Dr. Mario: Miracle Cure
The doctor is in the house!
Developer: Arika, Nintendo SPD Group No. 2, and TOSE. Allegedly. This game doesn't have credits...
Platforms: Nintendo 3DS
First Release Date: May 31, 2015
On this website, I like to put a screenshot of the title screen at the start of a game’s page. Dr. Mario: Miracle Cure does not offer you a title screen when you open it up. It simply places you on the image above, with the Doctors watching you expectantly. This is one of many things that lends this game to feeling like one of the most budget Nintendo titles ever made. The game’s lack of credits or general lack of presentation polish makes it feel just a little off. I think someone wrote down the title Dr. Mario: Miracle Cure on their Nintendo games fake leak, alongside titles like The Legend of Zelda: Crystals of Darkness and Kirby Dream Warriors, and a chance wish upon a falling star made this one real, sprung from the ether. Anyway, I do actually like this game.
This game is a collection of modes from Arika’s previous Dr. Mario games, with the addition of a new Miracle Cure powerup system. Classic Dr. Mario, Dr. Luigi (now confident enough to wear a head mirror instead of his hat), Versus rounds, and Virus Buster mode all return, and they’re all perfectly serviceable. The Miracle Cure Laboratory is an odd addition with very little meat on the bone. Most of its levels have you clear pre-made formations of viruses. Some of them are 10 second showcases of a cool combo, others just show you a picture of something from Super Mario Bros., and others are just completely regular versus rounds. It’s fine, just not very remarkable, and it's over before you know it. Once you beat them all, you don't even get credits or a congratulations screen. There aren't even intermission animations between rounds!
Where I think this game actually shines is in its endless Dr. Mario and Dr. Luigi modes- the Miracle Cure items work best here. A meter on the side of the screen fills and gives you different cures. Some clear all capsules or viruses of one color, and some destroy columns or rows or a small area. Matches and combos fill up your meter, giving combos a purpose beyond score in single player. The powerups are very plainly designed, and some of them are less helpful than others, but its still a fun system. Mounting a comeback from a full board is always satisfying. I keep coming back to these modes to see how far I can go, and it's given me more appreciation for Dr. Luigi’s mechanics in particular. The piece physics feel good, you can hard drop (It’s an Arika game after all), and its just a nice game to come back to. It just happens to be covered in the most generic low-budget wrapper possible.
Connie’s Competition: For whatever reason, the endless modes in this game keep calling to me. To all of the Dr. Mario: Miracle Cure fanbase, can you beat my high scores?
Actually, wait, nevermind. Why can’t you pick which song you want? That’s been in every Dr. Mario game! Sure, they’re the same somewhat underwhelming arrangements from the last couple games, but still… they don’t even have Que Que…
Thank you for reading!
