Dr. Mario

Dr. Mario is the persona Mario takes in the Dr. Mario series. Under this identity, Mario dons a lab coat, a head mirror, and a stethoscope around his neck. He first appears in his titular game, Dr. Mario. Dr. Mario and Nurse Toadstool, his assistant nurse, work at the Mushroom Kingdom Hospital, where Dr. Mario eliminates Viruses and other diseases by using Megavitamins, which has been the standard for subsequent games starring him. Dr. Mario also appears as an unlockable fighter in Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, where he is considered a separate character from Mario.

Dr. Mario
In Dr. Mario, Dr. Mario works in a virus research lab at the Mushroom Kingdom Hospital, alongside Nurse Toadstool. When an experiment goes wrong, the hospital is flooded with tri-color viruses. Armed with Megavitamins - a medicine of his own invention - Dr. Mario sets out to neutralize the outbreak.

In gameplay, Dr. Mario periodically throws Megavitamins into the bottle. Afterwards, the player can move and land them on Viruses, which spawn throughout the bottle. By connecting a line of three or more halves of Megavitamins to a virus of the corresponding color, the Virus disappears. As such, blue Megavitamins eliminate Chill Viruses (blue), red Megavitamins eliminate Fever Viruses (red), and yellow Megavitamins eliminate Weird Viruses (yellow). Removing all viruses on the screen advances the player to the next level.

Compared to his appearence in artworks and on the cover, in gameplay, his hair and mustache are lighter, almost orange, his headband is white, and he has no gloves on.

Dr. Mario 64
In Dr. Mario 64, Mad Scienstein robs Dr. Mario's Megavitamins and sets off to deliver them to his master, Rudy. Dr. Mario, as well as Wario, who wants to sell the Megavitamins for money, follow the two. In order to advance through the story, Dr. Mario must defeat Rudy's minions in Vs. Matches. In the end, it is revealed that Rudy is actually sick and Scienstein was ordered to retrieve the magical healing pills to cure him.

Dr. Mario also received several subtle aesthetic changes, most of them reflecting Mario's changes over time. In particular, in some sprites, he gained a tie, which has since become a staple of his design. However, unlike in the cover and in artworks, his stethoscope is still directly around his neck, his tie is blue instead of red, his headband is white instead of grey, his doctor's coat has no buttons on pockets, and he wears a tank top instead of a shirt.

Dr. Mario Online Rx
In the WiiWare game Dr. Mario Online Rx, players can control Dr. Mario or any Mii stored in their Wii. Dr. Mario serves a similar role as his debut game; he takes Megavitamins from his bag and throws them into the bottle, using them to defeat viruses. His design is consistent, with blue eyes, a buttoned coat, a shirt, a red tie, a grey headmirror, fair skin and the stethoscope has an altered position, now being along his shoulders.

Dr. Mario Express
In the DSi game Dr. Mario Express, he plays the same role as he does in Dr. Mario Online Rx, but unlike the Wii version, his model is cel-shaded, giving him a more cartoonish look.

Dr. Mario: Miracle Cure
Dr. Mario, as well as his brother, Dr. Luigi, appears in the compilation in Dr. Mario: Miracle Cure, which includes "Dr. Mario", the standard gameplay where Dr. Mario assists players destroy viruses, as well as two additional modes, "Operation L" from Dr. Luigi, and "Virus Buster". One new clearing method Dr. Mario can use is the Miracle Cure, which is a gauge that, once filled, can be used to destroy all Viruses and Megavitamins of the corresponding color, drop a bomb to remove adjacent Viruses and Megavitamins, or clear an entire column.

Dr. Mario World
Dr. Mario reappears in Dr. Mario World alongside several other doctor characters.

Dr. Mario's special ability allows him to use a big Megavitamin with an "M" on it, which eliminates the lowest line. In Duel mode, he has average power and his attack gauge fills quickly, and his ability still affects everything positioned in the lowest line (two lines at higher levels). However, he has sub-par defense: he has a 30% chance of defending himself from level 1 attacks, but it decreases by 5% for each higher level.

