Nintendo Is Shutting Down Dr. Mario World For Mobile

Oh. This hurts alot. I put alot of time, hundreds of hours, into Dr. Mario World, playing it daily for alot of months, starting my days in the multiplayer, feeling the high of crushing people with Dr. Fire Rosalina and getting incredibly high scores in the daily bonuses.

It did look like the writing was on the wall though, for how little popularity this game has compared to your Pocket Camps and your FEHs. New Dr.s haven’t been appearing for a several months. They seemed to have been making very drastic moves to keep retention in the past month, but all I had the effort for was the dailies and the multiplayer in the last couple months before I lost the effort to play.

But I think this will be the Nintendo mobile game that has resonated with me the most. And I will attest this to be the best of the Dr. Mario games, even if it strayed away from the formula a bit.

I guess its neat that we’ll have a webpage we can look back at our past progress when its shut down, but I hope Nintendo makes the consideration to put an offline version of this game on Switch.

Dr. Mario couldn't create the covid vaccine

Finally no more babies getting medical licenses!
All is good in the word

Ah yes the digital age of gaming...

This sucks, I have recently really gotten back into playing this again.

I admit I could have played more frequently but this is just sad 😞

Probably for malpractice, shouldn't gotten bold and hired Goomba Tower as any type of medical physician.

Hopefully we get a new dr. Mario on the switch now

@Kyloctopus - Thus is the environment of which "games as a service," and in some extent, digital games have created.

You're sadly at the mercy of what they decide to provide.

But legit, an offline version with some beef to the whole lot isn't even a bad idea.

Alas, these are the pitfalls of games that rely on online servers to even be playable, when they’re gone, they’re pretty much gone for good.

That's really lame, I think the fans of the series deserve a new Dr. Mario, either on mobile or on switch.

This whole mobile game thing concerns me, since game preservation of games with services like these are gone forever and unable to be emulated soooo... piece of history is gone. Eventually like 20 or so years from now when pokemon go is gone, it's gonna be detrimental. Imagine if the original super mario bros is gone forever, and the only thing left of it's existence is youtube videos

FY2020 Nintendo mobile gaming revenue:
> Fire Emblem Heroes: $163 million
> Mario Kart Tour: $93 million
> Animal Crossing Pocket Camp: $78 million
> Dragalia Lost: $22 million
> Dr Mario World: $6 million

Dr Mario World's impending shutdown was inevitable.

I hate to say it, but I kind of forgot Dr. Mario had a mobile game until I saw this article.

Really upsetting. Ouch.

A shame. But I guess it was fun while it lasted.

@SorridoSnake So true. This is the reason I will always prefer physical games to digital ones.

This game had one of the best Mario character rosters in recent memory, very close to Aces. A shame it has to go.

I'll miss that Toy Story gif everyone would post on the character reveals.

@noobish_hat Not sure what bizarre schadenfreude you're getting out of this, but I guess good for you that people who enjoy a thing get to no longer enjoy the thing anymore. I'm glad this worked out for you.

Ya boy Mario lost his license for hiring yoshi.

I wonder if anyone will be able to try and unofficially preserve the game before the shutdown. Either way, this was easily Nintendo's best mobile title and it'll be somewhat of a shame to see it go.

I was patiently waiting for this game to be available in Chile.
I guess I'll never play it...

Dr. Goomba Tower, we hardly knew ye.

Translation: "Thank you for your money, now we will take that along with the game".

This is lame. I will even defend Nintendo when they do this with Mario 35 or All Stars, but when it comes to mobile games it feels worse. This is why I don’t put much time or effort into mobile games. I really liked Miitomo and then poof, it’s gone.

@Pojos98
Maybe this should make you reconsider defending them on Mario 35 and All Stars before the next mobile game they kill makes you feel bad.

Such a shame to see Dr. Mario World going down.
It might play more like Virus Buster in reverse, but it still was a nice game when it didn't try to go cheap on you.

I understand these things happen, but I feel this is being terminated too soon, and so was Miitomo when that happened, long live Miifotos.

@Pojos98 Miitomo and Super Mario Run are the only Nintendo mobile games I spent a lot of time on. Miitomo was great because the good content were created by the users and having a bunch of Nintendo fans as friends can really create some fun conversations.

Well damn that was quicker than I thought

@SalvorHardin The difference with Mario 35 and All Stars is that the terms were made clear from the beginning, so the expectations were clear. If Nintendo were to release a mobile game abd say it’s only getting support for one year, that’s fine, I won’t invest too much in it.

People blaming digital games when it's clearly a service-based games issue. Y'all know you can buy some of those physically and they will be useless eventually too, right? For Honor? Dead by Daylight? They're not going to get into your Switch and deactivate your digitally-owned Mario Odyssey.

@westman98 I guess Dragalia Lost is next. That's a shame since I dropped money on that game a few times. Oh well... Glad to support it while I could.

