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.

Rudy the Clown

After Wario Land II, rather than sticking with Captain Syrup and building a rivalry like Mario with Bowser, the third game saw Wario come across a magical music box in the middle of a forest, getting sucked into it and coming face to face with a powerful demonic clown.

This is Rudy the Clown, the creator of the music box who manipulates Wario into nearly freeing him. He would appear once more as the villain of Dr. Mario 64, which Wario would guest star in. Other than that, this would be his only appearance.

As a fighter, Rudy will be big and powerful, with powerful magical and physical attacks. His moveset will pull primarily from Wario Land 3, as well as his appearance in Dr. Mario 64.

Likelihood rating: Probably not

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

Character Sheet: Rudy the Clown

RUDY THE CLOWN

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

This one's a bit of a surprise. Rudy the Clown was the main villain of Wario Land 3 and made a surprise reappearance in Dr. Mario 64 as a villain, with his minion Mad Scienstein stealing Dr. Mario's megavitamins to cure his boss of a cold. This got me looking back at the original game and wondering to myself "Why didn't I make him a gimmick rep at the time?" I guess gimmick reps have become more prominent since, but, like, FLUDD Mario, Rosalina, and Cappy had already been a thing. And then that got me thinking about Wario Land 4 as well, and . . . well here we are.

Here's what I came up with:

Standard B: Mad Scienstein

Based upon the enemies role as his right-hand man in Dr. Mario 64, Rudy will call out the scientist and have him throw out a vial of his shrinking formula at an opponent. If it hits, it will shrink the character for a while.

Side B: Rocket Fist

This one is more or less based on his boss battle in Wario Land 3. Basically, his fist will grow larger, detach from his body and launch straight forward.

Up B: Vampire Form

Since it's his minions that inflict the vampire form on Wario, I don't suppose it would be all that weird for him to take this on himself. He will turn into a swarm of bats and fly upward for a short time.

Down B: Music Box

There's a couple of other possibilities here, including that virus attack Dr. Mario and Dr. Luigi had, but I like the idea of him throwing out his music box from Wario Land 3, which will then create a vortex and suck the nearest character into it, trapping them for a short time.

Final Smash: Boss Battle

This will be based on Rudy's final boss battle in Wario Land 3. He will grow to gigantic proportions and start smacking and smashing the characters with his giant hands.

Entrance: He will emerge from his music box.

Taunts: Up, he will throw his head back in a belly laugh. Side, he will detach his hands and clap them together before them. Down, he will disappear for a second, his eyes and mouth appearing and laughing.

Thanks for reading! Next up, we'll give Princess Shokora another chance too.

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!