I know Nintendo has been putting out a lot of remakes lately, but who would have thought that Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD would be anywhere on the list? I mean, two of the most beloved Super Mario RPGs make sense to remaster, but what is considered by many to be the “worst” of the Luigi’s Mansion series?
Personally, I was delighted by the announcement, getting swept up in a wave of nostalgia for “The Year of Luigi,” and it was a pretty solid reminder about just how many amazing games were on the 3DS—having reviewed Monster Hunter Stories earlier this month. Despite feeling like a bit of a step back from the excellent Luigi’s Mansion 3, Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD still exemplifies everything that works both with the 3DS and the Nintendo Switch.
In case you missed it on the 3DS Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD—formerly titled Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon—finds Professor E. Gadd in the Evershade Valley, continuing his studies of the paranormal, this time assisted by the spooky spectres. However, when King Boo shatters the titular Dark Moon, the once-pacified ghosts suddenly go berserk and begin wreaking havoc on the valley.
“Despite feeling like a bit of a step back from the excellent Luigi’s Mansion 3, Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD still exemplifies everything that works both with the 3DS and the Nintendo Switch.”
With no one else to turn to, E. Gadd summons the cowardly but reliable Luigi to demonstrate his ghostbusting abilities once again. Similar to its predecessor, it doesn’t take itself too seriously and doesn’t really need any extravagant reasons for Luigi to be fighting ghosts. It’s simple and silly and provides the basis for gameplay, which is pretty different from both its predecessor and its successor.
But before I get too far ahead of myself, let’s examine the base gameplay of Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD. Unlike Super Mario RPG or Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, this isn’t a complete remake of the original—alas, Luigi still gets less attention than his brother. This is effectively the same game with a coat of HD paint applied to it. As such, the core gameplay remains largely intact from the original. Luigi must traverse not just a mansion but multiple spooky locations across the valley, solving puzzles and sucking up ghosts with his trusty Poltergust 5000.
However, unlike both its predecessor and successor, which featured a more open mansion for players to explore, Luigi’s Manion 2 HD has a more straightforward linear design with areas separated by individual levels. As players progress, more of the area becomes accessible, so it maintains its mysterious, exploratory feel despite its linearity.
“This isn’t a complete remake of the original—alas, Luigi still gets less attention than his brother.”
I know some players took issue with this when Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon first launched, however, I always felt like it was very solid design. Much like I’ve said about Paper Mario: Sticker Star, Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon feels very much like its design took its platform into consideration—since playing games on a handheld adheres to different rules than when playing on a sit-down console.
Rather than designing a massive mansion that players could potentially get lost in if they had to put the game down at a moment’s notice, the game is split into smaller, more easily digestible levels that give players more freedom for easy pick-up-and-play. Since the game is structured into levels, each one is a bit more focused and centred around solving an immediate problem or puzzle.
This design perfectly suits a console like the Nintendo Switch which, in my opinion, is at its best when being played in handheld mode. By extension, Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD feels perfectly designed for the Switch with bite-sized levels that can be enjoyed on the go, but it also provides enough challenge and exploration for a bigger experience when playing docked.
If you played Luigi’s Mansion 3, then you’ll be pretty familiar with the combat as well. As I mentioned in my review, Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon introduced the Power Surge ability that allows Luigi to quickly suck up troublesome ghosts. While this can make fights feel a bit too easy, it suits the game’s portable design—allowing players to quickly end fights if they need to suddenly put the game down.
Furthermore, the ability becomes pretty essential when facing more than one enemy since ghosts have a lot more tricks up their sleeves—be they ways to avoid being stunned by the Strobulb or unique ghost types that behave in different ways. If players are looking for an added challenge, they can always wrangle them old-school style, which also suits a more dedicated sit-down experience.
Visually, Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD is excellent. Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon was already an excellent-looking game on the 3DS, creating a lot of interesting and detailed environments. The Switch version enhances those visuals with new shaders, lighting and in-game character models, making every look smoother and perfectly suited to the Switch.
“Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD aesthetic is enhanced by the way its 3DS counterpart didn’t restrict itself to a single location and instead included a wide array of iconic horror locations.”
The visuals are backed by a fantastic soundtrack that utilizes a main theme that provides a lighthearted but gloomy tone to the game and changes with each new area to thematically fit the aesthetic. Much like the visuals, the audio, which already sounded good on the 3DS, has been cleaned up to sound crisp and clear, whether coming from the Switch speakers or a TV.
Furthermore, Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD aesthetic is enhanced by the way its 3DS counterpart didn’t restrict itself to a single location and instead included a wide array of iconic horror locations—something that would carry over to Luigi’s Mansion 3. It does a great job of starting simple in a haunted mansion, then quickly moving to spooky laboratories overgrown by out-of-control plant life. It finds ways to incorporate dilapidated castles, creepy clock towers and ancient ruins complete with mummies, all to make this feel like Luigi fell into a Laurel and Hardy Halloween Special.
However, because Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD is a fairly faithful recreation of its 3DS counterpart, it feels a bit lacking in small areas and makes me wish they went with a full visual overhaul—or remade the game from the ground up. The first and most notable, to me anyway, is the lack of the 3D component that its 3DS counterpart baked into its visual design.
There were a lot of fun and interesting ways Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon incorporated the 3D effect into its design—from the way you peer through holes to the way Spirit Orbs burst into the foreground from hidden objects or even interesting perspective shifts when traversing over high ground. Obviously, the Nintendo Switch isn’t going to be able to recreate the 3DS three-dimensional wizardry, but it’s a shame Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD couldn’t find a way to fill the gap.
Furthermore, the game doesn’t possess nearly as much of the animation that made Luigi’s Mansion 3 so incredibly charming. That isn’t to say Luigi or the ghosts lack animation, but because of the limitations of the 3DS, they’re not nearly as exaggerated and abundant as they were in Luigi’s Mansion 3.
Now, this isn’t a knock against the game since it is a mostly 1:1 recreation, but when I look at Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD beside its sequel, despite how good it looks, I can’t help but wish it was completely remade with the same stellar gameplay, but with the incredible attention to detail and over-the-top animation that Luigi’s Mansion 3 had.
Aside from a few things I personally wish the game had done, Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD is an excellent recreation of an excellent game. After playing both this and Monster Hunter Stories, I can only hope Nintendo brings more of the 3DS’ incredible library to its modern consoles. If you missed the original back in 2013 and you loved Luigi’s Mansion 3, then you’re sure to love this.
