Luigi's Mansion
Who Ya Gunna Call Action
1 Player
System: Gamecube
Developer: Nintendo EAD
Year of Release: 2001
Beaten: A while back
As a launch title, and the first "real" game starring Luigi (Mario is Missing! preceded it, but I'm not sure if Nintendo really recognizes that game) Luigi's Mansion was honestly a bit of a let down. I wish I could say I saw past the weird premise and was looking forward to the game, but worse than any negative feelings towards the game I was wholly apathetic. Eventually I wound up playing a friend's copy and realized just what a pleasant game awaited. Years later, and out of seemingly nowhere, a sequel came out for the 3DS. While it changed the overall game progression a bit the same ghost vacuuming action was left intact.
Having won a contest he didn't apply to Luigi arrives at his prize, a lovely mansion. Only it looks rather run down and possibly filled to the brim with ghosts. Soon enough a terrified Luigi is surrounded by ghosts when a peculiar little man, Prof. E. Gadd, rescues him with a vacuum device. Back at his weird little shed he explains that this mansion is an illusion and that Mario has been trapped inside before giving Luigi the Poltergust 3000, the vacuum that dealt with the ghosts before, and the Gameboy Horror which allows them to communicate. Yeah, this game is about vacuuming up ghosts. See why it might not have sold too great on concept alone? Regardless, the game turned out just fine, and the Gameboy Horror is one of the first really neat touches. It's really just a GBC, but references to stuff like that are great, and really helped to solidify E. Gadd as a lovable quirky scientist.
The gameplay is pretty basic, simply point your light at a ghost, then start up the vacuum and pull away from the ghosts. It's actually really fun to do so, and does get difficult to pull off later in the game. With skill you can actually one shot, at least some, bosses which is incredibly satisfying. As you get dragged around by the ghosts you have to watch out for smaller ghosts, or other hazards. Aside from combat Luigi spends most of his time searching the house, looking for keys and treasure. He can use his GB Horror to locate some hidden secrets as well. Is that redundant? Anyway, the real beauty of this game is the atmosphere.
The pace might feel a little slow, but it works fine for the gameplay. Plus the game looks fantastic, there is so much little detail, like the way Luigi jostles about as he runs, or the various ghosts animations. Some of the bosses have incredibly cartoony, and even humorous, animations during the fights, especially once they're under attack. When going through doors there's a short cutscene of Luigi turning the knob, I think this is to hide load times, but to me I just enjoyed watching it. The noise of the doorknob turning is stuck in my head forever. That is where this game really shines, sound design.
While writing this so many different sounds have been playing in my head. The laughter of the ghosts, the door knob turning, Luigi humming the theme song, or calling for Mario nervously. You have a button dedicated just to shouting "Mario!" and it changes depending on your current health. Luigi's desperate low health plea for his brother is both sad and charming. When you're just wandering about sometimes Luigi will just start humming along to the theme song, this might sound minor, but it really makes the game fits the feeling of this game. Seriously, the music is wonderful in this game as well, but somehow above all else the sound effects shine brightest to me, and that's a really rare thing. That isn't even a knock against the rest of the game. The story is decent with entertaining characters, it looks beautiful (and is a Gamecube launch title?!), it plays well with a pretty unique style of gameplay, and it was Luigi's first "real" major starring role as well as introducing a new final boss (which hadn't been attempted since Wart really) and brought E. Gadd into the mythos as well.
There is one major complaint I have about this game though. While I don't think this game was the originator of these trend, it certainly helped to cement Luigi's role as a scaredy cat. At times, it can be funny, but ultimately I think it weakens his character overall. I've been a fan of Luigi since I was a kid, I always thought of him as maybe a bit more reluctant than Mario, but not due to fear, more just common sense where as Mario recklessly charges forth, with his brother dutifully helping. Maybe I've become too attached to personality-less video games, but it's an aspect of his character that has disappointed me.
Luigi's Mansion isn't exactly scary, but it does have ghosts! And while it never gets creepy the game oozes charm and personality. To me, that is what the Gamecube was all about. Weird games that came out seemingly nowhere. No one asked for cartoon Zelda, but it was brillant. Super Mario at the beach on clean up duty, but it worked. Star Fox taking place mostly on foot, arguably not as great, but I enjoyed it. What the fuck even is Cubivore? It was a great time to be playing Nintendo games, even if it followed the N64's example of a small, but excellent, selection of games. Luigi's Mansion was one of the pioneers for this era. After Super Mario 64 brought 3D to the people, Luigi's Mansion brought whatever the hell innovations the Gamecube should be defined by. Ghostbuster influences I suppose?
I guess this doesn't really seem to qualify for Summer of Screams, I mean sure it has ghosts, but it isn't really terrifying... until you....
So Luigi wins a decript mansion through a contest he didn't enter, and after discovering it's chock full of ghosts he goes about collecting them and damning their souls to (sometimes stylish) painting prisons. While a bit sadistic the basic idea seems pretty normal considering the outrageous situation. The thing is the ghosts in this game aren't very well explained, they do shed some light on who they were, but not really how they got there. In the case of several of these ghosts they don't even bother Luigi until he messes up their after life. Luigi antagonizes these spirits of the dead who are trapped here, ultimately forcing them into a more permanent form of purgatory. On Earth, it's safe to assume, they might of had a chance to find peace, but these portraits are specifically designed to trap these poor souls forever. Elderly folk, women, children, babies, Luigi's sadistic side knows no bounds here. Which actually has an interesting implication. As this game really cemented Luigi's state as a coward, is this his own way of aggressively dealing with his problems? As the constant underdog does it empower Luigi to lord over these ghosts? I mean, sure, this is now his mansion, whether they owned it or not previously no longer matters as they've passed on, right? And winning it through a contest he never entered seems so legitimate.
Furthermore, what is the deal with all the ghosts in this game? Alright, so it has the Mario standard Boo's, which fit in without too much fuss, but it also adds in several new types of non-Boo ghosts. What differentiates these different sorts of ghosts? Why does someone become a Boo and another a Blue Twirler? Maybe Boos are "Casper-esque" and an actual species, whereas the ones introduced in this game are actual spirits of the dead? Even more concerning are the portrait ghosts themselves. Instead of ghosts resembling inhabitants of the Mushroom Kingdom, or neighboring lands, these ghosts resemble people. People are exceedingly rare in this universe. Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy and Rosalina are the only 100% confirmed humans as far as I'm aware (Wario and Waluigi look rather elvish, but could be human too). Assuming Luigi's Mansion doesn't take place back in Brooklyn, then where the hell did all this people come from? Is this another separate species of creature that happens to be ghost like? Or is this a house full of actual deceased people hidden away somewhere in the Mushroom Kingdom which is, disturbingly, much more likely. Were humans massacred here once in such a way that their souls couldn't pass on? Or did all these people die such tragic, yet separate, deaths they couldn't pass on their own? The latter seems like a bit of a stretch, but the former is just too gruesome. Regardless, Luigi is thoroughly unconcerned with all of this, so we will probably never have actual answers.
On psychological merits alone, I feel Luigi's Mansion has earned its place in my Summer of Screams.
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