Luigi's Mansion Afterthoughts

[Max M]

Sorry to steal your subject SharkAttack, but the Mario Sunshine topic started interesting discussion, so, as I've just started replaying it, I was wondering what your thoughts on Luigi's Mansion are?

I know I'm very much in the minority, but personally I love it! It contained so much charm, imagination and character that was sadly missing in Mario Sunshine. Before the game was released Miyamoto actually said it was being made because the developers were bored of making Mario games and when you compare the love put in to the two games, it really shows. While Mario had many odd moments that seemed like they were slapped in (Yoshi anyone?), Luigi's Mansion, due to it's shorter nature, was a joy from start to finish and everything was polished to the max.

It's easy to say Luigi was just about sucking up ghosts, but that's akin to saying Mario 64 was just about a guy in a castle! It had tons of clever puzzles, memorable moments and humour from start to finish. My favourite bit was probably the music room where the guy played tunes on his piano and you had to name which game it was from. The Mario Brothers theme sounded great with proper instruments. The final boss battle was pretty amazing too.

It did get a bit repetitive at certain points, but it was still an atmospheric and beautiful game. I welcome more 'short' games that are as tightly packed as titles like Luigi's Mansion and ICO. Nintendo could've so easily have ruined it by making the Boo collection mandatory in a desperate attempt to increase the length, but they got it right this time.

Nintendo were inredibly stupid to release this as the launch game, they really needed something 'epic' like Zelda or Metroid for day 1... I don't know what they were thinking, but I feel if Luigis Mansion had been released, say, when Wario World was people would've appreciated it for what it was, instead of complaining that it wasn't another Mario 64.

So what did you think of it?

[gamelife]

i really enjoyed enjoyed luigi's mansion, even though it was too short.

i believe nintendo came up wih a good idea with this game but it could have been a whole lot better, either by making the game a bit harder or extending the games lifespan (think i had it finished in under 8 hours )
there should have been more secret stuff to uncover too, like in the mario games.

i think the whole look to the game is amazing, i like the audio and it played like a treat too.

[nips]

I thought that it was great.

Really fun! Really enjoyable! Really gorgeous!

Top Stuff...

[Max M]

i like the audio

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that. Definately my favourite original soundtrack (So SSBM doesn't count!) of any of the 1st party GameCube games. The ending credits music and the training room were very different to anything I've heard from Nintendo in the past.

[Tom Salter]

Luigi's Mansion was a fine game placed under fairly harsh circumstance.

It was a Nintendo console launch title, and everyone expects these to be absolute system-sellers, AAA, no arguments. Yet Luigi's Mansion was simply "good", and as people ran out in their thousands to pick it up, it would never have had the same effect as Mario 64, for example.

If it were to have been released alongside a AAA title, it would have been held in much higher regard, but Nintendo fans wanted it to be much more "special", and it never did rise to the occasion, leaving many players with a bitter taste in their mouth.

[connect]

It's funny this topic should be started. I have just today started replaying Luigi's Mansion. It's in Japanese and I'm loving it. I don't fully understand still what exactly is going on all the time but get the idea. I think it's a great game! Anyway back to playing it and I will hopefully have some nice thoughts to put in here afterwards. And by the way I didn't come on the Internet to look for a guide*

*quite probably lying

[Bomberman UK]

It's funny this topic should be started. I have just today started replaying Luigi's Mansion. It's in Japanese and I'm loving it. I don't fully understand still what exactly is going on all the time but get the idea. I think it's a great game! Anyway back to playing it and I will hopefully have some nice thoughts to put in here afterwards. And by the way I didn't come on the Internet to look for a guide*

*quite probably lying

Hmm, Luigis Mansion's one game I really wouldn't want to play in Japanese simply because the translation was so damn good. I reckon it was done by their British guy, it contains such camp lines as "That's a pretty penny" "I never realised how lovely his spots looked" and "Mmm, that dress looks comfy, nah, I'll stick to my threads".

Oh, and he calls one of the ghosts a "Bugger". I wonder if NOA knows what that really means.

[Ginger Tosser]

I enjoyed it. O.K it was a short game, maybe overpriced because of that, but enjoyable.

[Migu]

I've waited a while before buying this game; didn't want to pay the full price for it, after having read plenty of negative comments regarding its longevity. Now that I?ve finished it, I can?t really think of any bad points sticking out, it's all rather good. It was quite a relaxing game, the difficulty was just right, and as said, great music? especially Luigi humming along! It wasn?t too short either?

The only thing that really bothered me was a particular locked door, forcing me to make a big detour all the time? in the end, I think it?s my own fault for not searching for the damn key long enough! I thought I fared well when I finished the game, but the ranking I received proved otherwise?

Imo, a good game; nothing more, but also nothing less. Sometimes, that?s all you need 8)

[Fuddle]

got this with my cube at launch (they ran out of monkey ball)

i really enjoyed it, as every one said it was pretty good, although it could have been a lot more special with just a few nice hidden extras.

personally, this game made me on edge a lot more than something like resident evil, and certainly made me jump all the time. The atmosphere created with the spooky sound effects and lighting was cool.
Plus luigi's character with the stammering calls to mario, sneaking around and knocking on everything made me like him a lot more. Before this game, he was just mario in green to me.

however i only did play through it once, i got all the ghosts, and a pretty good ranking....i dont think i ever will do it again...although i'm now interested to see what they actually were talking about.

[Geoff D]

Luigi was the 1st game I bought for my GC - & I still love it now; so what it's short? It's gaming pie people, & a tasty slice at that - lovely graphics & sound & some ghosts with personality.

Standout moment for me -

the music room - where you start up the instruments one by one & begin to recognise the Mario tune take shape. Fantastic.

[RLench]

I only bought this a while ago, but think it's a really good game. I agree with what's been said so far. The room with 'that' tune was brilliant, and really made me laugh

I have a question though: (possible spoiler, but I doubt it)

How do I catch the ghost in the attic room? It's the one where there's mounted heads, and I need to shoot ice at a ghost to kill it. Well there isn't enough ice I have enough to catch 2, but as more ghosts appear, I don't have enough ice to finish them off

Any suggestions?

[E. Randy Dupre]

Answer:

Only fire the ice at each ghost once - after the first shot you'll be able to see their hearts and suck 'em in like normal. The same applies to all the (standard) ghosts that have fire, water or ice around their hearts.

I started playing this again today and... er... finished it again today. Really surprised at just how much easier it is when you know where you're going and how to solve the puzzles - we're talking a couple of hours here, tops, and this was only the second time I've played it through. Sure, I had a good time doing it, but it's a real shame that a little more content wasn't put into the game. I mean, there's all of two 'real' secrets in there. I can't help feeling that's a pretty major mistake in something this short.

[rjpageuk]

I loved Luigis Mansion as well.

I find it strange that now people complain about a games lifespan if it is anything less than a Final Fantasy style 40 hour marathon, yet these same people were perfectly happy with the games on the SNES which lasted in general less than half the length of Luigis Mansion.

[SharkAttack]

Luigi's Mansion is IMO the most underrated game this generation. Every little detail of the game is perfect other than the length - But plauy through without saving - Trying to get the highest grade you can - And it becomes a faultless game. Some might say it gets repetitive - I didn;t find this at all. Plus there are quite a few clever secrets to unlock within the game.

Anyway - Loved it. For the time it lasts its the best pure fun gaming experience to be had I reckon.