Summer time means glow ups, even for spooky things. This year, it’s Luigi’s Mansion 2, getting the HD upgrade on the Nintendo Switch after originally being released in 2013 on the Nintendo 3DS as Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon in most parts of the world. Graphically, it’s an improvement, shifting from 240p to 1080p; but thankfully, the game is more than just a pretty coat of paint.
If you haven’t played the game before, like me, the premise revolves around Luigi getting sucked back into the ghost hunting business by Professor E. Gadd. The Dark Moon has been shattered, covering the valley in a spooky fog and turning the docile ghosts into a variety of enemies. Luigi must restore the Dark Moon and figure out who’s behind the cause of the mess.
I really liked the campaign and how most of it was paced. The five primary locations have five missions within them, along with an opportunity for a sixth if you capture each mission’s Boo. Each chapter has distinct locations that are generally a joy to play through, though some can become sluggish or even confusing with traversing between floors. You’ll get rated on a scale of one to three stars for how well you do with the amount of ghosts you capture, how much treasure you snag, how little damage you take, and how fast you complete it. I generally scored between one and two, with an occasional three, but it never felt like it was stopping me from progressing with upgrades to my ghost hunting tools. The solid levels make it more enjoyable to go back to unlock treasure and areas you played before you acquired all the abilities. With that, there’s genuinely solid replayability.
Naturally, moving to the Switch means the UI and combat needed quite the overhaul. Overall it’s a success that takes good advantage of its space. The map takes over the upper right-hand of the screen and it does a decent job, but I found myself using the full map menu since that was more helpful and easier to process my location. Meters for the Poltergust 5000, your primary weapon, and the Dark Light Device are above Luigi’s head, making it easier to track how much power either has.
Capturing ghosts takes advantage of the two-stick technology of the Switch, allowing for better movement throughout the settings. Luigi can swivel around to keep up with ghosts, which plays quite smoothly. For the most part, I never encountered much trouble. Even when confronted with two or three ghosts, it’s still possible to snag them with the right angle and get them into the Poltergust. What I struggled with were some incredibly tight spaces. Some layouts cluttered the area with too many obstacles, making it difficult to get any leverage for capturing ghosts or avoiding damage from ones not caught in the Poltergust. Additionally, for boss fights where the ghosts were going often didn’t give you any room to actually pull back on your stick to ramp up the Poltergust, almost forcing you to release the ghost with no damage taken from it. It needlessly elongated some fights, slowing down the pacing and enjoyment.
Multiplayer makes its return but it doesn’t offer much. You can play locally or online, but you’ll be limited to a single player per console. You’re better off playing online than through a LAN, but that may be disappointing to those who want to play with someone in the same household. However, even online, I didn’t find many people playing, so you might struggle to find any chances to play.
Overall, Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD is a solid re-release for the Switch. It’s a super fun game that offers a good chunk of playtime, likely upwards of 10-15 hours if you don’t totally rush through it. Even with some of the issues with combat, most of it plays really smoothly with more flexibility within the controls compared to older 3DS experiences. You won’t find a complete game changer with this overhaul, but you’ll have a chance to play the game with far better graphics and a much larger screen. For some, that just might be worth it enough. For others, at a $60 price tag, that might be a little too steep for a fairly straightforward adaptation.
Summer time means glow ups, even for spooky things. This year, it’s Luigi’s Mansion 2, getting the HD upgrade on the Nintendo Switch after originally being released in 2013 on the Nintendo 3DS as Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon in most…
Summer time means glow ups, even for spooky things. This year, it’s Luigi’s Mansion 2, getting the HD upgrade on the Nintendo Switch after originally being released in 2013 on the Nintendo 3DS as Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon in most parts of the world. Graphically, it’s an improvement, shifting from 240p to 1080p; but thankfully, the game is more than just a pretty coat of paint.
If you haven’t played the game before, like me, the premise revolves around Luigi getting sucked back into the ghost hunting business by Professor E. Gadd. The Dark Moon has been shattered, covering the valley in a spooky fog and turning the docile ghosts into a variety of enemies. Luigi must restore the Dark Moon and figure out who’s behind the cause of the mess.
I really liked the campaign and how most of it was paced. The five primary locations have five missions within them, along with an opportunity for a sixth if you capture each mission’s Boo. Each chapter has distinct locations that are generally a joy to play through, though some can become sluggish or even confusing with traversing between floors. You’ll get rated on a scale of one to three stars for how well you do with the amount of ghosts you capture, how much treasure you snag, how little damage you take, and how fast you complete it. I generally scored between one and two, with an occasional three, but it never felt like it was stopping me from progressing with upgrades to my ghost hunting tools. The solid levels make it more enjoyable to go back to unlock treasure and areas you played before you acquired all the abilities. With that, there’s genuinely solid replayability.
Naturally, moving to the Switch means the UI and combat needed quite the overhaul. Overall it’s a success that takes good advantage of its space. The map takes over the upper right-hand of the screen and it does a decent job, but I found myself using the full map menu since that was more helpful and easier to process my location. Meters for the Poltergust 5000, your primary weapon, and the Dark Light Device are above Luigi’s head, making it easier to track how much power either has.
Capturing ghosts takes advantage of the two-stick technology of the Switch, allowing for better movement throughout the settings. Luigi can swivel around to keep up with ghosts, which plays quite smoothly. For the most part, I never encountered much trouble. Even when confronted with two or three ghosts, it’s still possible to snag them with the right angle and get them into the Poltergust. What I struggled with were some incredibly tight spaces. Some layouts cluttered the area with too many obstacles, making it difficult to get any leverage for capturing ghosts or avoiding damage from ones not caught in the Poltergust. Additionally, for boss fights where the ghosts were going often didn’t give you any room to actually pull back on your stick to ramp up the Poltergust, almost forcing you to release the ghost with no damage taken from it. It needlessly elongated some fights, slowing down the pacing and enjoyment.
Multiplayer makes its return but it doesn’t offer much. You can play locally or online, but you’ll be limited to a single player per console. You’re better off playing online than through a LAN, but that may be disappointing to those who want to play with someone in the same household. However, even online, I didn’t find many people playing, so you might struggle to find any chances to play.
Overall, Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD is a solid re-release for the Switch. It’s a super fun game that offers a good chunk of playtime, likely upwards of 10-15 hours if you don’t totally rush through it. Even with some of the issues with combat, most of it plays really smoothly with more flexibility within the controls compared to older 3DS experiences. You won’t find a complete game changer with this overhaul, but you’ll have a chance to play the game with far better graphics and a much larger screen. For some, that just might be worth it enough. For others, at a $60 price tag, that might be a little too steep for a fairly straightforward adaptation.
by Alex Quevedo
