Dr.Mario Online Rx

Dr. Mario Online Rx is WiiWare title and is a remake of the classic NES game Dr. Mario.  For those unfamiliar with Dr. Mario, it's a puzzle game similar to Tetris, but instead of getting a high score with T-blocks and L-blocks, you are trying to eliminate viruses with Megavitamins.  In one of the single player modes, when you clear the screen of viruses the stage is complete and you move on to a harder stage.  The pacing with the difficulty level per stage is very fair and not overwhelming, every level adds four viruses.

There are multiple modes in the game, the one just described is Classic mode.  The other modes include VS CPU and Flash.  VS CPU is straight forward, similar gameplay but against a computer player.  Flash is different because you only have to eliminate the three flashing viruses among the other non-flashing ones.  The 2-Player modes are the same with the exception of VS CPU, which is not present.  The main mode, which is implied by the title, is NWC VS.  NWC stands for Nintendo Wi-fi Connection.  It utilizes the online functionality by facing off against other people from around the world.  While it may take a while to either connect or find an opponent, there is no internet lag or (rare) disconnections.

There are four different music tracks, cleverly titled Fever, Chill, Cough, and Sneeze.  The music was also remade for this version of the game, and it sounds really good (personal favorite is Sneeze).  There are two other options for music, random and off, both are self explanatory.  The music is slightly different in the new mode exclusive to this game.  That new mode is Virus Buster, a slower but unique way to play Dr. Mario.  Instead of playing with the control pad to move the Megavitamins, you use the pointer and the A button.  This new mode can also support up to four players.

I couldn't really make out what could be wrong or bad in this game other than it being repetitive and/or boring after a while.  In conclusion, the game is really fun and even more fun with a friend, with a slight downside of it being repetitive gameplay.

Dr. Mario Online Rx gets a rating of Green Star

or 4 out of 5 if you're one of those people.

A little bit of trivia: The three viruses have names! The red is one is Fever, blue is Chill, and the yellow one is Weird. That's nothing to sneeze at!