Dr. Mario FAQ/Walkthrough
Table of Contents
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Dr. Mario (Game Boy) FAQ
- Version: 1.00
- Last Updated: 1 July 2013
- Author: Ryan Harrison
- Email: rjhgamefaqs[at]gmail.com
This document is Copyright ｩ2013-2015 Ryan Harrison. All rights reserved.
Version History
- Version 1.00 | 1 July 2013
- The first, complete posted version of this FAQ.
Introduction
Hello and welcome to my FAQ for Dr. Mario on the Game Boy. This FAQ is designed to basically cover all you need to know and understand how to play and beat Dr. Mario. This popular puzzler is one of the many 'dropping block' style games that was released in the wake of the mega-hit Tetris. Also available on the NES back in the day, this 1990 title sees you take control of Dr. Mario, and the objective is to throw coloured medicine pills into the area and line up 4 colours in a vertical or horizontal row in order to wipe out viruses of the same colour. By wiping out all the viruses, you beat an area before moving onto the next one, in which more viruses appear for you to deal with. With adjustable speeds and virus levels, this makes for a frantic and addictive puzzle game to take on the go!
Story
My name is Dr. MarioHi everybody! I'm Mario. How's it going? Over the last few years, I've been involved in some pretty wild adventures. Now, believe it or not, I work in the virus research lab at the Mushroom Kingdom Hospital. Today I'm about to begin my research as usual.
"Dr. Mario, something terrible has happened!"
"What's wrong, nurse Toadstool?"
"One of the experiments has gone out of control. The viruses are spreading quickly!"
"Oh No! We've got to do something! I have just developed a new vitamin that should be able to take care of it. I sure hope this stuff works!"
Game Overview
Controls
| Control | Action |
|---|---|
| D-Pad - Down | Hold to drag pills down to the bottom of the screen faster |
| D-Pad - Left/Right | Move pills over in those directions |
| Select | Choose between game modes on the Title Screen |
| Start | Begin the game from the Title Screen |
| Pause the game during play; resume game when paused | |
| A | Rotate pill 90 degrees clockwise |
| B | Rotate pill 90 degrees anti-clockwise |
Game Modes and Options
Title Screen
First off, starting up a new game will take you to the Title Screen, from which you can choose to play either a 1 PLAYER GAME or a 2 PLAYER GAME. Both these modes should be pretty explanatory enough: in a 1 PLAYER GAME, you make your selections and then play Dr. Mario. In a 2 PLAYER GAME, this will require both players to have a Game Boy, copy of Dr. Mario, and a Link Cable to connect the two systems together. Both players can adjust their settings to their own preferences. In a 2 Player Game, the first player to wipe out all the viruses in their medicine bottle wins, and a crown appears at the side of the screen as a result of their victory. The first player to earn three crowns wins the game outright.
