Proto:Dr. Mario (NES)/Virus 1989 & 1990

1-Player Game

Virus 1989 Proto	Dr. Mario Final

• Probably the most obvious change is the panel on the left. In the final game, it showed the 3 viruses dancing in a magnifying glass, but in the prototype you get this weird picture of a frowning cartoon dog sitting on a chair in front of a woman (I guess, it could be some sort of nurse like Nurse Toadstool). Every 6 seconds, the dog sneezes which creates no sound effect. They could be in the Mushroom Kingdom Hospital. The nurse or whoever she is, is holding a mysterious white bag which might carry the viruses.
• Every sound effects are slightly different.
• The virus aren't animated, which they are in the final game.
• The clipboards are coloured differently: They have black paper and the edges are purple.
• The pills don't have the outlines they do in the final. They were present in the third prototype of Virus.
• Dr. Mario looks considerably different: He has a different sprite design, and he isn't wearing his trademark stethoscope. His shoes are coloured white as well.
  • Dr. Mario has only one animation: Tossing the pill. In the final game, he had 2 extra animations which were: When he loses a level and when he wins a level. He shrugs and pumps his fist respectively.
• The background is just blue, whilst the final game has a checkered purple and black background.
• Virus is displayed on the top right instead of Dr. Mario as the game title was different. The Virus logo is identical to the one used in the title screen, though the Dr. Mario logo in this screen is different from the one in the title screen.
• In the right clipboard, it shows you how many Megavitamins you have tossed (indicated in the 'PILL counter), which was replaced by the speed level.
• Sometimes In Virus, one of the viruses are missing in the first level. But in Dr. Mario, every virus have appear at least once in every stage. This might be because of the dancing viruses on the left of the screen.
• The default high score is 5,000.
• The player's score caps at 999,999 in Virus. In Dr. Mario, it was increased to 9,999,999.
• Losing, brings up the MISS box that was absent in Dr. Mario.