Dr. Mitchell

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***Dr. Mitchell*** (ミッチェル博士, *Mitcheru hakase*?) (stylized as **DR. Mitchell**) is a 2020 action puzzle video game developed by Black Forest Games and published by THQ Nordic in association with Nickelodeon Games released for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Microsoft Windows PC consoles on July 27, 2020. The game is produced by and designed by Viacom Networks Japan K.K. and the game's soundtrack was composed by MITCHELL Project Music Team. The mobile counterpart of the game is developed and published by HandyGames in collaboration with Nickelodeon and ViacomCBS will be released for Android and iOS mobile platforms in next month after console versions release.

In this falling block puzzle game, the player's objective is to destroy the viruses populating the on-screen playing field by using colored capsules that are tossed into the field by Mitchell and his buddies, who assumes the role of a doctors. The player manipulates each capsule as it falls, with the goal being to align similar colors which removes the viruses. The player progresses through the game by eliminating all the viruses on the screen in each level.

## Characters

### Doctors

So far, Dr. Mitchell features 44 playable characters. Each playable character offers a unique special skill that can be activated during gameplay. Players start with Dr. Mitchell when they first play the game and unlock Dr. Marquessa and Dr. Carolyn when they have beaten stage 3; if players pick one of the three characters, the other two characters become unavailable. As of version 2.0.0, Dr. Anthony is earned as another doctor when players have beaten Stage 20.

Players can purchase new doctors with mvm coins, diamonds, staff tickets or doc tokens in the Staffing menu of the game (The exceptions are Dr. Skeleton Thug and Dr. King Spook, who is as of now only available as occasional in-app purchases), although the doctors are obtained randomly and duplicates may occur. If players receive duplicate characters, it goes towards that doctor's skill level. Level 1 doctors require one copy, Level 2 doctors require two copies, Level 3 requires 5 copies, Level 4 requires 14 copies while the maximum level requires 30 copies. Players stop earning duplicates if a particular character has a maxed out skill level of that available doctor. Reaching new skill levels will make the skill meter fill faster for that doctor in stage mode, while in VS mode the skill meter will fill faster and/or increase the potency of the skill.

* Dr. Mitchell
* Dr. Gavin
* Dr. Martin
* Dr. David
* Dr. Nicholas
* Dr. Carolyn
* Dr. Jennifer
* Dr. Devin
* Doctor Marquessa
* Genola
* Dr. Welton
* Dr. Scottie
* Dr. Sarah
* Dr. Ebony
* Dr. Valerie
* Brock
* Pierre
* Doc Payne
* Dr. Amanda
* Dr. Anthony
* Dr. Annabelle
* Flo
* Ericola
* Herd
* Bitter-gong
* Jugger-khan
* Tarqwan
* Mike-stern

### Doctor stats

The following are the stats for all doctors in Versus mode. The bomb displays how many rows of viruses the doctors can send to their opponents, the speed lists how many viruses or capsules are required to be eliminated for the meter to fill, and the defense represents the chance a doctor has to block against the bomb displayed. The rate skill meters are charged are hidden and differ from each doctor.

### Assistants

* Airsailors
* Doctors
* Nurses
* Teenage Doctors
* Teenage Nurses
* Marquessa Thugs
* Marquessaniks
* Weltoniks

## Premise

The city of Raleighopolis is being invaded by a horde of viruses of various colors. To save the Kingdom, Mitchell, Gavin, Carolyn, and Doctor Marquessa must don lab coats and defeat the viruses by destroying them with capsules of the same color as the viruses. Along the way, they are joined by the other characters from the Mitchell franchise—including Martin, David, Nicholas, Jennifer, Devin, Genola, Flo, Ericola, Ebony, Valerie, Brock, Pierre, Doc Payne, Amanda and Annabelle —as they complete puzzles spanning multiple worlds across the world.