In a version update, both Dr. Mario and Dr. Peach received Fire variants, which gives them a lab coat and stethoscope over their normal Fire form outfits. Dr. Fire Mario improves upon Dr. Mario's skill by removing pieces that require multiple matches to clear otherwise. In a following update, Luigi and Rosalina continued this theme.

Nintendo Comics System
Dr. Mario appears in Nintendo Comics System's adaptation of Dr. Mario, entitled "The Doctor Is In... Over His Head". Mario and Princess Toadstool, expecting a plumbing emergency, enter the Mushroom Kingdom General Hospital, although they find no emergency. Dr. Waldo Bloom insists so and makes Mario his research assistant, calling him Dr. Mario. After touring through the hospital, Dr. Waldo takes them to his laboratory where he shows them the Viruses, and he explains that the Viruses have been multiplying. The original Viruses, inside the jar, soon break free and introduce themselves as Chill, Fever, and Weird. Eventually, after discovering that matching the colors of stacked Megavitamins can destroy Viruses, Mario manages to defeat them.

Princess Toadstool then advises Dr. Bloom play golf and return only he is done with the game, but Mario notes that Dr. Bloom is a bad golfer, which means Dr. Bloom will be off duty for a long time. Princess Peach then suggests Mario to be both a plumber and a doctor, which Mario agrees to do.

Super Mario Adventures
A possible variant of Dr. Mario appears in the tenth "episode" of Super Mario Adventures. However, he was not a physical doctor, but rather a psychologist. It was also only a ploy to gain the trust of Big Boo and get out of the Ghost House they were trapped in.

Club Nintendo
Dr. Mario also appears in the German Club Nintendo comic "Süße Weihnachten" where he helps Bowser who suffers from a stomachache on Christmas Day. Bowser has Viruses in his stomach, and Dr. Mario advises him to take bitter pills instead of marzipan.

Super Mario-Kun
Dr. Mario makes a brief appearance in volume 1 of Super Mario-Kun, in which Yoshi falls from the Sky and Mario then transforms into Dr. Mario before stuffing a giant Megavitamin in his mouth. Dr. Mario reappears in volume 8, after being attacked by a Tweeter, Mario transforms into Dr. Mario. He then reveals a shell underneath a rock and attaches rocket boosters (which resemble Megavitamins) to it, enabling him, Luigi, and Yoshi to fly on it. This knocks away nearby Snifits.

Super Smash Bros. Melee


Dr. Mario makes his first 3D appearance and his first overall appearance in the Super Smash Bros. series in Super Smash Bros. Melee, where he appears as an unlockable character. He can be unlocked by beating Classic or Adventure mode with Mario without losing any lives or by playing 100 Melee matches, and then defeating him in the immediate subsequent match on Peach's Castle. Unlike in his home series, Dr. Mario's design is somewhat modified for his appearance in Super Smash Bros. Melee, with a brown headband and a blue stethoscope, but the most noticeable change being a pair of dark gray pants. Dr. Mario's weight is 100 units, similar to Mario.

According to Masahiro Sakurai, the creator of the Super Smash Bros. series, the concept of a slower, yet stronger Mario was originally considered to be used for Wario. Due to time constraints, however, this concept was instead given to Dr. Mario.

