

SUPER SMASH BROS. UNIVERSE

SUPER MARIO BROS.

Now, let's add in our newcomers from the Doctor Mario series, Dr. Mario and Dr. Luigi!

1. Mario
2. Fursuit Mario
3. Dr. Mario
3e. Dr. Luigi
4. F.L.U.D.D. Mario
5. Luigi
6. Vacuum Luigi
6e. Professor E. Gadd
7. Princess Peach
7e. Peachette
8. Princess Daisy
9. Rosalina and Luma
10. Pauline
11. Cappy
12. Toad
12e. Toadsworth
13. Captain Toad
13e. Toadette
14. Bowser
14e. Dry Bowser
15. Bowser Jr.
16. Shadow Mario
17. The Koopalings
17e. Koopa Kid
18. Wart
19. Tatanga
20. Mario Kart
21. Robo Mario
22. Wanda
23. Plum
23e. Kid
24. Alex & Nina
24e. Ace & Clay
25. Tumble
26. Brighton & Twila
27. MC Ballyhoo & Big Top
28. Perry
29. Sprixie Princess
30. Koopa Troopa
30e. Dry Bones
31. Goomba
32. Piranha Plant
33. Boo
34. Buzzy Beetle
35. Bob-Omb
35e. King Bob-Omb
36. Cheep Cheep
37. Blooper
38. Pokey
39. Lakitu and Spinies
40. Ninji
41. Monty Mole
42. Spike
43. Hammer Bro
44. Chargin' Chuck
45. Wiggler
46. Chain Chomp
47. Thwomp
47e. Whomp
48. Mechakoopa
49. Ghost
50. Honeybee
51. Nabbit
52. Boom Boom
52e. Pom Pom
53. Birdo
54. Mouser
55. Petey Piranha
56. King Boo
57. The Broodals
58. Super Team

There we go! Now for the Wario roster!

Character Sheet: Dr. Luigi

DR. LUIGI

Today, we include the new characters brought in by the Dr. Mario series. Two of these are original character variants from the Dr. Mario series itself. The other two are more characters that the series gave me pause to stop, look back at and reconsider my stance on them. They are:

1. Dr. Mario

2. Dr. Luigi

3. Rudy the Clown

4. Princess Shokora

Next up, we have Dr. Luigi. I wasn't going to include him originally, considering all the million doctors featured in World, but looking back on it, I would say that Dr. Luigi's a special case, considering he has his own game, which continued as a minigame into Miracle Cure and World. He is merely an echo, just with slightly updated moves reflecting newer additions to the series.

Here's the moveset I came up with:

Standard B: L-Shaped Megavitamin

More or less the same, but his vitamins will be L-shaped, which will heavily affect their bounce and will deal more damage in general.

Side B: Bottle

More or less the same here, I suppose.

Up B: Miracle Bomb

I figure that while Mario's miracle bomb was sort of a cross-shaped blast, we can branch out a bit with Luigi, having him do more of a full area-of-effect bomb that still launches him skyward.

Down B: Viruses

While Mario had the original three, Luigi will have the three that made their appearance in his own game, Dizzy, Confused, and Drowsy. Dizzy will make an opponent dizzy for a second, Confused will mess up their controls, and Drowsy will make them fall asleep.

Final Smash: Dr. Luigi

I want to possibly add an alternative here: a miracle cure, since that is a late-series addition and it would fit better here. However, I still prefer the stage closing in, viruses wreaking havoc, and Luigi's L-shaped pills dropping from the sky.

Entrance: Current Dr. Mario Smash entrance, but Luigi is a bit more surprised to be there.

Taunts: It could be fun if they were all slightly flubbed variants. Up, Luigi will flick a pill along his shoulder but accidentally drop it. Side, he'll start making a note and end up doodling. Down, he'll open a bottle and shake it, and a virus will actually drop out, scaring him for a second.

Thanks for reading! Next up, we're going way back in time to reconsider Wario Land 3's villain, Rudy the Clown.

Character Sheet: Dr. Mario

DR. MARIO

Today, we include the new characters brought in by the Dr. Mario series. Two of these are original character variants from the Dr. Mario series itself. The other two are more characters that the series gave me pause to stop, look back at and reconsider my stance on them. They are:

1. Dr. Mario

2. Dr. Luigi

3. Rudy the Clown

4. Princess Shokora

First up, we have Dr. Mario. Now, the character is in Super Smash Bros. already, but for all intents and purposes is all but a clone of Mario. I think we can do better. I would rather create the character entirely built around inspiration from his games, and I think we can do it. First up, let's cover what we've got to work with. First off, we have the pills and the viruses, the core staples of the series. We also have the bottle I suppose, and then later we get the miracle cures and/or special moves from World. You know, I think I just might have it.

