When I first heard that Dr. Mario was going to be re-releases on the N64, I flashed back to my NES days. The idea of having a four-player version with new moves and remixed music really had me primed.
After playing a few hours of the Classic mode and thinking how it stayed true to the original, I tried out the other modes. I quickly realized that Flash, Story, Marathon and Score attack were only minor deviations on the original theme (Eliminate the viruses quickly, eliminated the flashing viruses, eliminate the viruses forever). Then the shock hit me: Dr. Mario hasn't aged well.
Dr. Mario 64 still uses the exact same system it has always uses. What is the use of including a Classic mode in a game that still uses the Classic interface for all of the new modes? No new power-ups are included and no new techniques are required to play any of the additional modes. Dr. Mario 64 even uses the same controller setup that the NES version uses. With 9 buttons on the 64 controller instead of the two found on the NES, you would think someone would have at least considered moving the "drop vitamin capsule quickly" command to an actual button to avoid accidental vitamin dropage. If points were accumulated for curse words uttered when accidentally dropping a vitamin, I'd have the all time high score.
Dr. Mario is still a fun game but fails to incorporate any new innovations into its classic gameplay. Get this only if you are tired of digging out your NES to play the original.
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