Nintendo made its first major attempt at mobile gaming on smart devices with Super Mario Run at the end of 2016. Today, our multitalented hero is being tapped for another one of his professions in the Japanese game company’s latest mobile release. Dr. Mario World is out now — a day early — on iOS and Android, and it gives gamers a Candy Crush-style match-three experience with Nintendo flavor.
The original Dr. Mario was released in 1990 and designed by Takahiro Harada, who also worked as the main programmer for Metroid 2: Return of Samus. Mario puts on a doctor outfit in the puzzler and matches colored pill capsules to destroy viruses.
The first game was a falling block game similar to Tetris, but the mobile game Dr. Mario World has capsules enter the puzzle from the bottom of the screen instead of the top. You also have a limited amount of capsules to clear the viruses with, so the game encourages a slower and more methodical approach versus similar games.
Dr. Mario World is free-to-start, meaning you’ll be able to work through a collection of levels without having to spend a dime. Taking on the game’s puzzles requires hearts and you start out with an infinite heart as you work through the stages that teach you how to play and get you hooked on the Dr. Mario World rhythm before it asks you for money. Additional menu options, such as an online Versus Mode, are locked until you complete level 20 in single-player, so that’s likely when the free-to-start road ends.
Microtransactions are an obvious concern in these types of games and Dr. Mario World does indeed have them. You use diamonds to unlock more hearts, and you purchase diamonds with real money. Five hearts equals five puzzles you play and you can get them with 10 diamonds. 30 diamonds get you one hour of unlimited play. Here’s the breakdown of diamond prices:
While Dr. Mario World doesn’t have you working against a clock in each puzzle, you will be burning through levels if you use one of the hearts that gives you an hour to play. Like the wildly popular game Candy Crush, you can connect Dr. Mario World to your Facebook account and ask friends for hearts as well. Thus far, it has all the makings of typical addictive mobile puzzle games. This game’s performance will surely color how Nintendo continues to move forward in the mobile gaming space, specifically with the upcoming Mario Kart Tour.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.