Options
This is what appears on-screen once you select a 1 PLAYER GAME from the Title Screen. From here you can make your settings as you wish; beneath the diagram I will give a quick rundown of all the options available:
+-------------------------+
| .---------------------. |
| | 1 PLAYER GAME | |
| | | |
| | ,-----------. | |
| | ( VIRUS LEVEL ) | |
| | `-----------' | |
| | YOU V 00 | |
| | |++|++|++|++| | |
| | | |
| | ,-----. | |
| | ( SPEED ) | |
| | `-----' ___ | |
| | YOU `.' | |
| | LOW MED HI | |
| | | |
| | ,-----. | |
| | ( MUSIC ) | |
| | `-----' | |
| | FEVER CHILL OFF | |
| '---------------------' |
+-------------------------+
| VIRUS LEVEL (00 - 20) | The VIRUS LEVEL is generally the amount of viruses that will start out on the screen when you begin the game. While you have this option highlighted, you can hold Left or Right on the D-Pad to slide the marker along the scale, and change the number that appears on the right-hand side. On the lowest level, 00, 4 viruses start off on the screen; while on the highest, 20, you start out with a whopping 84 viruses to deal with. For a table of the amount of viruses that start out on each level, see the Basics section of this FAQ. | |
| SPEED (LOW/MED/HI) | Basically, this is how slowly/quickly the pills will start to drop down once Dr. Mario has thrown them into the medicine bottle: | |
| LOW | They drop down at the slowest pace, giving you more time to work out where to position them, thus making it easier, and therefore an ideal choice for beginner players. | |
| MED | This is the medium pace at which the pills fall, as well as the default SPEED setting. In general, this is the 'Normal' or 'Average' difficulty for the average player. | |
| HI | For the more experienced Dr. Mario player - in this setting the pills drop at a quick rate, so you'll need to think and plan your moves in advance! | |
| MUSIC (FEVER/CHILL/OFF) | By highlighing this and pressing Left or Right, you can choose what music you would like to play in the background while you play the main game itself. FEVER is a fast-paced, high-adrenaline and motivational BGM, while CHILL is a more mellow and relaxed beat. Or, you can choose to have the music switched OFF. | |
Basics
Game Screen
This is what the main screen, which you play on, looks like and a rundown of what you see on here:
+---------------------------------------------+
| ________ .--------------. |
| ________)____(________ | S C O R E | |
| | | | 0 | |
| | | '--------------' |
| | | .----------. .-. |
| | | | O | |M| |
| | | |(#|@) -+- | |E| |
| | | | / \ | |D| |
| | | '----------' '-' |
| | |.-----[=====]-----. |
| | ||+----'-----'----+| |
| | ||| L E V E L || |
| | ||| 0 0 || |
| | ||| V I R U S || |
| | ||| 0 4 || |
| | ||+---------------+| |
| | |'-----------------' |
| | | .---------------. |
| | | |(O_O)(*_*)(>_<)| |
| |______________________| '---------------' |
+---------------------------------------------+
Bottle: Takes up most of the space on the left-hand side of the screen. A certain amount of viruses of up to three different colours start in various locations in here, and Dr. Mario throws medicine pills into this area, where you control the direction of their movement and line them up against viruses of the same colour to eliminate them.
Current Score: Shown in the top-right corner of the screen, this is the score that has been reached so far in your current sitting of Dr. Mario. This increases as you eliminate viruses and get combos, and for winning levels.
Dr. Mario: Seen on the right-hand side of the screen, Dr. Mario is holding the next two-sided coloured pill that he will throw into the medicine bottle once the one that is currently in there has settled.
Speed: Shown to the right of Dr. Mario, this is the current game speed setting: LOW, MED, or HI.
Virus Level (LEVEL ##): Pretty self-explanatory; the level of the game you are currently playing. This can be selected from 00 - 20 at the Options Screen, and the amount of Viruses that start in the bottle goes up by 4 for every Virus Level you beat.
# of Viruses in the Bottle (VIRUS ##): How many viruses currently remain in the bottle that must be eliminated to clear the level.
Virus Level Table
The \\'Virus Level'\\ that you pick at the beginning of the game will have a certain number of viruses. Every tieme you beat a Virus Level in the game, it goes up by one (e.g. from Virus Level 04 to 05), and the number of viruses that start out in the bottle also goes up by 4. Here, in this table, is the amount of viruses that start out in the bottle for each Virus Level respectively:
| Virus Level | Number of Viruses |
|---|---|
| 00 | 4 |
| 01 | 8 |
| 02 | 12 |
| 03 | 16 |
| 04 | 20 |
| 05 | 24 |
| 06 | 28 |
| 07 | 32 |
| 08 | 36 |
| 09 | 40 |
| 10 | 44 |
| 11 | 48 |
| 12 | 52 |
| 13 | 56 |
| 14 | 60 |
| 15 | 64 |
| 16 | 68 |
| 17 | 72 |
| 18 | 76 |
| 19 | 80 |
| 20 | 84 |
General Gameplay/Hints & Tips
Dr. Mario tosses double-ended medicine capsules into the medicine bottle, one at a time. A level is won when all viruses are eliminated, but if pills are stacked up to the very top of the bottle and all viruses have not been defeated, you lose and will have to restart the level again.
