RETRO REVIEW: LUIGI’S MANSION 2: DARK MOON (3DS, 2013) ”Mario? Marrrio!!!”
Another in the fairly recent trend of classic Nintendo games receiving the HD remaster treatment, Luigi’s Mansion 2 (formerly subtitled Dark Moon) arrives on the Switch today. And while more games for the hybrid are always welcome, this one is a bit of a head scratcher. The 3rd installment in the spooky series arguably delivered the definitive ghost sucking experience several years back and this game was designed for the 3DS, a console who’s software for the most part remain tethered to the system (the glassless 3D effect is still impressively charming). So what gives, Nintendo? From what I understand based on initial reviews, what we’ve got here is almost 100% the same title with minimal animation upgrades and the obvious higher resolution. I can’t say that that justifies a full price repurchase from me but for anyone out there who has yet to experience it (and enjoyed part 3), it may be worth looking into.
Either way, a great game is a great game so please have a look at my review of the original release.
On that fateful morning when the GameCube launched in 2001 there were three games I brought home alongside it: Wave Race: Blue Storm, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron and a little something that was at the time known primarily for not being a new Mario game: Luigi’s Mansion. I’ll admit that I was fairly underwhelmed the first few times I played it. The somewhat repetitive nature of catching ghosts placed next to those gorgeous water effects in Wave Race and the visceral thrill of screaming through the trenches of the Death Star, left it feeling quaint at best. But nowadays it’s looked at as sort of a cult classic. Which makes the fact that a second entry exists more than a decade after it debuted kind of weird. And even weirder than that, it’s quite possibly the best game on the 3DS.
Anyone familiar with the set up for the first game will feel some serious Déjà vu upon firing this thing up. Once again, Professor E. Gadd has a bunch of ghosts he needs to get rid of and for whatever reason, Luigi is the only man for the job. The opening intro finds our hero lounging around his pad, minding his own business, before KABLOOEY: That television turns him into a bunch of pixels sucking him into the screen.
Hey waitasecond. why does that seem familiar?
Once inside E. Gadd’s laboratory, get ready to sit through a good chunk of fairly well written and often humorous text. It’s clear that Luigi isn’t all that into wandering through haunted mansions armed with nothing but a flashlight and a vacuum cleaner because the dude looks terrified. This is a character trait that was introduced in the first game and it’s one that goes a long way toward making him a protagonist you can actually feel for. Details like his nervous body language and the way he hums along to the music of each stage really add a ridiculous amount of charm to the game, making an idiotic grin on your face hard to wipe off.
The visuals on display here are all around super impressive. The attention to detail in each room can occasionally be kind of shocking and I’ve often found myself taking my sweet time checking out each space after having been cleared of ghosts just to soak in all of the design work. It’s kind of like looking into a creepy little doll house, a series of dioramas if you will and I love it. All kinds of objects can be knocked around or sucked up which provide plenty of time wasting opportunities for those determined to find every last bit of cash. The dynamic lighting showcases some incredibly cool effects as well with the work done on Luigi’s shadow standing out as particularly effective. What’s more, the 3D is by FAR the best I’ve seen in any 3DS game to date so start flexing those eye sockets because you may actually find yourself playing with the slider cranked up more often than not.
As far as the basic gameplay is concerned, not a whole lot has changed from the GC original. You’re still expected to smack ghosts right in their undead faces with a flashlight beam before whipping out the vacuum hose to suck ’em up. The only major difference here is that the the developers decided to forego that God-awful second analogue extension which meant there’d be no way to duplicate the C-stick control from the GameCube pad. When I first read that this would be the case I just assumed the aiming would be handled with the stylus. Y’know, sort of Kid Icarus: Uprising style and that really made me nervous. But thankfully the scheme they’ve devised (mapping the vacuum direction actions to the face buttons) works far better than I’d anticipated. It takes a little getting used to for sure, but the end result is one that eventually feels perfectly natural. All’s well on the control front.
As expected, there are some nifty new items introduced in this game but I don’t want to detail them too much as they’re so much fun to discover for yourself. Just be prepared for an extremely cool flashlight upgrade that provides a fresh take on the classic dark world/light world mechanic. It’s very clever stuff. In another nice homage to the original, Luigi is once again armed with a portable Nintendo system that displays his map. In the first game it was a Game Boy Color redubbed by our Professor as the Game Boy Horror, and here he’s equipped with that old “brick” Nintendo DS as his guide.
Which is now referred to as a “Dual Scream.” E. Gadd is such a nerd.
The actual structure of the game is probably the greatest deviation from the original. Instead of one huge mansion to explore, there are several, each with their own unique theme (Haunted, scary, spooky, etc.). They’ve all been broken up into bite sized “missions” which accommodate a portable experience and are timed, encouraging quick runs and stuff like that. I’ve read some complaints here and there that people didn’t like not being free to explore at their leisure but I honestly never felt restricted in that way. I kind of like the fact that you’re awarded a star ranking based on how quickly you’ve completed a stage, how much money you’ve collected, how many ghosts you sucked up and how much damage you took. Its the sort of set up that reminds me of the almighty Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island. And any game that reminds me of the almighty Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island is clearly doing something right.
In the end, Dark Moon is less of a sequel and more like a full on realization of the initial installment’s potential. Going back and giving the original a whirl after playing this game makes that one feel like little more than a rough outline for the completed masterpiece that this is. Luigi’s Mansion 2 is an incredibly fun and at times oddly emotional experience that is a clear reminder of just how damn creative Nintendo can be when they feel like it. I love it when they get weird.
(But Luigi’s Mansion 3 is better)
LUIGI’S MANSION 2 HD is now available as a Direct Download from the Nintendo eShop for $59.99
That price is way too high.