The overwhelming majority of Dr. Mario's moves are nearly identical to his normal self's, although his attacks nevertheless have a few distinct traits. In addition to his aforementioned higher strength, Dr. Mario throws Megavitamins instead of Fireballs; his forward smash uses electricity instead of fire; he uses the white-colored Super Sheet instead of the Cape; and his Super Jump Punch is stronger, but hits a fewer amount of times. Dr. Mario also cannot wall jump in this game, unlike Mario. Contrary to his trophy's description, Dr. Mario's jump height and running speed are actually the same as Mario's; additionally, his air speed is faster than his regular counterpart's.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Although Dr. Mario is absent from Super Smash Bros. Brawl as a playable character, data for Dr. Mario can be found, suggesting that he was intended to be in the game in some form. Meanwhile, his Super Smash Bros. Melee theme can be used as one of the songs that plays in the PictoChat and custom stages. He also has a Sticker depicting his artwork from the original Dr. Mario game.

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U


Dr. Mario returns in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U as an unlockable fighter, along with fellow cut characters from Super Smash Bros. Melee Mewtwo and Roy. Unlike Mewtwo and Roy, however, he is included with the initial release of the games, whereas Mewtwo and Roy are available as DLC fighters. To unlock Dr. Mario in the Nintendo 3DS version, players must either complete Classic Mode with Mario on at least 4.0 intensity, or play 60 Smash matches. Afterward, the player must defeat him on Mushroomy Kingdom. In the Wii U version, players can unlock Dr. Mario by completing a Master Orders ticket with a difficulty level of Hard or higher, or by playing 50 Smash matches. Afterward, the player must defeat him on Delfino Plaza.

Dr. Mario's design is now a composition of his appearance as of Dr. Mario 64 and his dark gray pants from Super Smash Bros. Melee, although with a few original changes from this game: his stethoscope has a slightly different color scheme, his pants are rolled up to his ankles and his neck is longer due to the graphics. To reflect this change, Dr. Mario can wear tie equipment to boost his defense stat instead of the overalls equipment his normal self uses. However, he also uses the gloves and shoes equipment for attack and speed like Mario does. Unlike in Melee, however, Dr. Mario now functions like a stronger, yet slower Mario due to built-in equipment. Almost all of his moves deal 1.12× more damage than Mario's; conversely, his base ground mobility is Mario's multiplied by 0.832, and his base air mobility and base jump/double jump heights are Mario's multiplied by 0.808. These multipliers result in Dr. Mario being distinctly affected by passive equipment physics, in which he specifically possesses a +15 Attack value and a -50 Speed value. Because of this, he can KO opponents more easily than Mario due to a larger variety of finishing moves, but at the cost of being one of the slowest characters in the game and giving him a very poor approach and recovery despite his Dr. Tornado being capable of extending it. Dr. Mario's weight, like Mario's, is decreased to 98 units.

Dr. Mario retains his moves from Melee, except that he can now wall jump just like Mario, though his Super Sheet no longer stalls him in midair, while custom versions of his neutral, side, and up special moves are shared with Mario. However, the custom versions of Dr. Tornado are instead shared with Luigi, owing to Mario having F.L.U.D.D. as his down special move since Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Dr. Mario's Final Smash, Doctor Finale, is a variation of Mario's Mario Finale that is stronger and uses giant Megavitamins instead of giant, streaming fireballs. Dr. Mario has also gained two new taunts, a new idle animation, a new entrance animation, and a new victory animation that replaces the victory animation he shared with Mario in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Dr. Mario returns as an unlockable playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He shares several changes with Mario, but he was buffed overall. He retains many of his moves from the previous installment, with two exceptions: his down air has changed from a corkscrew dropkick to a double foot stomp, which is capable of meteor smashing an opponent if it hits with his feet and launching them away if his at his chest, and he also receives a new back throw, in which he lifts the opponent above him and then powerfully launches them away with a single arm, thus slightly decloning him from Mario. Dr. Mario's side special, Super Sheet, has a new animation distinguishing it from Mario's Cape where he swings the sheet upward, but is otherwise functionally unaltered. His Megavitamins are better and more versatile projectiles, with their higher angle, increased hitlag, decreased ending lag, larger size, better hitbox placement and increased knockback giving them combo ability at the cost of losing the ability to lock, and his Dr. Tornado is more versatile, with a drastic increase its power, better utility for recovery and gives Dr. Mario super armor for five frames from frames 5-9 if he uses it on the ground. Additionally, his grab attack animation is now one-handed like with Mario. Dr. Mario's walking and running speeds are slightly increased, but at the cost of lower jumps and air speed; the entirety of his moveset receives a slight damage increase: Dr. Mario's damage multiplier is increased from 1.12x to 1.175x, while his grounded and aerial mobility use a negative multiplier with an unspecified value.