The capsules that Dr. Mario tosses into the medicine bottle have two ends. There are three colours of pills that will wipe out viruses of the same colour if 4 colours are lined up in a row, vertically or horizontally. You can get pills that have the same colour on either end, or pills with two different colours. Here are the possible colour combinations you can get:
.-----. .-----. .-----.
( BP|BP ) ( BP|GP ) ( BP|WP )
'-----' '-----' '-----'
.-----. .-----. .-----.
( GP|GP ) ( GP|BP ) ( GP|WP )
'-----' '-----' '-----'
.-----. .-----. .-----.
( WP|WP ) ( WP|BP ) ( WP|GP )
'-----' '-----' '-----'
Key
BP = Black Pill GP = Grey Pill WP = White Pill
When Dr. Mario has flipped a pill into the bottle, you can rotate it clockwise or anti-clockwise.
- With the A button, the pill flips clockwise 90 degrees every time you press the button. For example:
.--. .--.
.-----. |BP| .-----. |WP|
( BP|WP ) -> |--| -> ( WP|BP ) -> |--|
'-----' |WP| '-----' |BP|
'--' '--'
- Conversely, with the B button, pills rotate anticlockwise, like so:
.--. .--.
.-----. |WP| .-----. |BP|
( BP|WP ) -> |--| -> ( WP|BP ) -> |--|
'-----' |BP| '-----' |WP|
'--' '--'
The most basic way of eliminating a single virus at a time would be to have it as part of a vertical or horizontal line of four of the same colour.
Vertically... ...or Horizontally.
( These four )
( colours vanish )
_______|______
/ \
.-----. .-----. .-----. .--.
/ ( BP|GP ) ( GP|BP )( BP|BP )|BV|
| '-----' '-----' '-----' '--'
( These ) | .--.
( four ) | |BP|
( colours ) --< |--|
( vanish ) | |BP|
| '--'
| .--.
\ |BV|
'--'
Key
BP = Black Pill BV = Black Virus GP = Grey Pill
Next, try to see if you can wipe out multiple viruses together at the same time. For more points and to clear the area quicker, you can pull off combos, which comes in handy especially if you have alternate-coloured pills. For example, if you drop in a Black/White Pill and drop the Black end onto three other Black colours to make four, all the Blacks disappear, and the White part will remain on-screen, and continue to fall (although it cannot be moved left or right). If you position the pills correctly, you could even make it land on top of three other Whites to wipe them out too! Here's a basic example:
.-----.
/ ( BP|WP )
| '-----' | ( The White Pill falls from )
( These ) | .--. | ( its original location and )
( four ) | |BP| | ( drops onto the stacked )
( colours ) --< |--| | ( White Pills and White )
( vanish ) | |BP| | ( Virus )
| '--' V
| .--. .--.
\ |BV| |WP| \
'--' -> '--' |
.--. .--. | ( These )
|WP| |WP| | ( four )
|--| |--| >-- ( colours )
|WP| |WP| | ( vanish )
'--' '--' |
.--. .--. |
|WV| |WV| /
'--' '--'
It's also possible to even move pills under viruses to squeeze them into tight gaps, and even flipping them to make one end squeeze into a narrow gap is possible! For example:
.--. | As the White Pill drops .--.
|WV| | down between the two |WV| \
'--' V White Viruses, quickly '--' |
.--. press Left on the D-Pad .--. | ( These )
<- |WP| to make it slide into the |WP| | ( four )
|--| gap between them and this -> |--| >-- ( colours )
<- |WP| makes a row of four |WP| | ( vanish )
'--' colours, like so... '--' |
.--. .--. |
|WV| |WV| /
'--' '--'
| As the White/Grey pill
V comes down, quickly
.--..--. press A to rotate the
|WV||GP| pill clockwise and press
'--'|--| Left to squeeze the
|WP| White end of the pill
'--' into the gap between the
.--. White Virus at the top,
|WP| and the White Pills and
|--| White Virus underneath...
|WP|
'--'
.--.
|WV|
'--'
|
V
.--. ...and this makes a line
/ |WV| of five colours. All five
| '--' are wiped out altogether.
| .-----.
| ( WP|GP )
( These ) | '-----'
( five ) | .--.
