‘Dr. Mario’ combined germs, logic, and light plagiarism. It was also familiar to Henk Rogers, the producer who partnered with Pajitnov to bring Tetris to the world and, most importantly, to Nintendo.

They say that all the world's a stage, and Mario has certainly played a lot of roles over the years. After all, he wasn't even a plumber to begin with – he was a carpenter in Donkey Kong, and worked ...