Having played the GameCube version of Luigi's Mansion years ago, I had the 3DS port sitting on my menu screen for years & figured I had time to kill. I won't touch on the story in this review and leave that for when I review the GameCube version, but I was pretty surprised with how quick this game can be to complete.

For a remake developed by Grezzo, graphically it's a downgrade & this game should've been a port for the Switch instead. Running the game at a lower resolution was the first mistake with this port, and I found some scenes to actually lag in this port compared to the GameCube version (ex. the doorknob scenes, entering new floors of the mansion). The upgraded character models were to be expected and they looked as good as they can for a late 3DS entry, so there isn't much to write home about on that level. Like Grezzo's Ocarina of Time remake before Link fights Ganon, Luigi's Mansion 3DS lost some of it's original dark and gloomy lighting in this port by making scenes in the mansion brighter than the atmosphere originally intended to be. Those graphical flaws aside, I did appreciate the upgraded Gallery area in E. Gadd's lab, and the option to re-vacuum ghosts for timed records. Also, adding an achievement list was a fun incentive to me to thoroughly scope the mansion for any hidden gems and get the highest rank possible.

For my play through I opted for the Dark Moon flashlight and gyro controls to vacuum ghosts, and split in the middle with how I feel about these changes. The biggest change with this play style was how much easier it was to get the blue money ghosts, whereas in the original version it was more challenging to get the flashlight to stun lock them. The added charge of the flashlight also made it easier for me to suck up multiple ghosts at a time, which gave me much needed hearts. That said, the gyro controls were a hit or miss for me for the majority of my play through. Not sure if it's an issue on my end or what, but it was as if the gyro controls were lagging with my actual point of direction when I was vacuuming ghosts. More often than not, I had to use the D-pad to level Luigi's vacuum back down since the gyro controls kept forcing the vacuum to face upwards, despite me holding the 3DS in a normal position.

With the above control scheme mentioned, my biggest gripe with the 3DS Luigi's Mansion is the control scheme ˆwithoutˆ the Circle Pad Pro. The c-stick on the GameCube controller was designed to have Luigi do 360º turns when he moves, and this is most useful when he's vacuuming up ghosts from different corners of the room. I played the 3DS version without the Circle Pad Pro with my 3DS XL, and found it more tedious to have to angle Luigi in the right position with the control pad before being able to suck up ghosts... which messed with my overall depth perception more than it should have.

On a side note, as a massive Gooigi enthusiast I unfortunately did NOT get an opportunity to play this game co-op style-- rendering that green freak of nature useless for my play through. I hope to see Gooigi as a reoccurring playable character in future entries in the Mario series, for he is a beloved iconic character that deserves much more screen time.

With these points in mind, I can't say I would recommend this version of Luigi's Mansion over the original. It's not awful by any means, but it's definitely the inferior way to play.

Después de años, finalmente pude jugar Luigi's Mansion. Siempre había escuchado cosas buenas, y desde que soy pequeño tengo memoria de querer jugarlo, sin embargo, por un motivo u otro no lo había hecho. Lo jugué en 3DS, donde, si bien los controles no son "óptimos" o los mejores, la verdad es que me cayó increíble por mi amor a los formatos portátiles.

Pasando al juego como tal, tiene una construcción muy interesante de género. Por un lado tiene mecánicas de acción/aventura con una aspiradora que debes maniobrar de la manera adecuada para succionar fantasmas, y combinarlo además con tres "power-ups" que sirven para ciertos tipos de criaturas, y por otro lado, tiene un acercamiento muy puzzle que mantiene el juego fresco a cada esquina. El loop es básicamente llegar a un cuarto, descifrar la acción concreta que debes realizar, y luego acabar con el fantasma en turno. Aunque creo que hay algunos conceptos que el juego pudo haber explotado un pelín más (específicamente las partes de piso que te dejan cambiar de gravedad), en general lo siento muy bien logrado, pues mantiene un ritmo constante en el que te arroja ideas de puzzles que no se sienten repetitivas, y aparte, en escenarios lo suficientemente variados donde se va construyendo una imagen de quiénes habitaron la mansión.

Luigi's Mansion no es que vaya por un enfoque narrativo, pero me agrada mucho encontrarme con un juego de Nintendo que maneja un tono ligeramente distinto y que se permite ser un poco más lento frente a otras propuestas de la compañía. La estructura de back-tracking / llaves es completamente la de un juego de aventura / horror, pero lo combinan con el típico carisma de la saga de Mario, y el resultado es un juego que tiene una estética muy particular que claramente toma mucho del horror, pero luego te mete chistes como "No digas mi nombre porque es Taboo" y termina generando una atmósfera que me he encontrado en pocos juegos.

This is technically the 3rd or 4th time I've beaten the game, but the first time I've played it on the 3DS. It's a game I have a lot of nostalgia for the original Gamecube game, but I have a lot of anxiety these days about buying Gamecube games with how temperamental Gamecube discs can be (and I don't like buying them second-hand because of that reason), so I was excited (albeit a little confused) to hear that it was getting a 3DS port. It was on sale on Japanese Amazon last week, so I thought it was the perfect time to finally pick up what I think will be a rare game in the future. It may not quiiite be a definitive version, but it's damn close. It's a fantastic port whose biggest problems are even then not that bad. I got every Boo and it took me a little under 6 hours playing on the Japanese version.

