The revered creator of such Nintendo classics as Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros., and Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, designer Shigeru Miyamoto indoctrinates yet another gaming platform with his distinctive style in Luigi's Mansion, a launch title for the Nintendo GameCube. Players guide Mario's green-clad younger brother through the eerie, dynamically shadowed halls of a fully three-dimensional haunted house in this adventure.
Luigi is happily surprised when he learns that he's inherited a large mansion, but trouble begins when Mario mysteriously disappears in the big old house. When Luigi sets out to look for his missing brother, he finds that the dark mansion is full of creepy ghosts. The ghosts seem to like to sneak up on Luigi and scare him, preventing him from making progress in his search for Mario.
Luckily, the ghosts are afraid of Luigi as well, or at least of his flashlight. When Luigi manages to shine his light on one of the ghosts it freezes for a moment, giving him a chance to suck it up and out of the way with his handy vacuum cleaner. Since he can only shine his light in one place at a time though, Luigi can never know just what might be sneaking through the darkness around him, creating aspects of action and strategy designed to be both spooky and fun.
~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide
Review: Overall
Despite being a stunning title in many ways, with some unique gameplay to boot, Luigi's Mansion ultimately fails to deliver a cohesive gameplay experience over the long term. The concept behind the game is clever and most certainly inspired by the Ghostbusters franchise, but Luigi doesn't get anything as fancy as a proton accelerator. A vacuum strapped to his back will have to do.
The main thrust of the game is to stun ghosts with your flashlight and then suck them up with the vacuum. On a basic level, this process works very well, although running the vacuum with both analog sticks is less intuitive than most Miyamoto-designed games. Still, the resistance that you feel from difficult ghosts is palpable, and although it's not entirely difficult to capture most of the critters, it's still entertaining to do so.
Not all ghosts just pop up, ready for you to catch, however. Luigi's Mansion possess some light puzzle elements in which you must find a way to trick some ghosts into facing you or showing themselves. These scenarios are the exception and not the rule, however. Most ghost battles are just straightforward fights with multiple boo-baddies as you attempt to clear the room and get the key to your next location.
The vacuum reacts nicely with objects in the game, yanking open drawers and cabinets and sucking covers off of tables and chairs. The physical reaction of items to the vacuum is spot on, giving the game a very realistic feel. Players can even reverse the direction of the airflow, and this is useful for later puzzles later when you'll have to spit out fire and ice in order to activate candles or quench burning fireplaces.
The puzzle element in Luigi's Mansion is not strong, though, and gameplay boils down to a "clear one room, get key to next room" formula that is repeated over and over. There are over 50 rooms in the mansion itself, but the progression is entirely linear. You don't even have to explore where you need to go next, as your Game Boy interface will always tell you where to go. As a result, the gameplay in Luigi's Mansion is minimal, and most players will have no problem in finishing it in under six hours. And when the game is repetitive for most of those six hours, you know there's a serious problem in its design. It certainly offers some fun and surprises, but it fails to sustain that fun for a great length of time.
As a technology demo, Luigi's Mansion excels, with some absolutely stunning real-time lighting and shadow effects that heighten the creepy atmosphere. The actual textures for the game are occasionally ugly, looking more like N64 visuals, but there's no denying that the GameCube can do some amazing things with light sourcing. The shadows are realistic, and the animations of Luigi and the ghosts are very lifelike. This is definitely one of those games that looks far better than it plays.
Despite having a great idea and some fun moments, Luigi's Mansion fails to live up to the storied past of Super Mario titles available for a Nintendo console launch. It's visually beautiful, and is entertaining at heart, but there just isn't enough meat on this ghost's bones to make it a standout classic.
~ Jon Thompson, All Game Guide
Review: Enjoyment
At a basic level, Luigi's Mansion is a good time. The control scheme is a little tough to get the hang of, but once you do, you'll find ghostbusting to be a treat, at least for the first few times you do it. After this initial learning period, however, the title loses some of its charm.
~ Jon Thompson, All Game Guide
Review: Graphics
While it does feature some ugly textures, the technology represented in Luigi's Mansion is an impressive feat, with real-time lighting effects that will send chills up your spine.
~ Jon Thompson, All Game Guide
Review: Sound
The sound effects are nice, but many are very repetitive, as is the game's main song. These things will tend to get on your nerves after awhile, but they aren't annoying enough to criticize to any great degree.
~ Jon Thompson, All Game Guide
Review: Replay Value
While there are bonus ghosts to locate around the mansion, the repetitive function of dispatching the creatures means that once you've beaten the six-hour game, you probably won't have much of an incentive to return to it. This will definitely turn out to be one of the least-replayable {$Miyamoto} titles in history.
~ Jon Thompson, All Game Guide
Review: Documentation
The instruction manual gives some background on the mysterious mansion and the characters in the game, as well as offering tips on how to play, but the in-game trainer is more effective.
The game takes place in a haunted mansion, which Luigi won in a contest he did not enter. He is searching for his brother Mario, who came to the mansion earlier, but went missing. To help Luigi on his quest, an old professor named Elvin Gadd has equipped him with the "Poltergust 3000", a vacuum cleaner used for capturing ghosts, and a "Game Boy Horror", a device used for communicating with Gadd.
