Nintendo Direct for March 2018 offered us many exciting things to look forward to. Among them is the 3DS remake of Luigi’s Mansion. What better time to try the original GameCube version for the first time.
A release date is not yet mentioned but it is rumored to be released somewhere this year. The 3DS already had its successor, Luigi’s Mansion 2: Dark moon reach big sales. The remake caters to those of them who never got the chance to play the original on the GameCube. Since the sequel sold about double the units the original did, Nintendo can be pretty confident a remake of Luigi’s Mansion will be a financial hit. While a sense of nostalgia or just plain curiosity can push us – the consumers – over the edge, I wanted to test for myself if it’s actually worth the purchase. Having played the sequel but not the original, I didn’t actually own a GameCube until a few years back when I started expanding my retro collecting, I feel like I’m in the ideal spot to review this game.
Flash, hoover, repeat
The title is a dead giveaway but in this game Luigi is the main protagonist. Luigi gets lured to a mansion he supposedly won, only to find out that it’s infested with ghosts and that Mario is captured somewhere deep inside the multi-level building. Luckily, Luigi gets help from Professor E. Gadd who helps him with advice and offering him the Poltergust 3000, a vacuum cleaner engineered to suck up the ghosts. Before you can start hoovering the place for ghosts, you need to reveal the heart of the ghosts by startling them with your flashlight. If your timing and aim is right, you can get rid of the ghosts by pointing the c-stick in the opposite direction making constant adjustments until the HP of the struggling ghosts depletes. Getting the hang of this process takes a while but starts feeling rewarding after a few hours into the game.
23 portrait ghosts and 50 boos
Going from room to room and cleansing them of ghosts makes the lights go on, indicating that the room is cleared, offering rewards. Often those rewards bring you keys which open the next room. This whole process of going from room to room can feel a bit tedious after a while. Luckily, the developers put 23 portrait ghosts in the game for us to catch. These special ghosts all need some figuring out before you can catch them. You’ll need to inspect the environment and potentially use some acquired elemental (fire, water, ice) powers to reveal their heart before you can help Professor E. Gadd turning them into harmless portraits instead of pestering poltergeists. After capturing a few of these unique ghosts, you get a boss battle which focuses more on action instead of puzzling which adds more needed variety. Later on, you release about 50 boos by accident, leaving you a lot of collecting to do if you want to catch them all. You’ll need to collect 40 of them before you can attempt the final battle to save your brother.
Does it live up to its fame?
Luigi’s Mansion has a big fan base among the diehard Nintendo lovers. A lot of those people tend to call Luigi’s mansion a unique masterpiece. I have to admit that the game has quite a unique playstyle, but I wouldn’t call it a masterpiece. The game has too much flaws. The controls feel clunky. The action tends to get repetitive after a while due to a lack in variety. While every room has a different feel to it, the backgrounds kind of start looking the same. I certainly had fun playing the game, but I felt this short-lived adventure – the game can be finished in about 6 hours – came to an end at the precise moment. Any more and it wouldn’t be enjoyable anymore.
Conclusion
If you don’t mind a short game and would want to check out the origin of the Luigi’s Mansion series, the 3DS remake will probably be the best way to experience it. Its 3D graphics and better control scheme – if it’s anything like its sequel – could make a few flaws mentioned earlier disappear leaving a nice and comical game to be enjoyed.
