Nintendo has a long history of releasing games on several different systems.  Whether this is a bad thing or not largely depends on whether you are a fan or critic of Nintendo franchises in general.  Put me firmly in the "fan" camp.  I have no problem with this recycling, as long as the games are good, which in Nintendo's case, they usually are.  Who could argue that buying Smash Brothers three times was a waste of money?  And Tetris for the DS was absolutely worth purchasing, though I'd played it on the original Game Boy for years.  Let's consider Dr. Mario Online for a moment, then.  It's been available for the NES, Nintendo 64, and for the GBA TWICE, and recently it hit the WiiWare service.  Is it worth checking out, given the addition of a co-op mode? 

Read on after the break for our review.

IGN has given some details about the Japanese version of the WiiWare title, 'Dr. Mario & Virus Buster'.  Any gamer worth their salt has heard of Dr. Mario before; it's not a new title and has been released for several systems.  Co-op gamers, though, will find the other half of this release, Virus Buster, more interesting.  Virus Buster shares the same basic gameplay as Dr. Mario, with players matching colored pills to fight off viruses.  However, in this version, the action is zoomed in, and up to four players will work together to zap the bugs.  The control scheme will use the Wii remote, allowing players to point and twist blocks into place, all on the same screen.  When you consider that this co-op mode has been added onto an already solid single player and vs. title, 'Dr. Mario & Virus Buster' looks to be a winner.  (On a note unrelated to co-op, but still awesome, the game will allow you to send a vs. only version of the game to a friend via the Wii message board.  For free!)  Given the co-op features of other WiiWare games, as well, it appears Nintendo too understands that today's gamers want to work together!  Let's all cross our fingers in the hope that this game makes its way to other regions for release.