( colours ) --< |WP|
( vanish ) | |--|
| |WP|
| '--'
| .--.
\ |WV|
'--'
Key
BP = Black Pill BV = Black Virus GP = Grey Pill WP = White Pill WV = White Virus
A few other random little tips...
- The medicine bottle itself is 8 blocks wide by 15 blocks high.
- On the lower difficulty settings when there are one or two viruses left to wipe out, you may get a few pills with colours that will be of no use. It's best to just stash these away against the sides of the jar until you get the colour(s) you need to finish the last few viruses off. You only need to destroy the viruses left to beat a level, so you won't need to bother with making combinations of four colours with pills only - unless you need to create some space.
- While four colours in a row is the standard to make pills and viruses vanish, it is possible to make longer lines. You can make up to a maximum of 8 of the same colour go at once - if, say, you squeezed a pill with the same colours on either end between two lots of three colours.
- Once you start to reach the more advanced Virus Levels, it's time to be a little more strategic and look for potential combos or ways of wiping out two colours at once. Look at the next pill Dr. Mario is about to throw in, and look for potential viruses to wipe out or combos to attain.
- Remember, to save time you can hold Down on the D-Pad to drag the pills down to the bottom faster. However, it might also be worth keeping in mind that if you've still got plenty of viruses to take out, you could move it over the area where you plan to drop it, and while it drops, you can use the extra few seconds to work out your next move.
- The final Virus Level, 20, has a total of 84 viruses to defeat, and the viruses all start out packing the bottle as much as 4/5ths full! Practise, plan and work at it, and it can be done. It takes the very best skill, but it can be done. Upon beating Virus Level 20, you more or less will have "beaten" the game, although from there the final level will repeatedly loop over. Have fun!
Scoring
These are the points you score in the game, depending on the number of Viruses you wipe out at a time, and at which speed the game is playing:
| Speed | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Viruses | Low | Med | Hi |
| 1 | 100 | 200 | 300 |
| 2 | 200 | 400 | 600 |
| 3 | 400 | 800 | 1200 |
| 4 | 800 | 1600 | 2400 |
| 5 | 1600 | 3200 | 4800 |
| 6 | 3200 | 6400 | 9600 |
Cheats
Easter Eggs
Super Mario Bros. Invincibility Music
If you can wipe out four viruses in one move, you will get to hear a brief sample of the SMB Starman music!
Secrets
Epilogue Animation
Complete Level 20 on any difficulty to view the epilogue animation.
Special Animations
You will get to watch some special animations upon beating Virus Levels 05, 10, 15 and 20 respectively on the HI speed setting.
Credits
- Bkstunt_31
- Whose FAQ on this game showed me a couple of neat tricks that are helpful to this game, and which I used in this FAQ. Also for being a pretty great guy and friend in general.
- GameFAQs | http://www.gamefaqs.com/
- Where I obtained a couple of cheats used in this FAQ, and specifically to AWing Pilot and M. Newlin who contributed them.
- Gamesdbase | http://www.gamesdbase.com/
- For their scanned copy of the Dr. Mario instruction manual, where I obtained the game's story extract used in this FAQ, and for the Scoring points values.
Legal Disclaimer/Contacting Me
Legal Disclaimer
This document is Copyright ｩ2013-2015 Ryan Harrison. This document may not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright.
The latest version of this FAQ can be found at http://www.gamefaqs.com/ and https://www.neoseeker.com/.
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