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.

Dr. Luigi

Nintendo named 2013 the Year of Luigi, a year which saw a number of special edition games released highlighting Mario’s favorite brother. New Super Mario Bros. U was re-released as New Super Luigi U, and Dr. Mario found itself being remade into Dr. Luigi, which gave Luigi a special new ability with a larger L-shaped vitamin.

Dr. Luigi would reappear in all subsequent titles of Dr. Mario, typically having his own special mode based on his original game and making use of his L-shaped pill.

As a fighter, he will of course be an echo fighter of Dr. Mario, his stats varying from his brothers in the same way Mario and Luigi’s regular forms would differ. Like his brother, Dr. Luigi’s moves will pull from all over the Dr. Mario series, though with his trademark L-Vitamin switched out for the regular pills.

Likelihood rating: Could happen

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

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!