Dr. Mario 64

Overview

Dr. Mario 64 is a falling-block tile-matching puzzle game developed by Nintendo (along with Newcom) and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 exclusively in North America on April 8, 2001.

Part of the Dr. Mario series of puzzle games, Dr. Mario 64 features a variety of new single-player and multiplayer game modes (including support for four-player multiplayer) and a new art style (with both pixel art for gameplay and a hand-drawn "papercraft" style for cutscenes).

In addition to the standard modes, the game features a story mode involving both Dr. Mario and Wario, as they both chase down the villainous Mad Scienstein to recover Dr. Mario's bottle of Megavitamins. Sometimes seen as a tie-in to the Game Boy Color game Wario Land 3, both protagonists encounter numerous enemy creatures from that game.

The game was later ported to the GameCube as part of the Japanese-exclusive Nintendo Puzzle Collection, and later received a digital release for the Nintendo Switch outside of Japan on October 25, 2021 as part of the original platform's Nintendo Switch Online service. It was also one of 14 games released for the 2003 mainland Chinese console iQue Player.

Game Modes

Standard Modes

• Classic is the standard stage-based mode.

• Story is a series of one-round matches against computer opponents, telling the story of "Dr. Mario and the Cold Caper". Includes four difficulties (Easy, Normal, Hard, and the hidden Super Hard) and two playable characters to choose from (Dr. Mario and Wario). While most stages are one-on-one matches, Stage 7 in harder difficulties is a four-player match.

• Marathon is an endless single-stage mode where additional rows of Viruses are added from the bottom of the board every 20 seconds. Chain clears halt that timer for a short time, while the L and R buttons get a new row manually.

• Score Attack is a time-limited single-stage mode. Fully clearing the board of Viruses adds bonus points based on the time remaining. This mode can also be played in a two-player setting, with both players competing to get the higher score.

Versus Modes

These modes are first-to-three competitive modes, which can be played in two-player (either Human-vs-CPU or Human-vs-Human) or four-player settings (with any configuration of Human and CPU players).

In these modes, players can send garbage blocks to their opponent through larger clears and chain clears. In four-player multiplayer, the game determines who receives another player's attack by the colors made from the first clear (with Blue affecting the first available player to the right, Yellow the second, and Red the third, looping around to the far left).

• Vs. Computer / 2-Player Vs. / 4-Player Vs. uses standard rules, with the first player to clear all Viruses on the board (or be the last man standing) winning the round.

• Team Battle puts players in one of two teams (Team A for P1 and P2, Team B for P3 and P4), with the first player to clear all Viruses on the board (or be the last team standing) winning the round for the team. This mode makes use of a four-pip "Stock" which is used to hold attacks from teammates (and is used to boost the next attack on an opponent).

• Flash changes the objective so that instead of clearing all Viruses on the board, players must be the first to clear three "flashing" Viruses (one of each color).

Characters

Each of the characters have their own CPU level when used as opponents. They can be made more difficult through a hidden button combination.

1-Star

• Spearhead
• Webber

2-Star

• Silky
• Appleby
• Jellybob
• Octo

3-Star

• Helio
• Lump
• Hammer-Bot

4-Star

• Dr. Mario
• Wario
• Mad Scienstein (sometimes misspelled as "Mad Scienstain")

5-Star

• Rudy (final boss)
• Metal Mario (hidden final boss for Wario in Normal/Hard/Super Hard difficulties, unlockable)
• Vampire Wario (hidden final boss for Dr. Mario in Normal/Hard/Super Hard difficulties, unlockable)