Dark Moon - a Mario Game in Disguise
A sequel to Luigi's Mansion is rumored to be part of Nintendo's lineup for this year's E3. The rumor comes from a 4chan user claiming to be the same one who correctly predicted 2017's lineup. The user is likely just an impersonator, but the games they mention seem likely enough. They include a new Animal Crossing, Super Smash Brothers for the Switch - and Luigi's Mansion 3! That title in particular is something I'd love to see, but only if it brings back some of the magic that Luigi's Mansion 2: Dark Moon missed out on.
Five years ago, during the 'Year of Luigi', Nintendo and Next Level Games gave us the long-awaited sequel to the Gamecube classic Luigi's Mansion. It was a tightly designed title that earned positive reviews and sold millions of copies worldwide. As such, everyone I ever spoke to about it expressed surprise when I described my deep disappointment with the game. After all, Luigi still explores dark rooms filled with ghosts, makes bank by sucking up all the loot he can, and foils a plot by King Boo and saves his brother, right? All of this is true, but all the things they got right only manages to make it all the more disappointing that it wasn't the sequel I was hoping for.
Luigi's Mansion was not a regular Mario game by a long shot. It was an adventure through a haunted house to solve the mystery of Mario’s disappearance. As I explored the mansion room by room, it really felt as if it had once been inhabited by the portrait ghosts that lingered there. As well as unique spaces like the clockwork room and observatory, there were living rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms- places I could connect and identify with. The colourful and fascinating portrait ghosts always had a connection to the room in which they were found, detailed in the short description stored in the GameBoy Horror. One by one the mysteries are solved: Mario's fate, the culprit behind it, and source of the common ghosts. None of them were complex mysteries, but they were mysteries nonetheless. At its core, Luigi's Mansion was a ghost story: a cheesy, kid-friendly one using beloved Mario characters.
Its sequel consisted of running errands for E. Gadd in mansions too numerous to be memorable as Luigi collects five broken pieces of a plot device. There are no portrait ghosts, and no mystery - it is shown from the very beginning what has occurred. Luigi is never left to his own devices, as E. Gadd always has a task for him, resulting in a game in which I was led by the nose as if I were on a tour. Even the way the mansions are explored is underwhelming: scrolling through menus labeled with letters and numbers as opposed to, you know, actually exploring the titular mansion in any meaningful way.
One's a game map and one's a checklist.
Having the game separated into missions means I could not explore the mansions at my own pace, forcing me to replay puzzles I'd already completed just for a chance at finding a collectible I missed. At the end of several missions is a boss Luigi must defeat, but even those ghosts aren't as interesting as the most basic portrait ghost. They barely differ from ones commonly encountered in every room, often just being a different colour or shape. Without portrait ghosts to break up the monotony of the regular spooks, the anticipation that came from wondering what kind of ghost might be waiting in a new room is obliterated.
As I lay it all out, it starts to feel strangely familiar. A game consisting of 7 worlds with several levels contained in each, with a simple objective that can be detailed as "get from point A to point B". A simple story unladen by mystery, with a familiar final boss. That's right, Dark Moon is not a Luigi's Mansion game: it's a Mario game with a green coat of paint. Now, Mario games are fun. I like Mario games. And so does everyone else: Nintendo and Next Level Games know this. But when I wait for 12 years for the sequel to my favourite childhood game, I can't help but be disappointed when they give me something that is only superficially the same. But ultimately these improvements weren't enough to distract me from the lack of the exploration and atmosphere that I loved so much.
There were a lot of things I liked about Dark Moon: treasure was found in more varied places, and knowing how many gems there were in each mansion was helpful. Small peepholes through which Luigi could observe the smaller, more common ghosts goofing around in other rooms was endearing. Luigi himself interacted with the mansion a lot more, allowing his personality to really shine. If Dark Moon had simply updated the first game's existing gameplay alongside with these improvements, I would be singing its praises from the rooftops. And despite my griping, I'd like nothing more for this leak to be true - I just hope Next Level Games won't forget that Luigi's Mansion got its fame by being different to Mario, not the same.