## Gameplay

The gameplay for Dr. Mitchell is very similar to prior *Nintendo's Dr. Mario* and *King.com Limited's Candy Crush Saga* videogames, It's definitely a "match three" game where the player removes viruses from the screen by matching their colors with that of a pill capsule. The player orients a single pill capsule against an array of viruses and obstacles. As the pill begins to drift upwards, the player can rotate and horizontally move the pill such that, when settled, the pill's color will match at least two similarly colored viruses in a vertical or horizontal direction. The level is complete when all viruses are removed.

The player is able to float multiple pills at once and even drag pills through obstacles to specific positions as long as the pill feasibly fits. Later levels add additional elements, such as shielded viruses and destructible blocks to complicate the removal of viruses. Other levels have additional requirements for completion, such as extracting hidden coins from blocks.

Upon filling a "skill meter", the player can activate a special ability once or twice in each level. Different special abilities are associated with the game's playable characters. For example, Dr. Mitchell can remove the entire bottom row on the game screen, Dr. Gavin removes three on-screen items at random, and Dr. Carolyn can remove a full column. The player can also purchase power-ups through real-money microtransactions to instantaneously fill the skill meter. At the time of launch, ten playable characters are available, with Dr. Mitchell as the default character. Following the completion of the first five stages, the player may choose to continue using Dr. Mitchell, or they may elect to switch to either Dr. Carolyn or Dr. Marquessa. Players are also given the option to enlist "assistants" that provide the player with benefits during gameplay; for example, Marquessanik grants the player a 10% chance of earning an additional 3 seconds in timed stages, and the Airsailors grants 50 bonus points for each remaining capsule at the conclusion of a stage. Additional doctors and assistants are acquired at random using either coins accumulated during gameplay or diamonds purchased with real-world currency.

The game is monetized through timers, currencies, and purchasable digital items. For example, the player uses "hearts" to play a level, which replenish over time. The player can use coins and diamonds to purchase new characters/abilities, power-ups, and bonus pill capsules. The player receives coins for completing daily activities. Only in the Mobile versions, The Diamonds packs are purchased in exchange for real-world money through the app store.

The game has a simple single-player campaign and a "versus" multiplayer mode. It also requires a constant Internet connection on the mobile counterpart of the game.

## Development

Dr. Mitchell was produced and designed by Viacom Networks Japan K.K., creator of the Nickelodeon's Mitchell franchise. The game's music is mainly used in gameplay.

The game was released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC home console platforms in 59 territories on this summer. The mobile version of the game will be released for Android and iOS mobile platforms in the late summer.

## Trivia

* There are three Dr. Mitchell prototypes named Virus.
* An Dr. Mario-inspired interview with Viacom Networks Japan K.K. confirmed that Dr. Mitchell is not a legitimate doctor.

## References

 ***Mitchell Van Morgan* spin-off video games**

 Miscellaneous | *Mitchell Family* (2002, Game Boy Color) • *Mitchell Pinball Party* (2003, Game Boy Advance) • Mitchell leapfrog series (**Mitchell Van Morgan* (Leapster)* (2005) • *Mitchell Van Morgan* (Didj) (2008) • *Mitchell Van Morgan* (Leapster Explorer) (2012)) • *Drawn to Life: Mitchell Van Morgan Edition* (2008, Nintendo DS) • *Mitchell Fit* (2010, Wii) • Mitchell Fit 2 (2017, Switch) • Lego Mitchell Van Morgan (2017, multi-platform) • Mitchell Van Morgan: The Four Islands Trilogy (Mitchell Van Morgan: The Four Islands (2011, Nintendo 3DS) • Mitchell Van Morgan: The Four Islands 2 (2015, Wii U) • Mitchell Van Morgan: The Four Islands 3 (2020, Switch)) • Kinect Rush: A Nickelodeon Adventure (2019, multi-platform) • **Dr. Mitchell** (2020, multi-platform) • Nicktoons Heroes (2020, multi-platform) • Nickelodeon Portal Chase: Definitive Edition (2020, multi-platform)