Here's the moveset I came up with:

Standard B: Megavitamin

This one will be more or less the same as it appears in Smash now. He will toss out a pill and it will bounce for a bit before hitting something. If we wanted to spice it up, we could make it so that more damage was done if the color of the pill hit something that matched its color, but I don't know how much of a headache that would be for the game's meta or anything like that.

Side B: Bottle

Dr. Mario will swipe out with a bottle, capturing and trapping a character inside it for a short time before they break out.

Up B: Miracle Bomb

This one is based on the most basic of Miracle Cures/special moves. Mario will place down a bomb as they appear in World, and it will detonate after a second, firing out a blast vertically and horizontally. The vertical blast will launch Mario skyward.

Down B: Viruses

This one makes use to the viruses, who sadly did not quite make it in themselves. Dr. Mario's will be based on Fever, Chill, and Weird, the original three. Dr. Mario will pull open a bottle and release a virus that will then attack the nearest opponent. They will function somewhat similar to Olimar's Pikmin. Fever will inflict fire damage, Chill will inflict ice, and Weird will make the character's controls go a little funny.

Final Smash: Dr. Mario

While I was tempted to use a Miracle Cure here, I'm rather more intrigued by the idea of turning the entire stage into a game of Dr. Mario. Invisible borders will appear around the edges of the stage, viruses will appear everywhere, wreaking havoc, while pills drop from the sky, doing serious damage any time they land.

Entrance: I guess the current Smash entrance is . . . fine. I can't really think of a better one.

Taunts: Up, Mario will flick a pill along his shoulder. Side, Mario will take down a note on his notepad. Down, Mario will open a bottle and shake it out, finding it empty.

Thanks for reading! Next up, we'll have his echo fighter: Dr. Luigi!

Smash Character Review: Dr. Mario Series

DR. MARIO SERIES

Today, let's go over all of the characters who appeared in the Dr. Mario series, besides those new characters who will be added to the roster. Well, there's really not much honestly. Wario played a major role as an antagonist/rival protagonist in Dr. Mario 64, stealing the Megavitamins in order to make a profit off of them (because he's Wario), and Dr. Mario World's massive cast of characters, which mostly sees said character standing in Dr. Mario's place wearing a lab coat or other medical paraphernalia. Pretty much all the regulars appear there, with the three core princesses joining the Mario Bros., Toad and Toadette, Yoshi, both Donkey and Diddy Kong, the Wario Bros., Bowser, Bowser Jr., the Koopalings, Kamek, a series of regular enemy characters like Goombas, Koopas, Shy Guys, Boos (and King Boo), Piranha Plants, and Bloopers, as well as a few more . . . friendly? . . . characters like Luma, Nabbit, and those dolphins with the goggles you see here and there in the Mario series, all alongside a few alternate forms, like the babies, Dry Bowser, an 8-bit form, and a few fire forms.

That's about it. Next up, we'll cover our four new characters, starting with Dr. Mario himself.

Dr. Mario World

 DR. MARIO WORLD

Disclaimer: as of this writing, the game still has new content added on the regular as it is a mobile app. In fact, between my initial research and now, two more playable characters have been added to the roster.

Today, let's cover Dr. Mario World, a mobile app game in the same vein as Mario Kart Tour. The game is, for all intents and purposes, a standard Dr. Mario game, except this time there are seven virus colors instead of the usual three, with green, light blue, pink, and purple added into the mix (I don't think they have distinct names the way Fever, Chill, and Weird did before. They seem to just simply be named [color] virus respectively).

The game also features a butt-ton of characters rather than just Mario and later Luigi. No, apparently Toad-prah had a free giveaway of doctorates on her show and everyone got one. That said, most of the characters just stand on the side and toss the pills like Mario or Luigi would, so I can't say I can really factor anything in. Most of them do have a special ability, but it mostly comes down to things like being able to wipe out a certain number of rows in a certain direction. Among these characters, we have: Dr. versions of Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, Rosalina and Luma, Toad, Toadette, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Wario, Waluigi, baby forms of Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Rosalina, and Wario, fire forms of Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Rosalina, an 8-bit form of Mario, Bowser, Bowser Jr., all seven Koopalings, Kamek, Dry Bowser, King Boo, Nabbit, a freaking stack of Goombas, a Koopa Troopa, a Lakitu, a Piranha Plant, a Boo, a Blooper, and a . . . dolphin? What?