@Wilforce
I think Dragalia Lost is just successful enough to skirt the line of profitablility, whereas Dr Mario World most certainly was not.

I’ve played Dr. Mario World Since December of 2019 and I never knew something like this would happen to one of the greatest puzzle games since the N64 era

I don't even like it that much but I don't see why they couldn't just make an offline version of this game instead of removing it for everyone. Getting tired of Nintendo killing of their games.

@noobish_hat - So, basically how they treat their normal fans?

F-Zero Death is apparently a good thing.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
(Never played the game but it has to hurt)

Ok this sucks, couldn’t they just let people with something to play offline? My mother loves this game, I don’t want to see her reaction when the game just stops working.

@westman98 - Probably not even "skirting." Dragalia is the most successful mobile game for Cygames. Up until Granblue got that fighting game.

This is awful news. I loved the core of this game. It had many engaging levels and a strong multiplayer versus mode. The formula is honestly something I want to see in future games, along with Doctor Daisy!

I think Nintendo won’t be making any more mobile games.

@BlueStarFilms I miss the four player N64 version. I think that and Tetris had non-compete modes so the players that die first can start a new game while the better player keeps playing.

Guess I don't need to hang on to those diamonds anymore.

Good now port the whole game to Switch with even more contents and we'll pretend this mobile trash original never existed, maybe call it Dr. Mario World Ultimate or something.

See it this way: It's closing because the Mario Doctors are controlling their epidemic and by that day all viruses will have been suppressed.

I never played it because just by looking at the screenshots, I could tell it deviated from the classic formula.

@Tandy255 agreeable

Now give us a proper Dr Mario on Switch 😁

Port to Nintendo Switch into physical release with all contents inside, please.

And people wonder why I pirate digital-only content...

@noobish_hat - Your reasoning is applied the same way.

"It's different because I say so," isn't a good defense.

Okay, so who missed out on becoming a Doctor in this game?

@westman98 instead of shutting it down, just let us by it for an exit fee? Oh well. I stopped playing it several months ago.

I actually play this game all the time, so this is a major bummer for me. My wife plays it, too.

It was their best mobile game imho.. but then, I’ve been playing it loads and haven’t spent a penny on it…

.. so probably not very profitable for them

Well that's a shame. Though I didn't play that much of it (same with pretty much all my mobile games) for a mobile game, it didn't seem that bad; certainly better than their attempt at Mario Kart.
Here's hoping an offline version of this or a new Dr. Mario game come out sometime in the future.

I’m not surprised. This one never held my attention like the other nintendo apps. With these sort of puzzle apps, I always seem to hit a level I can’t get past for days at a time lol. Still, it was fun to see them turn every character into a Dr.

Wouldn’t mind something like this on the switch though. Or just a new Dr. Mario. Here’s hoping.

It’s a shame Nintendo don’t set an example to the rest of the industry and release an update so the title can be played offline, blocks all IAP but moves it into and delists the title. That way existing players can continue to enjoy it but no new players can accidentally download it.

Oh... My 3 yo daughter loves it, although I haven't really played it, despite having interest in it. I was planning on doing it at some point. I can let her play previous entries on console, but touch controls really suit this game.

Why not just let people play without the premium stuff? If Mario Kart World Tour and Super Mario Run end up shut down too, I'll never download a freemium game by Nintendo again, let alone purchasing the paid version as in Super Mario Run.

It's because mario is playing golf instead of taking care of his patients

Oh boy, this news does hurt, however, it was to be expected... , sooner or later, all games of this type will go away ..., it's a shame, since many games are good, but with this model of being a game always online, it does not help to enjoy it much and more if you want to play it more later.....

I still miss the sailor moon puzzle game, also succumb to this sad ending...

Oh well...

This is just free to play mobile games in a nutshell really. Like once people aren't playing and buying whatever coins, diamonds, tokens etc enough to cover costs of servers and make a profit. They all go

.... obviously not making enough money anymore, for Nintendo's liking.....

@westman98 It is such a shame for big business that they cannot see profit in a 6m turnover, many companies would be over the moon.
And it's shows they have no morals to 'fan service' cause they could of kept it running at a profit, but I get bored with company accountants that look at the figures in the way that you presented them and easily come to the conclusion that it's just not worth it!

But hey why should I be worried about Nintendo failing on a mobile game!

Never tried it so...

This saddens me. Dr Mario World is my favorite Nintendo mobile game. I understand why they shut it down. It wasn’t popular enough and wasn’t making them enough money. But still. Guess I should go and play it while I still can

Physical Switch port, plz. Thx.

It’s almost ridiculous that Nintendo haven’t released some kind of Dr. Mario game for the Switch yet, even if it’s merely a port of the Wii U’s Dr. Luigi.

@dew12333
$6 million in a year is a very low revenue figure.

