Dr. Mario
Dr. Mario is a 1990 puzzle video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy. A spin-off of the Mario series, it is a falling block puzzle game in which the player's objective is to destroy the viruses populating the on-screen playing field by using colored capsules that are automatically tossed into the field by Dr. Mario. The player manipulates the falling capsules, to align the same colors, which destroys viruses. The player progresses through the game by eliminating all the viruses on the screen in each level. The game was produced by Gunpei Yokoi and programmed by Takahiro Harada, with the soundtrack composed by Hirokazu Tanaka.
Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA, read 5 September 2026.
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- Released
- 1990
- Developer
- Nintendo Research & Development 1
- Platforms
- 3 systems
- Critics
- Not scored
- Steam Deck
- Unknown
- Download
- Not stated
The record
| First released | 27 July 1990 |
|---|---|
| Developer | Nintendo Research & Development 1 |
| Publisher | Nintendo |
| Platforms | Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy |
| Genres | Puzzle |
Source. Catalogue facts from Wikidata Q1198580, seeded 30 August 2026.
How long is Dr. Mario? How long to beat it
Total play time for Dr. Mario is about 10 hours to do everything, and around 2.6 hours to reach the end of the main story. These are player-submitted times from HowLongToBeat, not our own, shown with the number of players behind each.
| How you play | Hours | Players logged |
|---|---|---|
| Just the main story: straight through the critical path | 2.6h | 116 |
| Main + the extras: story plus the side content most people do | 3.8h | 13 |
| Completionist: everything: 100% the game | 10h | 8 |
Source: HowLongToBeat community submissions, read 2026-10-19.
Where Dr. Mario sits on the grid
The grid places every game in the catalogue on measured axes rather than on an opinion. This is where Dr. Mario lands on each map it has the data for, with the share of the catalogue it beats on each axis.
- Year
- 44ahead of 4% of the catalogue
- Reach
- 48ahead of 86% of the catalogue
Percentiles are against the games that carry a reading on that axis, not the whole catalogue: counting a game with no figure as a zero would flatter everything that has one. How the grid works.
What readers say about Dr. Mario
Reviews written by people who have played it. These are separate from the GamingPickz Score and are never averaged into it: that score comes from thousands of Steam reviews with a sample-size correction, and a handful of unverified ratings would distort it rather than improve it.
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Where Dr. Mario appears
The ranked lists and finder pages Dr. Mario qualifies for, from its own genre and platform to what it takes to run.
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Common questions about Dr. Mario
What platforms is Dr. Mario on?
Dr. Mario is available on Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy. It first released in 1990.
Who made Dr. Mario?
Dr. Mario was developed by Nintendo Research & Development 1 and published by Nintendo.
How long does it take to beat Dr. Mario?
about 2.6 hours for the main story, 3.8 hours with the main extras, 10 hours to complete everything, from HowLongToBeat's player-submitted times. These are community medians, so your own run may be shorter or longer.