I’m perhaps the world’s biggest fan of Luigi’s Mansion. I’ve written about the first game in the series several times here at Nintendo Wire, and had the chance to review both the 3DS remake of it and the third installment of the series back when they launched. That being said, Luigi’s Mansion 2 is probably the entry I’ve had the least experience with in the series. Previously known as Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon here in the states, it came out right in the middle of a pretty busy college semester for me and the amount of differences from the original game were off-putting enough to me at the time that I bounced off of it and never got back around to trying it out. With the HD rerelease on Switch over ten years after release, I figured now was a great time to try it out again.
A Dark Moon Rises
Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD sees Luigi called in to help Professor E. Gadd with a ghost problem he’s having in the Evershade Valley. The valley’s normally docile ghosts have turned troublesome thanks to King Boo shattering the Dark Moon, and it’s up to Luigi and E. Gadd to retrieve the pieces and bring order back to Evershade Valley. In a change from the first game, Luigi will be tackling multiple mansions throughout the valley rather than working his way through one mansion, and each mansion has a different theme. The exploration of each mansion is split up into missions that Luigi embarks on – sometimes to gather a certain amount of one item or to make his way to different rooms in the mansion to investigate.
A Ghostly Gauntlet
This episodic, mission-based structure was one of the main things that turned me off of the original release of Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon. I wanted to slowly explore these mansions to my heart’s content without constant interruptions, like in the original Luigi’s Mansion. This time around, however, I can see the appeal of the mission structure. A quick in and out with one goal in mind helps you slowly learn the structure of the new mansions, and spot hidden collectibles or puzzles that you know you’ll be able to come back to later. I still don’t love being interrupted and pulled out of the mansions just to have to head back in and backtrack so much, but it’s grown on me the more I’ve played.
There’s more of an emphasis on puzzle solving here as well, which is something that I greatly enjoyed. Luigi can use his trusty Poltergust 5000 to carry buckets of water, unroll carpets, and so much more, and the new Strobulb and Dark Light features offer even more variety in puzzle solving. As you make more and more trips through these mansions, rooms can change and have furniture moved or missing, not only creating a feeling that the mischievous ghosts are messing with the mansions, but also adding or uncovering new layers of puzzles to solve.
The ghost variety in Luigi’s Mansion 2 is something that I very much overlooked during my first outing on the 3DS. I missed the old ghost designs from the original game – something about them was much more uncanny and creepy than the largely rounded and simple designs present in Luigi’s Mansion 2. That changed in the HD release, however, and the distance from my nostalgia for the original game helped me see that these ghost designs, while not creepy in the slightest, are spooky in a very silly way which really appealed to me this time around.
Despite so much of Luigi’s Mansion 2 clicking with me now that I’ve spent some more time with it as an adult, I still find myself wishing its aesthetic was more in line with the first game. The original mansion was dark, dusty, and ornate in a way that none of the mansions in this game are. Everything here is slightly cartoonish and more goofy than grim, and I think it hurts the game a bit. Luigi is scared of a lot of things, but none of them really look like anything he should actually be scared of.
Multiplayer Mischief
The most fun I’ve had in Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD has been in its multiplayer mode, ScareScraper. You can play with up to three other Luigis in three modes, both locally and online. Hunter will have you chasing down all the ghosts on one floor of the ScareScraper, Rush sees the Luigi’s racing to find the exit to their current flo before time runs out, and in Polterpup mode you use the Poltergust 5000’s Dark Light to chase down and find Polterpups throughout the floor you’re on. I’ve had a blast clearing floors and running into all the unique variants of different types of ghosts while doing it. This exciting gauntlet of ghost-hunting offers plenty of replay value to Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD, and is a great way to extend the enjoyment of Luigi’s adventure outside of the main story.
Grimpressive Visuals
Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD looks great for a 3DS port, with plenty of detail added to Luigi himself and the environments he’s exploring, and the game runs very well for the most part. Sometimes I’ve had ghosts or treasure get stuck out of bounds so I couldn’t suck them up, but it’s never been a problem that prevented me from progressing. Animations are smooth and remain so even with several ghosts on screen, and I never found scenarios with plenty of action to be detrimental to the game’s performance either.
Coming Back to Haunt You
At the end of the day, I’m glad that I was able to give Luigi’s Mansion 2 another shot on the Switch. It runs well and looks great, and I see a lot more value in it than I did eleven years ago. While it still isn’t my favorite from the series, it’s really grown on me despite missing the first game’s grim charm that I fell in love with. Now, if you’ll excuse me I have some ScareScraper floors to go clear.
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Written by Jaxson Tapp
As a lover of gaming and the written word, Jaxson currently fills his time not only with playing games, but also writing about them. Ready for anything, Jaxson’s passion for puzzle games, JRPGs, tough platformers, and whimsical indies helps him bring a well-rounded opinion to Nintendo Wire’s reporting.
