Dr Mario World puzzle game coming to iOS and Android this summer

NINTENDO has revealed it is having another crack at getting Mario to make them some money on mobile.

This time it's his white-coated alter ego, Dr Mario, who is coming to mobile phones in a puzzle game that's being developed by Line, who have developed some of Japan's most successful apps.

Line's eponymous messenger app is essentially Japan's WhatsApp and dominates mobile messaging there.

It also comes with some games built in, including the hugely successful Disney Tsum Tsum.

That's a match-three game which is available globally, but has only ever taken off in Japan -- but to the tune of £1.2 billion in revenue since January 2014.

Nintendo has struggled to make money from its properties on mobiles, with the £238m the five-year-old Tsum Tsum made last year dwarfing even Fire Emblem Heroes, Nintendo's most successful  phone game to date.

Dr Mario has starred in six games since his original game back in 1990, with cameos in many more.

The original's gameplay is similar to Tetris, except players need to create lines of matching colour rather than simply complete lines.

Nintendo does have a mobile Mario Kart game in the works too, but that was recently delayed due to concerns over quality.

Despite earlier hinting it could get out of the console business in favour of mobile phone games, there was recently some good news for those wanting new Nintendo games on the go - a smaller more portable Nintendo Switch may be on the way, while Microsoft revealed it is working on a way to let developers put Xbox Live features in Switch games.

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