When many people think of Nintendo games, they probably associate the brand with console games. However, this has started to change. Over the past few years, the company has begun to make a name in the mobile gaming market. Games like Mario Kart Tour have become very successful for the company on mobile platforms. Unfortunately, not every game has enjoyed the same level of success, such as Dr. Mario World.
Dr.Mario World took the classic Dr. Mario franchise and attempted to breathe new life into IP by bringing it to mobile devices. The gameplay revolved around eliminating viruses through matching capsules. Sadly for fans, the opportunity to play this game no longer exists.
Recently, a message was published on the official Dr. Mario World Twitter account. The October 31 tweet noted that the game would no longer be available to play starting on November 1. In addition to noting the shutdown of the game, the message thanked fans for playing Dr. Mario World over the years. For those curious, attempting to play the game on or after November 1 will result in an end-of-service notification, informing players that the mobile title is no longer available to play.
While the developer had to break the bad news to fans regarding shutting down the game, gamers will have a chance to look back on past memories. According to the developer, a web page reportedly called Dr. Mario Memories is being created that intends to give nostalgic gamers a trip down memory lane. The message concluded with the developer wishing the best for fans in the future. “Good luck out there!” it said.
Upon release in 2019, Dr. Mario World gained many fans, as it was downloaded over 2 million times in only 3 days. Despite gaining the attention of gamers, it fell short of the financial successes of some other Nintendo mobile properties, such as Super Mario Run. As the first Nintendo mobile title, Super Mario Run had over 4.3 million downloads in the same amount of time. That was more than double that for Dr. Mario World. Furthermore, Fire Emblem Heroes with 4.9 million downloads, and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp with an impressive 6 million downloads, performed much better than the recently shut down Dr. Mario World.
While Dr. Mario World is shutting down, Nintendo is giving fans another way to play one of the earlier games in the series. Originally available on the Nintendo 64, gamers recently learned that Dr. Mario 64 was coming to Nintendo Switch via a more expensive subscription to the Switch online service that includes a collection of N64 games. In addition to including the base game, this version of the classic title supports online multiplayer.