Editing Dr. Mario

|caption      = [[File:MarioSymbol.svg|50px|class=invert-dark]]

|lastappearance= ''{{s|mariowiki|WarioWare: Move It!}}'' (2023, cameo)

Dr. Mario is not a unique character, but rather just [[Mario]] wearing a doctor's garb. According to his [[mariowiki: Dr. Mario (game)|eponymous debut game's]] manual, he took a break from adventuring in order to work in a virus research lab at the {{s|mariowiki|Mushroom Kingdom Hospital}} alongside [[Princess Peach|Nurse Toadstool]].<ref>"I'm Mario. How's it going? Over the last few years, I've been involved in some pretty wild adventures. Now, believe it or not, I work in the virus research lab at the Mushroom Kingdom Hospital." ''Dr. Mario'' instruction manual for NES, page 3.</ref> When an experiment goes wrong, the hospital was flooded with three differently colored types of {{s|mariowiki|Virus}}es.<ref>"One of the experiments has gone out of control.  The viruses are spreading quickly!" ''Dr. Mario'' instruction manual for NES, page 3.</ref> Arming himself with {{s|mariowiki|Megavitamin}}s, a medicine of his own invention<ref>"I have just developed a new vitamin that should be able to take care of it.  I sure hope this stuff works!" ''Dr. Mario'' instruction manual for NES, page 3.</ref>, Dr. Mario sets out to neutralize the outbreak.

''Dr. Mario''{{'}}s gameplay sees Dr. Mario throwing Megavitamins into a prescription bottle. Afterward, the player can move and land them on Viruses, which spawn throughout the bottle. [[wikipedia:Tile-matching video game|Connecting a line of four or more]] halves will make those halves disappear. If the other halves were suspended at the time, they will resume falling, but cannot be controlled any more. Connecting a line of three or more halves of Megavitamins to a Virus of the corresponding color, the Virus disintegrates. As such, blue Megavitamins eliminate blue Viruses (known as "Chill" in the ''Nintendo Comics System'' comic), red Megavitamins eliminate red viruses (known as "Fever" in the same comic), and yellow Megavitamins eliminate yellow viruses (known as "Weird" in the comic). Removing all of the Viruses on the screen advances the player to the next level. If the player runs out of Megavitamins or the bottle becomes completely filled with viruses still alive, the game ends. If the player reaches the final level on the highest difficulty, they will see a cutscene of the viruses climbing a tree and being taken in by a UFO, implying that they were not only diseases, but also aliens. The other endings show the same shot of the tree, but instead show bizarre images such as witches, flying books, and triceratopses piloting egg planes. The player can choose two songs, the upbeat ''Fever'' or funky ''Chill'', while later ''Dr. Mario'' games have introduced extra songs such as ''Cube'' and ''Que Que''.

All subsequent ''Dr. Mario'' games retain the core gameplay, with some also introducing new mechanics, but only two games feature actual plots - ''{{s|mariowiki|Dr. Mario 64}}'' and ''{{s|mariowiki|Dr. Mario World}}''. Some Dr. Mario games have introduced new doctors, with ''{{s|mariowiki|Dr. Luigi}}'' introducing the titular character, and ''{{s|mariowiki|Dr. Mario Online Rx}}'' introducing doctor [[Mii]]s. ''Dr. Luigi'' also introduces 3 new viruses, who have not been seen since. Multiple ''Dr. Mario'' games have been bundled with other titles, such as ''[[Panel de Pon|Puzzle League]]''; ''[[Tetris]]''; ''Yoshi's Cookie'', or "Germ Buster", a mode based on ''Dr. Mario'' from the {{uv|Brain Age}} series.

In ''Dr. Mario 64'', Dr. Mario seeks to reclaim his Megavitamins after they are stolen by {{s|mariowiki|Mad Scienstein}} on behalf of his master, {{s|mariowiki|Rudy}}, both from ''{{s|mariowiki|Wario Land 3}}''. However, Dr. Mario also has to contend with [[Wario]], who seeks to steal the Megavitamins from Mad Scienstein and sell them for money.

In ''{{s|mariowiki|Dr. Mario World}}'', the potential of an outbreak in the Mushroom Kingdom first mentioned in ''Dr. Mario'' comes to pass: red, blue and yellow Viruses appear en masse and are joined by the debuting green, light-blue, purple and pink Viruses. In response, Dr. Mario sets out to cure local inhabitants of their infections; beginning with level 11, he is joined by Dr. Peach in her bid to help the [[mariowiki:Toad (species)|Toads]], as well as Dr. [[Bowser]], who wants to cure his minions himself. However, they are also joined by several other doctors (including [[Yoshi]], [[Toad]], {{s|mariowiki|Toadette}}, [[Bowser Jr.]], the [[Koopalings]], Wario, [[Waluigi]], [[Princess Daisy]], [[Rosalina]], [[Luma]], [[Donkey Kong]], [[Diddy Kong]], a [[Goomba]] Tower and the returning Dr. Luigi) and, for the first time in the series, assistants from a variety of species within the ''Mario'' series.

 

Dr. Mario made his ''Mario Kart'' debut in ''{{s|mariowiki|Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit}}'' as an outfit, and would later reappear in ''Mario Kart Tour'' alongside Dr. Luigi, Dr. Bowser, and Dr. Peach.

These factors have resulted in Dr. Mario's tier status and tournament representation both suffering from a vast downturn compared to his appearance in ''Melee''. To reflect this, Dr. Mario is ranked 48th out of 54 on the [[tier list]], placing him in the F tier and rendering him a low-tier character.

Despite the term "Echo Fighter" being used in ''Ultimate'' to denote clones, Dr. Mario is not labeled as such, and no official reason has been given for this oddity. However, it is worth noting that no clone characters introduced before ''SSB4'' are labeled as Echo Fighters.