Luigi's Mansion 2 HD Dark Moon Review Nintendo Switch

The most important thing about Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD is that it doesn’t feel like a game designed exclusively for a handheld, which it was back in 2013 on the 3DS. The remake actually compares favourably to Luigi’s Mansion 3. In terms of length, it’s on par or longer and in terms of visuals, it has been given a serious overhaul making it look nearly as good as the Switch release with great models and lighting effects.

If you played the original on the 3DS, structurally, it’s exactly the same, but if you never did, it’s very similar to the experience of Luigi’s Mansion 3. There is a much greater emphasis on variety compared to the 2001 original in all aspects. There are more varied locations to explore, puzzles that take advantage of the environments, and more ways to use your poltergust than ever before. This is all done with keeping the core of the series intact with exploration and ghost busting being paramount.

If you are coming to Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD after LM3, which is likely because of how well it sold, there are a few major concessions to note. There isn’t couch co-op, which unfortunately means there is no Gooigi, which is understandable since Gooigi was only introduced in 2019. No couch co-op for the campaign makes sense as it was never built from the ground up that way, but it’s a shame that they weren’t able to add local couch co-op for the scarescaprer mode. Not being able to do scarescraper, a mode designed for co-op without an additional copy of the game and an additional Switch is just a huge miss.

Considering Luigi’s Mansion was created by Nintendo and Luigi’s Mansion 2 was created by Next Level Games, who are now owned by Nintendo, the game was able to take the foundation created by the original and expand on it with new and innovative ways that helped push the series beyond what it initially was. The series has reached greater heights with each entry selling drastically better than the previous. Luigi’s Mansion was the fifth best selling game on the GameCube with a little over 3 million, which was in large part due to it being a launch tittle, Luigi’s Mansion 2 sold almost 6.5 million on the 3DS and Luigi’s Mansion 3 has gone on to sell over 14.25 million thanks to the work from Next Level.

I enjoyed how Luigi’s Mansion 2 attempted different environments, and while it might not have been perfected until LM3, as it felt a little too segmented in LM2, it helped keep the game feeling fresh by exploring new locations. One of the crutches of this new location system is that each area is split into missions, which immediately sends you back to Professor E Gadd through the pixelator, which doesn’t allow you to continue exploring, which is one of the biggest strengths of the series.

The other glaring issue and likely our biggest problem is that there is an awful checkpoint system, which after researching, is the same system that remained from the 3DS. No matter where you are during some of these missions, if you die, you have to start over. When some missions can take closer to an hour the first time around with exploration, this is beyond infuriating. Obviously, you can avoid this with a golden bone, but those aren’t always aroun and all it would to fix this is to either have a slight better checkpoint system or to include a few more hearts during each mission. There is so much money to be found, why cant there be more hearts?

Is Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD Worth it?

In 2001, Luigi’s Mansion began as what felt like Nintendo’s version of Resident Evil. With Next Level Games taking over, Luigi’s Mansion 2 felt like the series moved away from that and blossomed into it’s own with plenty of new ideas, expanded gameplay including the strobe bulb and black light, varied locations with increased environmental mechanics and most importantly, a focus on the personality of Luigi.

It’s easy to understand why Nintendo decided to remake Luigi’s Mansion 2 instead of Luigi’s Mansion as the second is a much closer experience to the third entry. With 14.25 million in sales and many new fans discovering this series on the Switch, Luigi’s Mansion 2 offers more of what new fans of the series will absolutely love with a few concessions.

Luigi’s Mansion 2 doesn’t go as far as recent Nintendo remakes like Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door with the inclusion of concept art and galleries from the original development. It also missed some easy opportunities to drastically fix some glaring issues from the 2013 LM2 release including the awful checkpoint system, lack of health and adding couch co-op for scarescraper.

However, Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD does feature more than enough quality of life changes and a dramatic visual overhaul to an already fantastic game that makes Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD is a must buy for fans of the series that never got a chance to play Dark Moon.

8/10