There are also assistants, but they mostly just give you an added effect or bonus to help the game. These include: Goombas, Bloopers, Lakitus, Cheep Cheeps, Spinies, Swoops, Bullet Bills, Paragoombas, Sumo Bros, Hammer Bros, Paratroopas, Crowbers, Buzzy Beetles, Koopas, Shy Guys, Bob-Ombs, Huckit Crabs, Piranha Plants, Pokeys, Spikes, Peepas, Spiny Cheep Cheeps, Clampies, Para-Beetles, Amps, Boom Boom, Pom Pom, Sledge Bros, Scaredy Rats, Porcupuffers, Monty Moles, Mechakoopas, Fuzzies, Thwomps, Boomerang Bros, Chain Chomps, Fly Guys, Dolphins, Octoombas, Bomb Boos, the Honeyqueen, Starbunnies, Goombrats, Wigglers, Scuttlebugs, Boos, Penguins, Dry Bones, Ant Troopers, Bony Beetles, Stingbies, Parabombs, Urchins, Yellow Shy Guys, Sushi (the shark), Fish Bones, Broozers, Galoombas, King Bob-Omb, a Banzai Bill, King Boo, and the Whomp King. Basically every possible minor enemy you can think of.

Here's what we've got so far:

Characters:

Dr. Mario: pills, Metal, miracle cures: take out pills, take out viruses, bomb, row or column, increase drop, prevent turns, reverse controls

Dr. Luigi: L-shaped pills

Dr. Peach

Dr. Daisy

Dr. Rosalina

Dr. Luma

Dr. Toad

Dr. Toadette

Dr. Yoshi

Dr. Donkey Kong

Dr. Diddy Kong

Dr. Wario

Dr. Waluigi

Dr. Baby Mario

Dr. Baby Luigi

Dr. Baby Peach

Dr. Baby Daisy

Dr. Baby Rosalina

Dr. Baby Wario

Dr. Fire Mario

Dr. Fire Luigi

Dr. Fire Peach

Dr. Fire Rosalina

Dr. 8-bit Mario

Dr. Bowser

Dr. Bowser Jr.

Dr. Larry

Dr. Morton

Dr. Wendy

Dr. Iggy

Dr. Roy

Dr. Lemmy

Dr. Ludwig

Dr. Kamek

Dr. Dry Bowser

Dr. King Boo

Dr. Nabbit

Dr. Goomba Tower

Dr. Koopa Troopa

Dr. Lakitu

Dr. Piranha Plant

Dr. Boo

Dr. Blooper

Dr. Dolphin

Wario: pills, Vampire

Viruses: Fever, Chill, Weird

Rudy: pills

Mad Scienstein: potions

Stages:

Pill Bottle

Rudy's Castle

Items:

Megavitamins

L-Shaped Megavitamins

Miracle Cures

Bombs

Thanks for reading! Next up, let's update our characters!

Dr. Mario: Miracle Cure

DR. MARIO: MIRACLE CURE

Today, let's cover Dr. Mario: Miracle Cure for the Nintendo 3DS. This one's pretty much the same basic standard as all the rest, with Dr. Luigi included, but this time it features miracle cures that you can use as basically a super move during single-player, and a means of sabotaging your opponent during multi-player. With these miracle cures, you can take out all pills or viruses of a certain color, use a bomb to blow up everything in a certain area, or take out everything in a row or column. As sabotage, you can increase your opponent's drop rate, prevent them from turning a pill, or reverse their controls.

Here's what we've got so far:

Characters:

Dr. Mario: pills, Metal, miracle cures: take out pills, take out viruses, bomb, row or column, increase drop, prevent turns, reverse controls

Dr. Luigi: L-shaped pills

Wario: pills, Vampire

Viruses: Fever, Chill, Weird

Rudy: pills

Mad Scienstein: potions

Stages:

Pill Bottle

Rudy's Castle

Items:

Megavitamins

L-Shaped Megavitamins

Thanks for reading! Next up, let's cover the mobile game Dr. Mario World!