Don't forget that 30% of that $6 million goes to Apple/Google, so Nintendo themselves only nets $4.2 million. It probably costs a lot more than that to support the game with regular content updates and maintain its servers, so it is almost certainly bleeding money.

Oh cool, another Nintendo mobile game shutting down before ever officially making it here.

Recurrently googling Fire Emblem Warriors APKs is a hassle, but I just became more motivated to do the same for Dragalia Lost. While it still friggin' LASTS.

Still got Dr Luigi on the Wii U so I'm good thanks. Feel for the people who were into this though. I've invested time in a couple of digital-only online-only games in the past but generally don't bother with them any more for this reason.

Another example of digital only gaming not lasting. I can’t imagine Dr Mario takes up that much server space in comparison to other games they own. If this is a struggle for them to maintain and even just say “the current levels are all you’re getting” and can’t just leave it running as it is then god help the bigger games. Still, this is why I predominantly still play physical games only that barely rely on internet connections. Hopefully the industry never supersedes the option.

@noobish_hat Nintendo will get a better idea of what’ll succeed. So far FE Heroes, Dragalia Lost and Pocket Camp have done well aside from Pokémon. Nintendo will probably focus more on sims, RPGs and AR, if they continue.

Probably the only Nintendo gacha game that you can really enjoy without putting down a single pound. It will be missed.

@PBandSmelly again people complain about the games Nintendo is bringing back. (Preservation Nintendo Online Service)

@Silly_G Maybe we will now

I guess when Mario Kart 9 comes out, Mario Kart Tour will also shutdown. Their final tour should be called "Farewell Tour".

Maybe they'll bring out a real Dr. Mario game, or use this as justification not to, I guess. Hoping for the former.

Why end it? It's a puzzle game. Couldn't they just release a final update to allow an offline mode?

This is a big reason why I don't like mobile gaming.

Let's be honest, the other Dr. Mario games for consoles and portables that are much better than this, are not very good on their own either.

Dr. Mario is kinda of a boring puzzler, it was fun back then when we needed more Tetris clones, but now we have so many of them, why we can't get more Puzzle League? This is one of the best puzzlers.

I hope you have spend plenty of money on a game you will never be able to play again ^^ /s

But seriously, this is my personal No.1 reason to not care about mobile titles.
Why invest time, let alone money, in something with a planned-obsolescence killswitch built in?

This is sad, I actually really enjoyed this game. I've unfortunately fallen behind on it because I've been playing a whole bunch of other mobile games and there just wasn't enough time in a given day to get to all of them, this game being the one I put on the backburner. Kind of a shame, I feel like I was one of the few people who legit enjoyed it and kept playing.

If I had made this game I wouldn't let it go to waste. Especially with all the content that has been added to it over time. I'd make a preserving offline version for Switch to save it from oblivion.

It's obligatory. I must say: mobile gaming it's not for me. This is one of the reasons. Poo

I'm surprised by the positive reception regarding Doctor Mario World, since I thought that people liked it the least, outside of Mario Kart Tour.

Anyways, this is even more confirmation that we are entering the Shuntaro Furukawa era, and leaving the Tatsumi Kimishima era behind. I say that because I feel this game was mostly made while Tatsumi Kimishima was president, and while Shuntaro Furukawa was still in the process of changing things at Nintendo, to make it run the way that he wants to run Nintendo.

This also shows more confirmation that Nintendo is seriously considering leaving the mobile industry, or at least stop making new mobile games. I'm saying this because it seemed like new mobile games stopped being released after Mario Kart Tour was released, so it seemed like Nintendo (& Shuntaro Furukawa) were trying to figure out what to do next with mobile.

I know they have the AR Mobile games releasing in the future, but I feel like it's a last-ditch effort on Nintendo's part to really get into mobile, if that makes sense. If the AR Mobile games aren't successful enough, I believe that Nintendo will definitely consider pulling out of the mobile market for a while (or possibly for good).

This was a fully realized, intricately constructed, and well-made Nintendo puzzle game. I have adored it for years. Only massive problem with it? It was so well-made, there was no need to spend money playing it. As such, it eschewed the very thing the F2P model thrives on- manipulation of the player.

It deserved to be a premium priced (probably console) release. It was too good for the tawdry space it was confined to.

Lol you all were warned mario kart is next.

Huh, that was quick. I've never played it, but for all the creative updates it was getting (Dr. Goomba Tower!), I thought the game was really popular. Seems it was not...

I hate this how much money does it take to hold a mobile game on a server ? I would love to know

Big fans of the Dr Mario series in my household but we never really gave the mobile game a go. I think I have owned or even currently own every iteration bar that one!

Sucks as I play this one quite regularly. Honestly if they gave me the option to pay £5 and keep playing with no online sever stuff or energy systems I would.

This is why I don't play mobile games, let alone get invested in them. They're only ever a bad fiscal quarter away from being shut down, so what's the point?

That's really sad. This game is fairly, so to see it already get the axe? sad