- A new smartphone game from Nintendo is in the works, and it stars everyone’s favorite, Mario.
- “Dr. Mario World” is a free-to-play puzzle game for both Apple and Android devices.
- The game arrives on July 10.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Nintendo’s second-ever smartphone game starring Super Mario is nearly here.
The game is “Dr. Mario World,” and it’s a free-to-play puzzle game based on the long line of “Dr. Mario” puzzle games from Nintendo. Like previous games in the series, “Dr. Mario World” has players matching trios of the same color. As the doctor, you’re sending pills against germs, matching groups of three to kill the germs.
The game is set to arrive on both iOS and Android devices on July 10, Nintendo said on Tuesday.
Like previous Nintendo games on smartphones, "Dr. Mario World" was developed in collaboration with third-party partners - in this case, it's the Japanese social media company Line and the Korean game development studio NHN Entertainment.
Also like previous Nintendo smartphone games, "Dr. Mario World" is "free to download with optional in-app purchases."
A new trailer reveals what that will mean for players - a trio of virtual currencies that feed into each other, one of which is paid:
Players can use diamonds for a variety of things in "Dr. Mario World" - to continue on a level if you've lost, or to buy more hearts (which run out as you play and slowly refill over time).
It's a familiar system to anyone who's spent time with so-called "free-to-play" mobile games, but it's new to Nintendo's smartphone efforts.
The company's previous smartphone game with Mario, "Super Mario Run," allowed people to download the game and play the first few levels for free - anything beyond that cost a flat fee. Rather than buying sets of levels, you paid to unlock the rest of the game. The first few levels served as a demo of sorts.
But the free-to-play puzzle game market on smartphones is dominated by the "Candy Crush" model: Play as long as you want ... until you hit a paywall that you can either wait to lower or pay to go through. Nintendo is adopting that model with "Dr. Mario World."
Check out the first gameplay trailer for "Dr. Mario World" right here:
