Did you see Doctor Mario? – Spoilers!

[Phil]

Jesus goodness dammit. I forgot just HOW addicting this game was. It’s got to be the best competition/puzzle game this side of Tetris.

It’s available for download from Wii Ware here in the States now (and I’m pretty sure it’s already available in the UK). GET IT.

If you do have it, add my friend code and post yours.
0797-4139-9821

If you DON’T have it, here’s the best part: you don’t need to buy it to play it. You just need to be friends with a person who does own it, and you can both compete against each other. But for that we need to register each other’s console numbers, which I don’t have with me right now.

If anyone’s interested in playing it that way, let me know and we’ll swap digits.

[Ben Paddon]

I’ll check my code when I get home and post it soonishly.

[Phil]

I need to re-add you in Mario Kart, as well. You never ended up showing up on my friends list…no idea why. Delete my code and try entering it again. The only people around here that I had a successful connect with are John and Shithead…but friends from other places seem to be added without a problem.

Nintendo hates G+T.

[Ian Symes]

Is it an American thing to say “addicting” instead of “addictive”?

[Jonathan Capps]

> Is it an American thing to say ?addicting? instead of ?addictive??

American == Wrong.

[Phil]

>Is it an American thing to say ?addicting? instead of ?addictive??

Possible…if only because I don’t think I have any experience of the word “addictive” outside of the phrase “addictive personality.”

It’d be easy enough to check the OED to see where (if ever, in fact) the two words diverged, but I’d rather play Dr. Mario.

[Phil]

Actually, a quick Googling reveals that “addicting/addictive” is a debate that’s been raging quite intensely. Mainly among those who would rather post emotionally on a message board rather than look it up in a dictionary.

I particularly enjoyed this link:
http://dionidium.com/2006/02/addicting

Not only does it make clear the distinction between the two words, but it also questions the necessity of drawing a distinction.

The short answer appears to be, yes, it’s “addictive” that I meant to say. But the somewhat longer and possibly worrying answer is that if “addicting” is becoming a synonym, however unofficially, the result could be overturned in a few generations.

Anyway, fuck all of you. Talk about Dr. Mario.

[John Hoare]

I got your friend invite, Phil – but when I tried to use it, a message came up on the Wii Shop telling me the game isn’t available here yet!

The Wiiware launch titles varied slightly between regions – I’m sure we’ll get it before too long…

[Phil]

Ah rats. Somehow I thought you guys had it already. I know the US region wasn’t the first to get it, but I guess we weren’t the last, either!

I was really curious how the friend-invite thing would work. As far as I understand you get a fully-functional game out of it for free, but you can only play against the person who invited you, and can’t do random matchups instead.

Which, I admit, kind of sucks.

But it’s very nice of Nintendo to offer even that much for free!

[Seb Patrick]

Do do do do do do do do do do do do do. Poom!
Do do do do do do do do DUR DUR DUR DUR.
Do do do do do do do do do do do do do. Poom!
Do do do do do do do do DIDDLEIDDLEIDDLEIDDLEIDDLEIDDLEIDDLEIDDLE!

BEST. MUSIC. EVAR.

[Dave]

>Possible?if only because I don?t think I have any experience of the word ?addictive? outside of the phrase ?addictive personality

Can you get addicted to personality?

[Ben Paddon]

Phil: Re-send me your MarioKart code. I’m not sure which one is yours anymore.

[mick]

Already have this on my NES, not going to spend money buying it again on Wii.

[Phil]

Yeah, if you’ve already got it there’s no point re-investing. It LOOKS better, yes, and the music is fortunately remixed in a way that sounds better without losing what made the original tunes so great. But it’s still the same game, and if you’ve got it, you’ve got it.

However, if you DON’T have a version of it, this is definitely the version to get. There are a few extra features that kind of suck (the click-and-drag version of the game is an exercise in preposterous tedium) but the WiFi competition mode can keep you busy for hours at a time.

Benbo:
1590-5083-2099

Post yours again, too. A while back I cleared out a bunch of dead numbers that never resolved and yours might have been among them.

[Pete Part Three]

Will have to get this. Despite having a love of all things Mario-related (with the exception of Super Mario Bros 2 USA), I don’t think I’ve ever played this on any platform.

[Phil]

You know, I really LIKE Mario Bros. 2. I downloaded it on the Virtual Console and decided I still enjoy it.

I remember being disappointed as a kid…back then nobody really knew it was just a re-branded, unrelated Japanese game…and I was kind of worried about the direction the series was taking. It seemed like a big step backward.

