History of Nintendo
Their first video arcade game was 1975's "EVR Race"; a handful of others followed in the next several years, "Radar Scope" and "Donkey Kong" being among the most famous of these. The early 1980s saw Nintendo's video game division (led by Yokoi) creating some of its most famous arcade titles. The massively popular "Donkey Kong" was created in 1981, with Shigeru Miyamoto as its mastermind, and released in the arcades and on the Atari 2600, Intellivision, and ColecoVision video game systems (although Nintendo themselves generally had no involvement with these early console ports). This release method would be used on several later Nintendo arcade games of this same period, including the original "Mario Bros." (not to be confused with the later "Super Mario Bros.") In addition to this arcade and dedicated console game activity, Nintendo was testing the consumer handheld video game waters with the Game & Watch.
Mario (franchise)
(stylized as "D℞. Mario") is a series of arcade-style action puzzle video game originally developed by Nintendo Research & Development 1, and later developed by Arika and produced by Nintendo Software Planning & Development. The first in the series, "Dr. Mario", was launched in 1990 on the Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy to critical and commercial success. In the "Dr. Mario" series, the player character Mario, who assumes the role of a doctor, is tasked with eradicating deadly viruses. The player's objective is to destroy the viruses populating the on-screen playing field by using falling colored capsules that are dropped into the field, similarly to "Tetris". The player manipulates the capsules as they fall so that they are aligned with viruses of matching colors, which removes them from playing field. The player progresses through the game by eliminating all the viruses on the screen in each level.
There have been 4 "Dr. Mario" games released for home consoles and two portable games, for a total of six original titles. As the series has progressed, each new game has introduced new elements in order to keep the gameplay fresh such as new game modes. In 2001, "Dr. Mario 64" for the Nintendo 64 introduced new game modes such as a "Story" mode, "Score Attack" and "Marathon", Wario as a playable character and four-player multiplayer. After a seven-year hiatus, in 2008, "Dr. Mario Express" for the Nintendo DSi's DSiWare service re-introduced the series to the portable gaming market. Also in 2008, "Dr. Mario Online Rx" for the Wii's WiiWare service introduced online multiplayer to the series. In 2013, "Dr. Luigi" for the Wii U's Nintendo eShop introduced Luigi as the playable character as well as a "Operation L" game mode in which all capsules assume the shape of the letter "L".