The game itself is Luigi's Mansion as it's ever been: A kind of Resident Evil meets Ghost Busters with a Nintendo twist. It's a horror game for those just starting to be able to play scary games. You go around a mansion as Luigi, trying to save Mario from ghosts who have kidnapped him. All you have his your trusty Poltergust 3000 (ammusingly called the オバキューム in Japanese) and a flashlight to combat 26 special ghosts and a handful of generic ghost types. As a concept, it still holds up as well as it ever did, even if it is a little short at the end of the day.

The main features the port adds are a menu to the touch screen (you can see the Game Boy Horror on the lower screen so you have a map, your ghost info, and your inventory to look at quickly whenever you want) and, more importantly, a co-op feature. If your friend has their own copy of the game, you can explore the mansion side-by-side as Luigi & Gooigi. I have no friends to play with, nor do I have a second copy of the game, so this wasn't something I could test. However, if your friend doesn't have a second copy of the game, you can still do the time-attack modes against the special ghosts and boss battles via Download Play. It's a pity the whole game can't be played via download play, but that would be a LOT to download at one time, so I get it :b

The other unavoidable thing this port changes are the controls, and this is likely going to be where most people either gel or don't with the game. The game does have NEW 3DS compatibility, as LZ is a duplication of the interaction button, and ZR is a duplication of the flashlight button (both of which are also on the face buttons). The C-stick on the NEW 3DS can also be used, and I would recommend using something with a second joystick if you're going to play this. The game does have the ability to use the 3DS gyro to aim up and down while using the vacuum, and that works alright (not as good as a proper C-stick like the Gamecube has, but it's fine), but you can't aim left and right that way. The NEW 3DS's C-stick has always kinda sucked, and it still kinda sucks here. One day I shall blow a bunch of cash on another 3DS and a Circle Pad Pro (which are absurdly common in Japan) to give playing it that way a try (as I imagine that's by far the best way to play this), but on a normal NEW 3DS, this is a compromise from the Gamecube version. There's no way around that. It still plays fine, but it is a noticeably hampered experience.

Edit: (8/31) I just beat the Secret Mansion (hard mode) and have a few thoughts on it I'll just plonk here. It honestly wasn't as hard as I expected it to be, although it's definitely a lot harder. No health pick-ups outside of the bonus ones you get for sucking up multiple ghosts at once, which basically means you can't heal without going back to the lab over and over if you don't wanna die. Given that if you have a Toad amiibo, you can make it so talking to Toads heals you (and they're you're save points anyhow), there's really no reason the game couldn't've been like that from the start because Nintendo knew it was a good idea. Not a game breaker, but it definitely means you'll be back tracking back to the start (or to a mirror to warp back to the entrance) more often than you really have any reason to have to. The ghosts have 1.5 times as much HP and there are a LOT more of them. Some rooms are just utter hell because you'll have like five or six ghosts mobbing you at once, appearing and disappearing and stunning you with being scared. This is definitely not the ideal way to play this game in any way shape or form (and certainly not with a compromised C-stick), but it's a fun bit of extra stuff if you aren't quite Luigi's Mansion'd out after the normal mansion.

Verdict: Recommended. With Luigi's Mansion 2 also being on 3DS and being far cheaper and Luigi's Mansion 3 on the way for Switch this October, this port is definitely a steep ask for the price you're likely going to have to pay for it. Unless you're someone who either has nostalgia for it or fancies going through over and over to try and beat the harder mode and get better cash scores, you are likely going to be disappointed in just how short this game is when so many longer games are cheaper and equally long games are cheaper. That said, this is still a great game, and this is a great port of it if you've always wanted to experience Luigi's first spoopy day out~

Luigi's Mansion presents a cute departure. The camera is zoomed in close, its protagonist scared stiff. Your one weapon is nonviolent and sometimes useless. But the aesthetics serve a cuter purpose: this is a horror fun-house for kids. Much like Captain Toad, the brief here is to use Mario characters but make it different, which usually translates to limiting movement.

This one is easy. It’s an “easy” Resident Evil-like, offering diluted versions of the lock-and-key puzzles found in RE 1 and 2. It’s an “easy” Zelda dungeon, with a few weapon “variants” (you even suck up dirt in one room exactly like in Skyward Sword). It’s an “easy” game because dying means just getting booted to the opening foyer.

But having an easy version of a game like this is extremely welcome, because sometimes recommending Resident Evil or Zelda to newer players is unwelcome. Those games are tough and time consuming. Luigi is a bit like them, but you’re done in 5 hours.

Screenshots: https://parosilience.tumblr.com/tagged/Luigi%27s%20Mansion

Não sei nem expressar o que esse jogo foi pra mim, mas vamo lá. Eu nunca tinha visto nenhuma gameplay de Luigi's Mansion na minha vida e quando resolvi jogar isso aqui, fui pego totalmente de surpresa pela qualidade do jogo. Eu acho incrível como a Nintendo consegue deixar os jogos dela tão carismáticos, quando você vai para uma área ainda não explorada e o Luigi começa a assobiar a música do jogo para não ficar com medo porque tá tudo escuro, o professor falando "Luigi" a todo momento e a maneira que os fantasmas são, é a pura nata da Nintendo. A gameplay do jogo é totalmente divertida e intuitiva, a trilha sonora é brilhante e a história, mesmo sendo clichê, é interessante por causa do carisma dos personagens e inimigos. Em resumo, amei o jogo, me pegou totalmente de surpresa, pois não esperava nada, mas foi uma experiência incrível, 10/10.