But now that we know it was just an experiment (I guess…) we can kind of appreciate it for what it is…a pretty fun, cute little game.

Funny that the two major Nintendo franchises–Mario and Zelda–took such radically different approaches for the second installment…and then more or less abandoned that direction immediately.

[Kevin G]

I find it interesting how much the Mario Bros series has ended up influenced by its repurposing of Doki Doki Panic. Most of Luigi and Peach’s early characterization was defined by the game. Snifits, Shyguys, Pokeys, and Bob-ombs have become regular enemies and Birdo has made appearances in the party-type games. Doors, picking up and throwing items, keys, vertical levels, themed worlds, ice platforms, and quicksand all arguably originated from it. That’s quite a big impact considering Sub-con has never been mentioned again.

I’d talk about Zelda 2’s influence, but I didn’t like it that much and thus I don’t know as much about it and haven’t played it very much. I guess it was the first to add some RPG elements like magic, more varied terrain like towns and caves, and Shadow Link. And there have been a few side-scrolling areas in later games.

I’m looking at Wikipedia and it says “More complex plot and dialogue and NPCs and sidequests and the triforce of courage was introduced as well as its belonging to Link/appearing on the back of his hand and town names are names of characters in later games.” Also, the first Zelda’s brother decreed that all females born to the royal family be named Zelda in honor of her falling asleep and not waking up or something. I did not know that one, but I guess it explains alot.

[Arlene Rimmer BSc SSc]

Mario 2 came with my SNES, in Super Mario All-Stars, and I quite like it. It’s lighthearted and colorful, I find the music rather catchy (altho’ the underground BGM will get right on your last nerve if you’ve been playing for a while), and I’d just like to give a big friendly hug to whoever gave Peach the ability to float when she jumps. It almost feels like cheating =P .

[Phil]

Yeah, Kevin, all good points. A few of the carry-overs from SMB2 I really couldn’t care less about (Birdo…hooray…) but some of the others, such as the Bob-Ombs, really have become essential to the universe. It’s a great game, for what it is. I’m GLAD they went back to stomping rather than lifting/hurling, and there’s only so much vegetable picking anyone should have to do in an action game, but it’s still lots of fun.

The only real development I think Zelda 2 brought to the table was the abundance of NPCs. Which was, and remains, a hugely important development in the franchise, don’t get me wrong. But the “magic,” as it’s used in that game, we really don’t ever see again. Sure, you end up with a stray spell here and there in the later games, but you never have nearly that arsenal that you have in Zelda 2, and so the “spells” function more as items later on. (Items being something almost entirely absent from Zelda 2!)

You do get magic meters in later games, but for the most part it regulates spin attacks and certain non-ammunition items like the Deku Leaf from Wind Waker.

Magic WAS an important development, I do agree with you on that…but Zelda 2’s magic SYSTEM–which was the main innovation–didn’t survive to the next game.

[Ridley]

http://www.vc-reviews.com/ is a good site for finding out what’s out where.

(And everyone knows Nintendo hates Europe)

It’s Tension Sheet: The Game Why didn’t the Dwarf site do that?

[Ben Paddon]

This thread needs to be renamed to “Did you see Doctor Mario? – Spoilers!”

[Phil]

No idea what you’re talking about, Ben.

[Phil]

So did this ever come out in the UK?

[John Hoare]

I think it’s there now, yes!

INVITE ME AGAIN PLZ.

[Phil]

I promise I’ll do it when I remember! (Which could be tonight, or, just as likely, fifteen months from now.)

[Ridley]

The moment I saw it, I thought, “What is that?”

[Jason aka Smeg4Brains]

What…the fuck….was that!

[Pete Part Three]

I’m resurrecting this thread to reveal that I played Dr Mario for the first time last weekend, by means of a ROM.

And I haven’t stopped since.

For twenty years, I wrote it off as a Tetris clone. Well, maybe it is. But, fuck, I can’t put it down. I’m thinking about playing it now…as I write this…ARGHHH.

This thread can now RIP.

[takerdemon]

No no no! You’ve given it new life! I played it a few weeks ago… classic game. Seb’s right too, I recall the music just from his blurb on it there.

I must say as good as it was, I enjoyed Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine just as much; even if it did have an awful title.

[Ridley]

So thanks to someone on Another Forum providing a link to a site that provides the SNES/NES catalogue through Flash without the need to download ’em, I have sampled the games denied to me all those years ago by lines on maps.

But I am now playing Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

[Author]

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