This is another of my favorite games for the NES but also one of my favorite puzzle games of all time. This was one of the very first spin off games from the Mario franchise and still one of the best. Could of easily of been a game without Mario as by its nature this really is a stand-alone game but with Mario slapped on it, though that's not a bad thing because if Mario wasn't in this, I probably wouldn't have noticed this game.
This game was a phenomenon and it's easy to see why, I remember the commercial's they had in the 90's which were a lot of fun in themselves two of them you can say are almost music videos. One was this rock song "He's got the cure" with a party of preteens in 90's gets up dancing.
Another which was the classic Witchdoctor song, and it was one teenager competing with a witch doctor on the game. There is even an annual video game tournament on this game held.
There really isn't much to say, your pretty much Mario whose mission is to destroy colored viruses with medicine pills. That's it in a nutshell and that's part of the games joy is in its sheer simplicity and once again showing how less can be more; like with all puzzle games it's simple but complex at the same time.
This game is pretty much a matching puzzle game, you have three colorful ugly, cute, and deadly viruses much like the Critters from "Critters", each consist of colors red, blue, and yellow. And you armed with pills which consists of different colors of different patterns. And you must match and line up three pills to neutralize the virus/viruses. But of course, you must be careful not to make too many mistakes otherwise the viruses will overrun you and you'll come down with the sickness of loss.
The controls are basic as you move your current oncoming pill toward the virus, in different directions and can rotate it to the position that suits you and the current situation best. Each of the puzzles are al different as each of the virus are arranged in different alignments, different configurations, in different numbers. This will exercise your brain muscles because you not just have to match the colors but find a way to maneuver well to do the match up. The game also can be tense as each drop assigns you a limited amount of time to think and execute your plans.
Like with a lot of puzzle games I really like how you have this range of options where you can make it as simple or as hard as you want, depending on your skill level or if you even just feel like a simple brain warm up/exercise.
I also like how in the game you can create chain combinations which is cool, and this game was one of the first puzzle games to do it. It's a little trick but not that hard as it's really a matter of thinking of what you want to happen before it does. I really like this because it teaches you to think ahead one step or several, if possible, much like with chess as you observe your board carefully on where the characters are positioned, anticipate, and then make your moves.
Another thing I like is the two-player function which was something the puzzle genre didn't have before as most puzzle video games were main built to be solo. You can compete against a friend which increases the enjoyment as it's just fun seeing if you can blow the other away with the speed of your wit and intellect. Which is part of the reason I always love to invite and get my friends to play this game but best of all my wife as she really enjoys this game and blowing me away with it, likewise myself.
For fan and even non fans of the puzzle game genre, this vintage classic is a prescription for fun.
Rating: 4 stars.
