Throwback Thursday - Luigi's Mansion (series)

Welcome to another Throwback Thursday, our weekly look into my Top 100 games and general nostalgia.  Carefully creeping into the scene this week: The games of ghost busting and furniture dusting that is the Luigi's Mansion series.

The series began with release as a launch title for the Nintendo GameCube, released on the US on November 18th, 2001.  Luigi's Mansion was a unique Mario spin-off starring the younger and often more overshadowed brother, Luigi, as he attempts to save his more notorious brother from a mansion full of spooky specters.  Armed with a vacuum and a flashlight, players will poke every nook and cranny of this haunted abode to catch all sorts of ghosts, spin ceiling fans, suck up tablecloths, and uncover plenty of coin and other shiny gems.  The game highlights the new pressure shoulder buttons of the GameCube controller, where players could control the pressure in which they suck or blow Luigi's vacuum.  Also making use of this new hardware, the game boasts impressive lighting and dust effects for a Nintendo game of its time.  The main criticism of this game was its short play-length, clocking in around 7 hours (though it can be beaten as little as less than 2 hours if speed running).  There is a high score system of sorts though that gives some added challenge and replay value.  Every boss ghost in the game comes with three different portrait rankings to be obtained (bronze, silver, and gold) depending how much health the player can drain from the ghost without letting go (or how little health the player loses on bigger bosses).  Also, the more money the player obtains, the better ranking the player can earn come the conclusion of the game for a truly worthy mansion.  A lot of the fun in this game comes from just exploring this large interconnected estate; how it feels like such a real, living space and discovering all of its little secrets.

Come 12 years later, this unique title would see a sequel with Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon on the Nintendo 3DS.  In this new adventure, Luigi investigates 5 various, distinct mansions to retrieve Dark Moon fragments and restore order to the Evershade Valley.  Because this game is for a handheld system, the game structure is more designed to be played in shorter spurts, with each mansion being divided into shorter missions, ranging from 15-30 minutes in length.  While this may limit the joy that is to be found of exploring a whole mansion at will, this structured format does offer more compelling and varied mission structures, with some clever dynamic changes to the mansion come each level selection.  Also thanks to the 3DS, the developers were able to implement their original desire of 3D visuals to great effect on this sequel.  Each room feels like an intimate and carefully crafted dollhouse diorama, with an astounding amount of interactivity and stylish design.  Also developed by Next Level Games, who helped Nintendo develop the Mario Strikers series and the excellent Punch-Out!! for Wii, this particular Luigi's Mansion entry infuses Luigi with more personality and charm than ever before with superb animation and humorous storytelling.  Another first for the series was the addition of multiplayer, which allowed players to team-up for some casual ghost-hunting fun.

Due to the large success found from this sibling's sequel on the 3DS, the series saw continuation through an exceptional collaboration of Capcom, Sega, and Nintendo for a Luigi's Mansion Arcade game.  Unlike their console counterparts, this arcade game is an on-rails light gun game where players catch ghosts and gather coins through three mansions based off the 3DS iteration.  Using an actual vacuum controller, players actually can feel the tug of the ghosts and suction of coins dropping into your vacuum to amazing effect.

Concept art from Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon - Also used for side cabinet art in Arcade game.

Should you not have had the pleasure of playing the original Luigi's Mansion for Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo is bringing this classic to the Nintendo 3DS later this year.  Is this just to recapture their original wishes of 3D effect in these haunted halls?  Or perhaps to bide time for another upcoming sequel?  If so, as a home console / handheld hybrid, what structure is best fitting for Luigi's Mansion on the Switch? Whatever they decide upon, I sincerely hope they make use of the HD Rumble to simulate that amazing ghost sucking effect of the Arcade version.  If so, ghost-busting will feel amazing no matter where you play.