4/5 ★ – DankFrank's review of Luigi's Mansion.

So it took me 16 years to finally get around to finishing Luigi's Mansion, I first played it upon getting a GameCube for my birthday in 2007, along with Super Monkey Ball and X-Men 2 Wolverine's Revenge(and I recently found out that Mark Hamill played Logan in that one, weird right?). Suffice to say, it was cathartic to finally finish this game after years of having it in the backlog, with some hazy childhood memories of the early encounters against Chauncy the baby ghost, or when Luigi lets all of the Boos loose in the mansion. I do love how bold an idea it is to launch a Nintendo system not only without a traditional Mario title, but a survival horror puzzle game starring Mario's less recognisable brother Luigi. Luigi has seemingly won a mansion in a competition he didn't enter, with him entering the establishment and encountering a ghost for the first time. As the game unfolds, Luigi soon discovers that his brother is being held within the mansion, and must delve deeper into the mansion if he wants any chance of saving him. It's a memorable premise, as we really get to see Luigi as something more than just "Mario's brother" for what I believe was truly the first time. He's scared but also will stop at nothing to save his brother, making for a very simple but genuinely compelling plot where we root for Luigi. Professor E. Gadd is also introduced in this game, a character that future Mario titles would feature. He's a neat addition to the Mario universe, with a fun design and memorable voice lines ("suka suka!") He even communicates with you via a modified Game Boy Color, what a madlad. Luigi is equipped with the Poltergust 3000, not content just being an amusing play on words, it also serves as Luigi's weapon of choice when dealing with the hordes of ghosts that Luigi will encounter during his adventure. The structure of LM is as follows: Enter room Ghost suck time 👻 Few waves of ghost sucking Room lights up Treasure chest Get key 🔑 Go to next room Repeat previous steps until boss ghost Defeat boss ghost Next area There's no denying that this is a fairly repetitive loop, but much of it is very satisfying, helped by how the act of capturing ghosts feels great, and the little jingle that plays when you get a key is the cherry on top of this sundae. In regards to the controls, the game is pretty straightforward. Left analogue stick moves Luigi, while the c stick is used to control the direction Luigi is facing. Luigi can also perform a dry humping motion by pressing A when near furniture (frisky). Left shoulder shoots out projectiles, right shoulder sucks in ghosts and money, hearts etc. Everything feels pretty natural to control, capturing multiple ghosts can feel finicky at first, but it's a matter of timing more than the controls at fault. Money can be found everywhere in the mansion by checking the furniture, solving some optional puzzles, by observing certain rooms using the Game Boy Horror, and in other ways. This money goes towards getting a better rank at the end of the game, which makes for some solid replay value. The variety of ghosts is solid, from punchy purple ones, grabby reds, big blues that smash the ground, or fat green bastards that just chuck banana peels, it's a solid lineup. They even introduce elemental ghosts later on that you fight using fire, water and ice elements, which is a nice shake-up. The portrait ghosts are also a very cool addition, with all of these ghosts having unique designs and backstories that add some charm to the game. Sure, most of them are fairly generic archetypes, but some of are still fairly memorable. I like the grandma who's whole deal is that she's a prankster and just likes messing with people. It's a shame they only seem to exist in the first game, as it's a cool concept that could have benefited from some expansion in the sequels. I unfortunately also need to mention the Boos, and good god fuck these bastards. When dealing with 50-100 HP ones, it's pretty manageable, but there are so many ones above that, with some having as much as 300!!! It can be a real test of patience, and almost rage-inducing at points. While I don't hate their inclusion, it's definitely my least favourite aspect of the game. One thing Luigi's Mansion has over most Mario titles, and apparently even its own sequels as far as I've heard, is that the game really commits to its atmosphere. Much of the time the game is quite dark, and when you enter some rooms there is a complete lack of sound other than Luigi's footsteps, adding some tension to many of the game's encounters. The characters still look great despite this game being almost 22 years old(!!!). The animation is certainly dated at times but still holds a lot of charm, specifically when it comes to the ending, which was incredibly heartwarming and a lovely moment for Luigi's character. The soundtrack is great too, tons of memorable tracks in this, the main mansion theme, E. Gadd's theme, the warm and cuddly feeling Toad theme, to the absolute banging credits music, there's some great stuff here from the legendary Kazumi Totaka and Shinobu Tanaka. The bosses are a pretty mixed bag, but I didn't love any of them, and I hated the area 3 boss in particular, very long, tedious and unpleasant. The others range from solid to forgettable, Chauncy is a pretty decent first boss, and the final boss is memorable if not exceptional. Upon completion of the game, you unlock the ability to replay the game in the hidden mansion mode, and I played this on my PAL GameCube, which features a modified, harder version compared to the NTSC versions of the game. I played through the game a second time this way and had fun for the most part, though some of the Boos were an absolute nightmare to catch, and a few of the bosses gave me a very hard time. I did get WAY more money on this playthrough, so uh, that was neato. Luigi's Mansion still holds up well after all these years, and I really enjoyed my first proper playthrough of it after having played it on and off throughout the years. Fun gameplay loop, memorable setting and characters, awesome soundtrack, immersive atmosphere, and a fun postgame mode. A great first entry for the superior Mario brother.