Dr. Mario World Multiplayer Detailed In Latest Trailer

Dr. Mario World is just about a week away, and as we close in on release day, Nintendo has revealed that the game will have an online multiplayer component. That, of course, means that you'll be able to go toe-to-toe with your friends in online matches, but like most mobile games, there will be benefits to filling your friends list as well.

In a new trailer published today, Nintendo says that you can add friends from either LINE or Facebook. Since this is a Nintendo mobile game, we'd expect some support for adding friends through the Nintendo Network, but strangely that wasn't mentioned at all in the video.

In any case, once your friends list actually has some people on it, you can do a number of things. You can view your friends' progress through the game and you can also send them hearts (or receive hearts from them). Hearts grant stamina that you can use to progress through stage mode, so taking the time to pad out your friends list definitely won't be a bad idea.

The main draw of multiplayer, however, is Versus mode. In this mode, you'll pick a doctor and play through real-time matches against people on your friends list. Each doctor has an attack stat and defensive stats for each of the various types of viruses. As you play, your attack bar will fill up, and when it's full, you'll add viruses to your opponent's boards. Depending on your opponent's defense stats, it looks like they may be able to block your attacks entirely, so picking a doctor who's strong in defense could definitely serve you well.

On top of all that, each doctor also has a special ability they can use when their skill bar fills up. The video previews some of those skills, noting that Dr. Peach can clear one column at random while Dr. Toad can clear 5 random objects on the board. Dr. Mario World is out on July 10th on both iOS and Android, with pre-registration open now on both platforms.