Nintendo just announced a new free-to-play Dr. Mario
A bitter pill to swallow?
If you're still drying your eyes over the delay of Mario Kart Tour, Nintendo's offered up just the cure. There's an all-new free-to-play Dr. Mario headed to mobile, with development being headed up by South Korean outfit NHN Entertainment, who follow DeNa and Cygames in being trusted with Nintendo's IP.
Dr. Mario World is aiming for a summer release, and it'll be available in 60 different countries with Japan and the US listed as launch targets - though with Europe not currently listed, there's a chance it'll join Dragalia Lost which has yet to see a European release, Nintendo's most recent mobile effort, in taking its time to come to these shores. I'm told we'll have to wait for the full list of 60 countries supported at launch to see if anywhere local makes the cut.
Dr. Mario's puzzling does make a perfect fit for mobile, and it'll be interesting to see how NHN Entertainment chooses to evolve the formula of the 1990 NES original. Which, it's worth pointing out, is available to play on Switch as part of the Nintendo Switch Online service. It's pretty decent.