Genre: Puzzle
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo

The two most important things involving a puzzle game's graphics are that the game's situations are easy to grasp in a glance, and that the title offers a little bit of "pizazz" to juice up what is otherwise a rudimentary genre. Dr. Mario nails the first aspect: the tiles' bright colors and distinct shapes give the brain two means of differentiation, and the plain background and unassuming HUD don't distract. There isn't a lot in the second category though: the game is more sophisticated looking than Tetris, but not by a wide margin.

"Make a song which sounds like being ill with the polka-dotted, chocolate milk cow syndrome." Composer Hirokazu Tanaka not only pulls off such a bizarre feat, but knocks it out of the park, using lots of NES sound chip wave-bending tricks and incredible compositional skills to quite literally create "cognitive dissonance in a melody". The game's sound effects are highly functional, with distinctive noises being used to indicate events such as all of one type of virus being eliminated.

Where "Tetris" is merely about filling, while "Columns" relates to correlation, Dr. Mario is the organizer's dream game: like putting socks in the sock drawer and underwear on the underwear shelf, Dr. Mario involves flipping and sorting two-colored blocks, in order to match four in a row, eliminating "viruses" which occupy the game stage. Like most era puzzlers, a two player competitive mode is also on offer, and the game's brisk tempo and sharp controls make for a highly playable experience.

For someone like this reviewer who traditionally doesn't enjoy falling block-style puzzle games, Dr. Mario is oddly enticing; it seems to require different parts of the brain's wiring from other such titles. On the flip-side, the game's mechanics don't seem as deep as competing titles, where annual "Classic Tetris World Championships" are still held. There also aren't very many modes, so once a decent high score is set, most will probably move on to the next game in their backlog. Still, Dr. Mario is a highly competent puzzle game, which executes well on pretty much every level.