Compared to Mario, he is less expressive, and he only smiles in one of his victory poses.

Several of Dr. Mario's standard attacks receive nicknames: up smash is Ear, Nose, and Throat; neutral air is Dr. Kick; forward air is Dr. Punch; down air is CLEAR! (Bone Drill prior to version 2.0.0); and down throw is Hospital Bed.

On a side note, as with several other returning characters, Dr. Mario's victory theme, which is the orchestral arrangement of the level clear theme from Super Mario Bros. (and is shared with Mario, Luigi, Peach, and in this game, Daisy), has been slightly shortened and sped up compared to the previous installments.

Classic Mode route
Dr. Mario's Classic Mode route involves him fighting red-, yellow-, and blue-colored variants of different characters, as a reference to the viruses from the Dr. Mario games.

Other appearances
Dr. Mario also makes a small appearance as one of the occupations listed in Super Mario Bros. & Friends: When I Grow Up on the "Medical Doctor/Nurse" career page. In WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!, Dr. Mario appears in a microgame named after him based on the NES version of his game. A spoof of the original Dr. Mario game appears in WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! called Dr. Wario, though it has no gameplay differences. Yet another microgame in WarioWare Gold stars Dr. Mario. Dr. Mario in is also one of the several characters that compose Costume Mario in Super Mario Maker; players can unlock the Dr. Mario costume by using the appropriate amiibo or completing one of the several challenges, which randomly unlocks a costume character. When players use Dr. Mario, sound effects from the NES version of Dr. Mario play, and when is pressed, Dr. Mario takes out a Megavitamin. One of Yoshi's designs in Yoshi's Woolly World is based on Dr. Mario. Players can scan a Dr. Mario amiibo to unlock the color scheme.

In the animated Super Mario World TV show episode "King Scoopa Koopa", Mario finishes off his healthy-eating request to a group of cave people with the line "Dr. Mario's orders!". Dr. Mario was given a similar reference in Paper Mario when the thankful Whale told Mario that he should be addressed by the title of "Dr. Mario" after Mario and his partners expelled the Fuzzipede from the Whale's body, thus ending his stomachache.

Dr. Mario also makes a short appearance in one strip of Super Mario 4koma Manga Theater. Here, he receives a patient, which turns out to be a Dry Bones, much to his annoyance.

In Nintendo Monopoly, Dr. Mario is seen on the "Receive for medical services $25" ? Block Card.

In Super Mario Odyssey, Dr. Mario appears as one of Mario's outfits.

Remakes and compilations
Dr. Mario has also appeared in the various remakes and compilations of several games. Dr. Mario Vs., which was made for Vs. matches of Dr. Mario, released for the Nintendo Vs. System. Tetris & Dr. Mario is a remake of the NES game, and, as implied in the title, also includes Tetris. Dr. Mario BS Version is a remake of the original game for the Satellaview that includes the graphics and sound from Tetris & Dr. Mario.

Classic NES Series: Dr. Mario is a direct port of the original Dr. Mario, it was one of the many NES games remade for the Classic NES Series on the Game Boy Advance. Also for the Game Boy Advance, Dr. Mario & Puzzle League featured Dr. Mario alongside an unrelated game, Puzzle League in a similar fashion to Tetris & Dr. Mario. Lastly, Nintendo Puzzle Collection includes Dr. Mario 64 as part of the collection of Nintendo puzzle games.