Dr. Luigi

 DR. LUIGI

This time, let's cover Dr. Luigi, a game released for the Wii U's e-shop as part of the Year of Luigi back in 2013-14. The game is basically just Dr. Mario again, except starring Luigi and featuring larger L-shaped Megavitamins that can be thrown in. It also had slightly odd-looking viruses, but for all intents and purposes, they're mostly the same.

Here's what we've got so far:

Characters:

Dr. Mario: pills, Metal

Dr. Luigi: L-shaped pills

Wario: pills, Vampire

Viruses: Fever, Chill, Weird

Rudy: pills

Mad Scienstein: potions

Stages:

Pill Bottle

Rudy's Castle

Items:

Megavitamins

L-Shaped Megavitamins

Thanks for reading! Next up, let's cover Dr. Mario: Miracle Cure!

Dr. Mario Express

DR. MARIO EXPRESS

Not much to say about this one. Dr. Mario Express is a DSiWare game much in the same vein as its WiiWare predecessor. Primarily, it has been simplified down a bit for the more handheld system, lacking a multiplayer option and a few modes, but at the end of the day, it's still pretty much a Dr. Mario game.

Here's what we've got so far:

Characters:

Dr. Mario: pills, Metal

Wario: pills, Vampire

Viruses: Fever, Chill, Weird

Rudy: pills

Mad Scienstein: potions

Stages:

Pill Bottle

Rudy's Castle

Items:

Megavitamins

Thanks for reading! Next up is Dr. Luigi!

Dr. Mario Online Rx

DR. MARIO ONLINE RX

Today, let's cover Dr. Mario Online Rx for the WiiWare. Not too much to say for this one, really. It's mostly the same basic standard as the original Dr. Mario game. But hey, if it ain't broke, right? Just an update for a new age.

Here's what we've got so far:

Characters:

Dr. Mario: pills, Metal

Wario: pills, Vampire

Viruses: Fever, Chill, Weird

Rudy: pills

Mad Scienstein: potions

Stages:

Pill Bottle

Rudy's Castle

Items:

Megavitamins

Thanks for reading! Next up is Dr. Mario Express!

Dr. Mario 64

DR. MARIO 64

Today, let's go over Dr. Mario 64! Unlike most of the other Dr. Mario games, this one has a bit more of an in-depth story, following Dr. Mario and Wario through their own stories, as Dr. Mario tries to cure a cold epidemic in the Mushroom Kingdom, and Wario tries to steal his Megavitamins thinking he can make money off of them. (Hmm . . .) The gameplay is more or less the same as before, with the respective characters throwing megavitamins into a bottle and lining them up by color to eradicate the Chill, Fever, and Weird viruses.

Through the story, you follow Dr. Mario and Wario as they give chase to Mad Scienstein, who has stolen Mario's vitamins, leading them through a series of Wario Land 3 enemies, including: Spearhead, Webber, Silky, Jellybob, Helio, Hammerbot, Appleby, Octo, and Lump; finally leading up to a final battle with Rudy the Clown, now sized down to Mario and Wario-sized. And . . . huh . . . um, Rudy's reappearance has me looking back at Wario Land 3 . . . and maybe Wario Land 4 . . . and I, uh, may have to do something unorthodox when the character sheets come around. Stay tuned!

Here's what we've got so far!

Characters:

Dr. Mario: pills, Metal

Wario: pills, Vampire

Viruses: Fever, Chill, Weird

Rudy: pills

Mad Scienstein: potions

Stages:

Pill Bottle

Rudy's Castle

Items:

Megavitamins

Thanks for reading! Next up, let's cover Dr. Mario Online RX!

Dr. Mario

DR. MARIO

Freedom!!! Anyway, now on to the Dr. Mario series, a classic puzzle game series in the Mario franchise and originator of a certain alt version of Mario famous within Smash circles. The game is a pretty basic but fun game similar to Tetris, which sees a tall bottle full of viruses of different colors that you have to match up pills with to get rid of.

The game's story mostly followed that a contagious strain of viruses has broken loose from a lab ( . . . no comment) and Mario must take up the guise of a doctor and combat the viruses with his megavitamins. The characters mostly consist of Mario, or in this case Dr. Mario, and the three main types of viruses: Fever (Red), Chill (Blue), and Weird (Yellow). There's really not a whole lot more to say from there, but we'll get further in with the next few games.

Here's what we've got so far:

Characters:

Dr. Mario: pills

Viruses: Fever, Chill, Weird

Stages:

Pill Bottle

Items:

Megavitamins

Thanks for reading! Next up, let's cover Dr. Mario 64!