Dr. Mario: Miracle Cure

(top right), and its core gameplay focuses on eliminating viruses by aligning capsules of matching colors to their corresponding virus. Dr. Mario: Miracle Cure is a falling block puzzle video game, starring the titular Dr. Mario. It houses 3 main game modes, each with different types of gameplay. The game ends if the capsules reach the top of the screen and the viruses haven't been eliminated in time. In "Dr. Luigi", two different capsules joined into L-shaped configurations are dropped into the playing field, taking from the "Operation L" mode of the game Dr. Luigi for the Wii U, which has similar mechanics; this mode allows the player to play as Mario's brother, Dr. Luigi. Nintendo Network service. Also available is the "Miracle Cure Laboratory", which makes it debut in the game, and features multiple set challenges. Each getting increasingly difficult, the challenges combine different aspects from the 3 modes, such as the regular capsules and the L-shaped ones. Also introduced are the "Miracle Cures", which are new power-ups that enhance gameplay by clearing all viruses on screen and offering help to the player, being unlocked when a meter seen alongside the game is filled; this mode can be toggled on or off. ==Development and release==

Dr. Mario: Miracle Cure was developed by Arika and Nintendo SPD, and published by Nintendo for the 3DS. The game was originally announced on May 31, 2015, during a Japanese Nintendo Direct, and was made available on the Japanese eShop on the same day. A Nintendo Direct Micro The game was subsequently released in the PAL regions of Europe and Australia on June 11, 2015, and June 12, 2015, respectively. ==Reception==

Dr. Mario: Miracle Cure received "mixed or average" reviews from critics, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. Fellow review aggregator OpenCritic assessed that the game received fair approval, being recommended by 18% of critics who reviewed the game. Jason Venter of GameSpot praised the power-ups new to the series and the subsequent new puzzles, but felt that the "Miracle Cure Laboratory" needed more than 50 stages. He appreciated the return of the "Dr. Luigi" and "Virus Buster" gameplay modes, although he criticized how "slow" the latter mode felt compared to its original iteration in Dr. Luigi. GamesRadar+'s Shabana Arif was pleased with the amount of new content that it added, which he felt was a "bargain". Despite this, Arif heavily criticized the Dr. Luigi mode as having "clunky" gameplay with its L-shaped capsules, feeling it was "[a] bad design shoehorned in as a nod to [Luigi] during his time in the spotlight", referring to the marketing campaign from the year prior, the Year of Luigi. Arif recommended the online and local play modes as alternatives for the AI used in regular match, ending his review by stating that it "lived up" to Dr. Mario Express. More positively, Marcel van Duyn of Nintendo Life praised the gameplay and amount of content, also calling the use of the "Miracle Cures" a fun addition to the series. Duyn commended it for having enough content so players would not grow tired of any single mode, as well as the online battle variants of some modes being "entertaining". Destructoid's Chris Carter was far more critical, criticizing the game for not expanding on previous gameplay elements and adding unneeded power-ups, a feature Carter felt did not add to the gameplay, but lauded the online multiplayer as the "smoothest [online mode] of any recent Nintendo game". While he enjoyed the quality of life improvements featured in Dr. Mario: Miracle Cure, Carter asserted that the multiplayer mode was the highlight of the game, leaving the single player experience feeling effortless on Nintendo's part. Sales Upon its release, Dr. Mario: Miracle Cure ranked third on the Nintendo eShop charts in Japan, only behind The Battle Cats POP! and BoxBoy!. The game would continue to place on the chart throughout the rest of June and remained charted until the week of September 17, 2015. ==Notes==