Dr. Mario (NES)

From Video Game Music Preservation Foundation Wiki
Jump to: navigation, search
Dr. Mario
Dr. Mario - NES - USA.jpg
Platform: NES
Year: 1990
Developer: Nintendo R&D1
Buy: Amazon

Dr. Mario is a reflexive puzzle game in the same class as Tetris where you're trying to make lines of colored pills in order to kill bacteria in a jar. It features cartoon graphics of Mario and the bugs to make it look appealing. You can play at 20 different difficulty levels with three different speed settings each. While the game never reached the popularity of Tetris, is has developed quite a following, and many people have played the game enough to beat it on its hardest difficulty level. You can also play with an opponent in two-player mode which allows you to send random pill pieces over to your opponent when you get multiple lines in a row.

Screenshots

Dr. Mario - NES - Title.png

The title screen.

Dr. Mario - NES - Playing.png

Two-player head-to-head.

Dr. Mario - NES - Easy.png

Normal single-player game.

Dr. Mario - NES - Pills.png

Pills here!!!

Dr. Mario - NES - Died.png

I just don't know what went wrong.

Dr. Mario - NES - Virus.png

That's a lot of viruses.

Music

VGMPF Album Art       Icon-Help.png

Dr. Mario - NES - Album Art.jpg

Due to Dr. Mario's popularity, the music has also become quite popular. The two main tracks for game play, Fever and Chill, are the best-sounding and most intricate tracks in the game, but some of the other tunes are fun to listen to. Hirokazu Tanaka, the game's composer, had been making music for Nintendo for 10 years by the time he composed music for this game. While most of the music flows nicely, some of the tracks seem to have a stutter in them. Perhaps Tanaka was trying something different with the sound.

Track 13, formerly listed as 'Unknown', is played when clearing Level 20 on speed Low. Most of the track titles come from the Famicom 20th Anniversary Vol. 3 album.

Most of the game's soundtrack was adapted to the Game Boy version, also by Tanaka.

Recording

# Title Composer Length Listen Download
01 Title BGM Hirokazu Tanaka 2:05
Download
02 Select Hirokazu Tanaka 0:48
Download
03 Fever Hirokazu Tanaka 2:21
Download
04 Chill Hirokazu Tanaka 4:01
Download
05 Fever Clear Hirokazu Tanaka 0:22
Download
06 Chill Clear Hirokazu Tanaka 0:21
Download
07 Game Over Hirokazu Tanaka 0:23
Download
08 VS Game Over Hirokazu Tanaka 1:54
Download
09 Player 1 Multiple Hirokazu Tanaka 0:01
Download
10 Player 2 Multiple Hirokazu Tanaka 0:01
Download
11 Level 20 HI Clear (UFO) Hirokazu Tanaka 1:01
Download
12 Ending Hirokazu Tanaka 1:18
Download
13 Unknown Hirokazu Tanaka 1:56
Download

Credits

(Source: Official soundtrack liner notes, verification from composer; game lacks credits)

Because the game was developed at an early time when credits were uncommon, it's no surprise this game doesn't have any. However, the game's composer, Hirokazu Tanaka has verified in various interviews that he is the composer, and has listed the game in his works. He also composed the Game Boy version.

Albums

Game Rip

Format

Download

NSF.png

Download

(Info)


Ripping NES music is a very arduous process that is beyond the scope of this site.

Releases

  Japan.svg   Japan
Dr. Mario - NES - Japan.jpg
Title: ドクターマリオ (Dr. Mario)
Platform: Famicom
Released: 1990-07-27
Publisher: Nintendo Co., Ltd.
  USA.svg   USA
Dr. Mario - NES - USA.jpg
Title: Dr. Mario
Platform: NES
Released: 1990-10-??
Publisher: Nintendo of America Inc.
  Germany.svg   Germany
Dr. Mario - NES - Germany.jpg
Title: Dr. Mario
Platform: NES
Released: 1991-06-27
Publisher: Nintendo Co., Ltd.

Links