Physical description
Dr. Mario is a fair-skinned man with brown hair and a brown, ragged mustache, similar to his normal self. Dr. Mario also wears brown work shoes like his normal self, but he dons a doctor's regular form of attire: white pants, a white collared shirt, a red tie, and a white coat, as well as a stethoscope. Despite this, Dr. Mario's design has undergone several changes throughout his history.

In his first self-titled game, Dr. Mario lacks a tie, his shirt is a darker color, and his hair is distinctly lighter than Mario's. In Dr. Mario 64, Dr. Mario's hair is closer to Mario's in color (though still a lighter shade of brown), while he now wears his signature tie. From Dr. Mario Online Rx onwards, Dr. Mario's skin is fair akin to his normal counterpart's; his design remains the same in all future games.

Within the Super Smash Bros. series, Dr. Mario's appearance also evolves. In Super Smash Bros. Melee, Dr. Mario has auburn hair, a brown headband, and a tanned complexion, reflecting his then-recent appearance in Dr. Mario 64, as well as Mario's appearance in Mario Kart 64. Dr. Mario's hair and clothing have more realistic details, while his pants' color is changed to black altogether. In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U, Dr. Mario's hair is brown like Mario's, while his overall design is more vibrant and cartoonish; however, he retains his unique gray pants, which are slightly rolled up to his ankles while his head-band is colored gray. In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, while his headband is recolored again brown. Dr. Mario gains a subdued color scheme, while his hair and clothing regain some simple detailing.

Dr. Mario has eight selectable costumes in the Super Smash Bros. series, including his default appearance. Dr. Mario's first alternate costume consists of a green shirt, lime green tie, red coat, light gray gloves, and gray shoes, which is the attire worn by modern nurses. Dr. Mario's second alternate costume consists of a blue shirt and gray gloves, as well as a dark blue tie, which is the attire worn by modern doctors. Dr. Mario's third alternate costume consists of green gloves, shirt, tie, and coat, resembling what modern surgeons wear. Dr. Mario's fourth alternate costume consists of fully black attire, save for the red tie, nicknamed the "Unlicensed Doctor." Dr. Mario's fifth costume consists of a yellow coat, green shirt, dark green tie, and gray gloves, borrowing some elements from his red costume. Dr. Mario's sixth alternate costume consists of a purple coat, maroon gloves, orange shirt, and red tie, having no specific inspiration. Lastly, Dr. Mario's seventh alternate costume consists of purple shoes, a pink coat, lavender shirt, and teal tie, being inspired by Nurse Toadstool's colors.

Speech
Like his normal self, as well as Luigi, Wario, and Waluigi, Dr. Mario is voiced by Charles Martinet. Text-based dialogue-wise, he speaks in Dr. Mario's instruction manual, as well as the Nintendo Comics System, Super Mario-Kun, and Super Mario 4koma Manga Theater.

Palutena's Guidance

 * Pit: I don't think that's a real doctor.
 * Palutena: I wouldn't be so sure. He delivers crushing blows, so he must be very knowledgeable about anatomy.
 * Viridi: He's a quack. I hear he treats viruses by randomly throwing medication at them. Doesn't seem very safe.
 * Pit: I'm so glad Skyworld doesn't have checkups.
 * Palutena: Dr. Mario is slower than the regular Mario, but he's also more powerful. Don't get sent to the emergency room! You don't know what kind of treatment you'll get.

amiibo

 * In the 1990 Dr. Mario game, Mario threw on a white coat and decided to take a shot at that whole "medicine" thing. Dr. Mario destroys killer viruses with his amazing vitamin capsules and spends day and night in his laboratory working on new miracle cures. Somehow he's managed to keep up with all the new viruses that have arisen over the years.

Trivia

 * In an interview about the Super Mario series for the then-upcoming 30th anniversary, Shigeru Miyamoto implied that "Dr. Mario" was not a licensed doctor.