Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD

Genre: Puzzle / Action

Players: 1-4 Co-Op (Local Wireless, Online)

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Review:

Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, known in other regions simply as Luigi’s Mansion 2, is a family-friendly game released on Nintendo 3DS in 2013 that combines both Puzzle and Action elements in a way that’s unique to the Luigi’s Mansion series. Players take the role of Mario’s cowardly green-clad brother as they explore a series of haunted rooms, searching for various items they need to progress, while also fending off hostile ghosts with the vacuum-like Poltergust device.

This HD re-release on Nintendo Switch in 2024 doesn’t change very much from the original game, improving the overall resolution to 1080p while docked and 720p in handheld mode, and updating the controls to work with 2-stick analog controllers, with some gyroscopic motion controls for good measure. Apart from that, this is more or less the same game, and as such I have copy-pasted much of my review of the Nintendo 3DS game, though I’ve changed a few things here and there where appropriate for this re-release.

Much as with other games in the franchise, Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon is a showcase game for its original platform – this is one of the games that helped developer Next Level Games to get a reputation for some of the best 3D animation in the industry, with Luigi himself being delightfully lively and well-animated, quivering in fear at each new encounter, jittering as he pushes himself to move forward, and comically jumping at every new surprise. Of course, the ghosts are well-animated too, but Luigi is absolutely the star of his own game here.

Of course, it’s not just the animation that’s top-notch here. The lighting and shadows in this game are phenomenal, the amount of environmental detail is superb, as well as the wonderful amount of interaction the environment has in response to your Poltergust’s blowing and sucking. And everything from the characters to the environments is absolutely bursting with personality. In short, Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon is without a doubt one of the most graphically-impressive games released on the Nintendo 3DS platform.

That said… it’s not on the Nintendo 3DS platform anymore, and while it still looks good on Nintendo Switch, it is nowhere near as impressive-looking as its more recent sequel, Luigi’s Mansion 3, which remains one of the most impressive-looking games on the Nintendo Switch. By comparison, Luigi’s Mansion 2 doesn’t look nearly as detailed, nor its animations nearly as well-crafted. It’s still head and shoulders above most games, but we are still talking about a game created in 2013, and developer Next Level games clearly topped it in the game’s 2019 sequel.

The sound here is deserving of mention here too – the game’s cartoonishly “spooky” themes suit the game’s silly faux-scary theme very well, and the sound is used to add further detail to the game and its characters, such as Luigi’s constant vocalizations, such as him humming along to the game’s music to try to calm himself.

For the gameplay, players alternate between searching the environment for clues and fighting ghosts when you encounter them. These battles are viscerally fun as you’re tugged around by the ghost trying to flee your suction, and new ghost types are introduced often enough to keep things interesting and provide a bit of challenge as you try to determine the best way to vacuum them up without getting hurt. Searching the rooms is viscerally fun in a different sort of way, as much of this involves vacuuming up the room, with Luigi often able to suck up just about anything that’s not too heavy that isn’t nailed down, and it’s a delightful surprise when you find a new element in the room you can interact with.

The new two-stick controls work well enough here, though they can still seem a bit awkward and fiddly at times, as this is a game that wasn’t originally designed to use them. And while the original Nintendo 3DS game used gyroscopic motion controls to add a bit more nuance to vertical aiming, so too does this version with Nintendo Switch’s own gyroscopic motion controls.

While this is mostly a delightful experience, there are a few things that I feel interfere with this otherwise wonderful game. Firstly, you will find yourself constantly harassed with messages from series regular E. Gadd, especially toward the beginning of the game. These interruptions really slow down the game’s pacing.

There is one other issue I’ll note here, and that is that the game’s structure is segmented into separate missions, each intended for players to be exploring a specific area. This may just be a matter of preference, but I feel like this cuts down on the feeling of freely exploring the game’s interesting locales.

This game also marks the first time the series saw its recurring multiplayer feature, ScareScraper, added to the game. Players can tackle a series of floors with up to three other players via online play or local wireless. It’s a nice addition to add some extra life to the game after you’ve completed it.

Before concluding, I do have to discuss one final sticking point with this release of Luigi’s Mansion 2. At $60, this release of a game that’s over a decade old is $20 more than its original release, and all Nintendo Switch players have to show for this increase in price, beyond the shift to a more current platform, is improved resolutions and updated controls. As much as I still think Luigi’s Mansion 2 is a great game, to have such a bare-bones update released as such a bloated price tag feels a lot like a ripoff.

As such, even though the game itself is still wonderful, Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD will not be receiving the same grade as the Nintendo 3DS original release. While it’s just as good now as it was a decade ago, what little has been changed here doesn’t justify the price, and also we already have a better game in the form of Luigi’s Mansion 3. Unless you’ve thoroughly completed that game and are desperate for more Luigi action, it is very hard for me to recommend that you get this game at the price Nintendo is asking.

tl;dr – Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon is the second game in this Action Puzzle franchise starring Mario’s brother cowering and vacuuming his way through a gorgeous game with tons of personality and a fascinating world to explore. Unfortunately, this release changes little from the original Nintendo 3DS version of the game, and yet it jacks the price up a full $20, making this feel like a rip-off, especially when Luigi’s Mansion 3 is the same price and a better game overall. Play that instead.

Grade: B+

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