Luigi's Mansion was relatively well-received by reviewers, despite being criticized for its short length. The game has sold over 2.5 million copies, and is the fifth best-selling Nintendo GameCube game in the United States. It was also one of the first games to be re-released as a Player's Choice title on the system.
In Luigi's Mansion, Professor E. Gadd arms Luigi with two of his inventions: the Poltergust 3000 (a parody of the Proton Pack) and the Game Boy Horror. The Poltergust 3000 is a high-powered vacuum cleaner designed for capturing ghosts (a lά Ghostbusters) and to gather treasure. To capture ghosts, the player must first shine Luigi's flashlight at them and stun them. This makes them show their heart, and gives Luigi a chance to suck them up into the Poltergust 3000, steadily reducing the ghosts' hit points to zero, at which point they can be captured.[1] The ghosts remain in the modified vacuum cleaner, although certain more advanced ghosts, named "Portrait Ghosts", are extracted and put back into their portraits after a process at the end of the game's four areas. When these paintings are made, they are stored in the gallery in Professor E. Gadd's laboratory.[2] Later in the game, Luigi locates three medallions which allow him to expel fire, water, or ice from the Poltergust 3000. These elements are needed to capture certain ghosts.[3]
The Game Boy Horror is a portable device that allows Luigi to investigate items in the mansion to find out what they are, and a functionality that indicates if a Boo is in the room and how near Luigi is to it. It also contains a map of the mansion and lets Luigi contact Professor E. Gadd and vice versa. Spread throughout the mansion are dark rooms containing ghosts, and when Luigi clears a room of all its ghosts, the lights come on and a chest usually appears. These chests can either contain keys, money, or element medallions. Whenever Luigi finds a key, his Game Boy Horror automatically indicates which room it will unlock. Its design resembles that of a Game Boy Color.[4]
Once King Boo, the final boss of Luigi's Mansion, is defeated, the player is given a rating based on the amount of treasure Luigi has found. A second version of the mansion also becomes playable, called the "Hidden Mansion". Depending on the version of the game, the entire mansion may be reversed from left to right, bosses may be different, Boos may move faster and there may be more ghosts.[5]
Plot
The game starts when Luigi arrives at a large, dark mansion which is set in the outskirts of a forest. The mansion is haunted by various ghosts, mainly Boos, and it is being investigated by Professor E. Gadd, who lives in a small workshop next to the mansion.[6] It consists of five floors, including a basement and a roof. The player starts out in a foyer, where he can enter rooms in the various floors.
Luigi's Mansion begins with Luigi having won a mansion in a contest. Despite not having entered any contest, he promptly told Mario about the mansion and the two agreed to meet up outside it that evening. Upon finally arriving at his new mansion, which looks much more sinister than the supplied photo, Mario is nowhere to be found. Luigi proceeds inside the mansion and is soon assaulted by a ghost, only to be saved by a little old man wielding a vacuum cleaner. The old man is however unable to reel the ghost in, and is soon overpowered. After being helped to his feet by Luigi, the old man introduces himself as Professor E. Gadd. The two retreat from the mansion as more ghosts appear.[6]
In E. Gadd's nearby workshop, he mentions how Luigi's newly won mansion is obviously the work of something not of this world, since it only appeared a few nights ago.[7] He also tells Luigi that he saw someone wearing a red cap go into the mansion some time ago, and has not been seen since.[8] Upon learning that he was Luigi's brother, E. Gadd allows Luigi to take over his duties of ghost-catching and entrusts to him his vacuum cleaner; the "Poltergust 3000".[9] After numerous confrontations, Luigi faces off against King Boo on the roof of the mansion.[10] King Boo, seated within a titanic Bowser mech, is eventually beaten down and sucked into the Poltergust 3000.[11] Luigi returns to Gadd with Mario, who has been sealed within a portrait by King Boo, and successfully breaks the seal to save his brother.[12] The end also sees the haunted mansion disappear. Luigi builds a normal house on the site using the money he earned. The size of the house depends on how much money the player was able to obtain before the end of the game.
