Despite the company focusing more of its efforts on ensuring that the successor to the Switch is ready for its reveal soon, Nintendo is still putting its best foot forward in terms of providing games for the system. Their latest Nintendo Direct at the time of writing has gone over extremely well with fans, having something for everyone. The Mario and Luigi series is making a comeback with a new game to make the Switch the ultimate Mario RPG system, Metroid Prime 4 is finally ready for release next year, and there’s a new mainline Zelda game where you play as Zelda for the first time in a main series game. In terms of Nintendo’s recent games that were just remakes of previous games, Nintendo has been firing off on all cylinders, with them remaking some of the Mario series’ more prominent titles, like Mario VS Donkey Kong, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, and now, Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD, being a remaster of the 3DS game for the single screen. All of this is to say that despite still being a solid time, Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD easily feels like the weakest of these ports for Nintendo.
The story takes place in Evershade Valley, a corner of the world that is underneath the dark moon. Despite the dark name, it’s a pacifying artifact that renders the ghosts there harmless and kind towards others. Professor E Gadd is using this chance to get some research up close and personal to them. However, a vengeful King Boo has emerged to destroy the moon, causing the ghosts to get hostile and volatile, forcing E Gadd to book it and call in a very reluctant Luigi to help him. Noticing the broken dark moon parts, E Gadd has tasked Luigi with going through all the corners of the valley to retrieve the missing pieces to restore peace throughout the valley.
Let’s get the main thing that’s changed out of the way; the visual style has taken a big leap from how it looked on the 3DS. Both games are good-looking for the hardware they’re on, but the Switch port is not only able to run at a more consistent frame rate but also gets a nice spit-and-shine job. The models look better than their 3DS counterparts, even if they haven’t reached the level of impressive character and level layout that Luigi’s Mansion 3 has.
This was made for a system that was intended for quick play sessions instead of hours on end late night sessions, and it shows with the mission selection system it has. There are 5 different mansions for you to travel through, and each mansion has its selection of missions to complete. At the start, you’ll just be with your vacuum and strobe light to stun ghosts. Flash them with the flashlight to freeze them then vacuum them up. Push the control stick in the opposite direction the ghosts are going to be as effective as possible. For example, if they’re moving right, push the control stick left. The more ghosts you catch at once, the more money you get when suck them all in at once with one final powerful push from your vacuum. Along the way, you will also get the dark light device to light up hidden objects for more money or a chance to get a secret collectible.
The ghost-hunting gameplay is still just as fun as ever. Seeing the laughing and mocking ghouls get caught off guard and desperately trying to avoid being swept away into the vacuum never gets old. The addition of a jump button when sucking up ghosts gives you a chance to dodge otherwise hard-to-dodge attacks without breaking the flow of combat. With plenty of different ghost types and ghost combinations, you’re always going to be keeping yourself occupied while busting ghosts. The bosses are the highlights of the game, mixing puzzles and frantic fun ghost hunting.
Whenever you’re not prowling for ghosts, you’re going to be solving the puzzles around the mansions you explore. Each one of the five mansions has a unique theme and gimmick around them. From being the starter mansion, a giant greenhouse, a clock tower that needs to be repaired, an old winter shack, and a mixture of everything you see, each mansion provides you with unique puzzles and ways to progress through the locations. Some missions even have you escort a Toad around to have him help you solve puzzles, with him even high-fiving Luigi on any jobs well done. Be sure to find as much money as you can to upgrade Luigi’s vacuum and strobe light. It’s a more practical change than just getting enough money for a new ending screen, so don’t be afraid to spend time looking and vacuuming thoroughly.
Compared to the other games, Luigi’s Mansion 2 is the most lighthearted game of the series, which could be a turn-off for some who loved the more serious attitude of the first game, but to me, it works well. True, Luigi’s Mansion 3 blended them both and made it better, but it’s still amusing here and was a good way to differentiate this game from its predecessor. Seeing the ghosts interact with the environment more and love messing around with them was cute and provided a couple of laughs, especially with Luigi’s exasperated expressions. He’s at his most lively here, constantly being scared of anything supernatural, and just having fun trying out anything he sees, like waving to himself through a portal or blinding himself with the strobe light.
This chaotic lighthearted fun carried into the online multiplayer aspect. Now with a stronger internet compared to the 3DS, connections are more stable, and players can keep interacting with one another freely without interruptions. With red coins to gamble to get a new power up for the floor, playful titles that encourage you to do your best, and that doing better gives you more money to upgrade Luigi’s vacuum and flashlight, it’s well worth it to check this side mode out.
Aside from the standard ghost-hunting affair, there are also some side quests for you to go for. Each mission has a hidden Boo for you to find by revealing an object that has vanished by using the dark light function. Collecting all the boos unlocks a bonus mission which is just you vacuuming up all the ghosts as fast as possible. The other side quest you can find involves gems, with each gem being accessible at certain points in the mansion. Some gems are available in all missions while others are available in just one mission. While this does unlock a statue, that’s all it does, so they’re only worth going after if you just want to explore this game from top to bottom. It’s a fun game, and if you keep a keen eye out, odds are you would already find most of the gems anyway, so why not go all the way?
Overall, the game is still as fun and engaging as it was on the 3DS, only now on a more polished system with higher graphical prowess. This is different from recommending a remake like Mario VS Donkey Kong, which changed up some physics and added new levels to an old Gameboy Advance game to justify its return. It’s not like Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door where, while a beloved sacred cow among the Paper Mario fandom, was not only stuck on the GameCube, but was ripe for scalpers while the series moved away from traditional RPG battles, making the idea of bringing it back with just a graphic update, quality of life features, and a couple of extra goodies a lot more reasonable.
Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD is just a remaster of the original game that kept in the game’s original problems of pace-breaking issues and backtracking. E Gadd still constantly interrupts the flow to tell you about a cool new fact he discovered, and you never really manage to get a chance to freely explore the mansions without having to hunt for ghosts. A free roam mode void of any danger where you could collect all the gems freely would have been nice. And even in the technical side of this game, I managed to soft-lock myself on accident in the fourth mission in the game by having the Boo go out of bounce, meaning I couldn’t vacuum him up to complete the level. It only happened once, but the fact it’s
The original Luigi’s Mansion is still not on the Switch in any way yet, so it’s not even here for completion’s sake of having the entire series here a la Pikmin, but that can be rectified in the future. It’s still a fun time, but odds are you already played it considering how the 3DS was a very popular system. Unless you’re willing to spend $60 on a remaster for this game you probably already played, it’s best to just leave this game collecting dust till a sale.
