Dr Piranha Plant Twitter
Image: Nintendo

Do you remember the off-the-wall reveal of Piranha Plant as a Smash Bros. Ultimate fighter? In vintage Nintendo style, a character choice that appeared too silly to be practical soon revealed itself as a fun and complex addition to the roster (and gave way to one of our all-time favourite amiibos, to boot).

Far be it from us to deny sentient flora the opportunity to improve its station in life (hey, if they can scrap and play tennis, who are we to judge?). However, handing out PhDs to carnivorous plants might be taking things a tad too far.

Yes, Dr. Piranha Plant M.D. is in the house and shall be practising (presumably herbal) medicine later today when it takes residence on your smartphone in Dr. Mario World.

Given the characters already making you cough and say 'arhh' in Nintendo's mobile version of the virus-zapping puzzle game, the promotion of a plant is not exactly a surprise. One might question the credentials of Dr. Mario himself as a healthcare professional, but given the choice between Super Mario or a selection of infants, a dolphin, an ape, or — we kid you not — three goombas in an overcoat, we'd probably take our chances with a moonlighting plumber performing our something-ectomy.

There will also be new stages added to the game later today, as per the tweet below from the Dr. Mario World official account:

Have you been enjoying Dr. Mario World on your mobile device? Does a piece of white material with a picture of a pill on it qualify as proper attire for a medical practitioner? Let us know below if you'd let a plant with teeth (although, curiously, no eyes) take a look at your tonsils.

[source twitter.com]