Development
The game was first revealed at Nintendo Space World 2000 as a technical demo designed to show off the graphical capabilities of the GameCube.[13] The full motion video footage had scenes seen in later trailers and commercials for the game, but never used. This includes Luigi running from an unknown ghost in the foyer, ghosts playing cards in the parlor, and ghosts circling around Luigi, all never to appear in the final release. Soon after its creation, Nintendo decided to make it into a full game. Luigi's Mansion was later shown at the E3 in 2001 with the Nintendo GameCube console.[14] This version of the game contained features not included in the finalized game. This includes a vacuum heat meter, which recorded the heat the vacuum produced when vacuuming ghosts, a purple-colored ghost that would inflict damage on Luigi by emitting a loud laugh, a clock of some sort in the Game Boy Horror, additional furniture in the rooms, and a larger degree of interaction with the mansion and the objects within it. A newer version of the game, more closely related to the final version, was later revealed at Nintendo Space World 2001.[15]
The original plan for Luigi's Mansion involved a game where the levels revolved around a large mansion or complex. Tests were later done with Mario characters in dollhouses and such. Once it was put as a GameCube project, Luigi was selected as the main character to keep the game original and new. The other gameplay ideas, such as ghosts and the ghost-sucking vacuum cleaner, were added later. Older concepts, such as a role-playing game-like system which made real-time changes to rooms and an underground cave area located under the mansion, were also scrapped with the inclusion of the new ideas.[16]
Luigi's Mansion is the most successful GameCube launch title, being the third best-selling game of November 2001.[32] The game has sold over 348,000 copies in Japan,[33] and 2.19 million copies in the United States,[34] making it the fifth best-selling Nintendo GameCube game in the United States.[34] It was also one of the first Player's Choice titles of the console, along with Super Smash Bros. Melee and Pikmin.[35]
Luigi's Mansion received a relatively positive reception, and reviewers praised the game's graphics, design, and gameplay. GameSpot stated that Luigi's Mansion "features some refreshing ideas" and "flashes of brilliance."[29] The gaming magazine Nintendo Power praised the game for being "very enjoyable while it lasts, with its clever puzzles and innovative game play."[31]GameSpy said that the game features "great visuals, imaginative game design and some classic Nintendo magic."[36] The game was referred to as "a masterful example of game design" by GamePro.[37]Game Revolution stated that "the graphics are quite beautiful and the interesting game mechanics are enjoyable."[38] The American-based publication Game Informer praised the gameplay, and referred to it as "brilliant and up to par with Miyamoto's best."[28] The audio was praised by IGN, who considered Luigi's voice acting as "cute, humorous and satisfying",[30] and GameSpy, who declared that the soundtrack remains "subtle, amusing and totally suitable throughout the game".[36] The Japanese video game publication Famitsu awarded the game with a gold rating, and noted that the control system, while tricky at first, works well.[27]
The game has also received criticism, mainly because of the game's length. GameSpot said that Luigi's Mansion "fails to match the classic status of Mario's adventures" and that the "short amount of time it takes to complete it makes it a hard recommendation." The review however considered that the short length prevents the gameplay and audio from getting tiresome.[29] GameSpy criticized the game's lack in longevity, and they said that the game could be beaten in about six hours.[36]Allgame declared that Luigi's Mansion "ultimately fails to deliver a cohesive gameplay experience over the long-term."[25]Fran Mirabella III of IGN felt that the game was subpar, due to its "predictable, formulaic gameplay".[30]G4's TV show X-Play criticized Luigi's Mansion in their special on Mario games and media, calling the game a letdown for players waiting for the first Mario game on the GameCube.[39] The game placed 99th in Official Nintendo Magazine's 100 greatest Nintendo games of all time[40]
References
^Luigi's Mansion instruction booklet. Nintendo. 2001. pp. 10–11.
^Luigi's Mansion instruction booklet. Nintendo. 2001. pp. 16.
^Luigi's Mansion instruction booklet. Nintendo. 2001. pp. 13.
^Luigi's Mansion instruction booklet. Nintendo. 2001. pp. 28.
^ abLuigi's Mansion instruction booklet. Nintendo. 2001. pp. 4–5.
^Nintendo EAD. Luigi's Mansion. (Nintendo). Nintendo GameCube. (2001-11-18) "E. Gadd: So, you believe the mansion really exists, then.... Strange. I've been living here since I was a lad of twenty or so, and I'll tell you: that mansion appeared just a few days ago! The sprirts have fooled you!"
^Nintendo EAD. Luigi's Mansion. (Nintendo). Nintendo GameCube. (2001-11-18) "E. Gadd: Now that I get a look at you, I just recalled... A guy with a red hat kind of like yours went up to the mansion without even stopping to chat....and he never returned."
^Nintendo EAD. Luigi's Mansion. (Nintendo). Nintendo GameCube. (2001-11-18) "E. Gadd: What? That guy was your brother? Oh no! That's horrible! He wouldn't stand a chance against those ghosts without my help! You have to go after him! Here's the plan: I'll teach you to deal with ghosts so you can rescue your brother, Luigi!"
^Nintendo EAD. Luigi's Mansion. (Nintendo). Nintendo GameCube. (2001-11-18) "King Boo: Don't imagine that I'll flee... I'll fight you like a true Boo!"
^Nintendo EAD. Luigi's Mansion. (Nintendo). Nintendo GameCube. (2001-11-18) "E. Gadd: Luigi, you did it! Truly remarkable, my boy! I supplied the Poltergust 3000, but you ran with it all the way to the top, sonny!... What's that? You found King Boo? He jumped into a painting of Bowser, you say? He even blew fire at you?"
^Nintendo EAD. Luigi's Mansion. (Nintendo). Nintendo GameCube. (2001-11-18) "E. Gadd: ...Right, well, anyhoo, Luigi! Grab your brother's painting and bring him to the lab!... I'll get the machine ready to return your brother to his former state, all righty?"