Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD is a welcome return to an old haunt

As the Nintendo remake and remaster train trundles along, it occasionally throws up interesting timeline quirks. Its latest release is one such instance.

Nintendo released the Switch exclusive Luigi’s Mansion 3 back in 2019. Now, five years later, players are being offered a Switch port of its predecessor, Luigi’s Mansion 2 (previously known as Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon in North America).

While it may sound counter-intuitive to go back to the second game when a Switch-native third entry already exists, Luigi’s Mansion 2 still holds its own, even if its successor looks better.

When the second game arrived on the 3DS back in 2013  – as part of Nintendo’s Year of Luigi celebrations – it did so to critical acclaim, so we’ve little objection to Nintendo resurrecting it. Or, rather, to Tantalus doing it.

For it is indeed the Australian studio – best known for its HD Zelda remasters of Skyward Sword on the Switch and Twilight Princess on the Wii U – which was chosen by Nintendo to give the same treatment to Luigi’s Mansion 2, and it’s once again done a great job of bringing the source material to the 1080p world.

Buy Luigi's Mansion 2 HD

Luigi's Mansion 2 HD (Switch)

£39.97$58.80

Given that the 3DS had a top screen that was a mere 240 pixels high, it stands to reason that the Switch version of Luigi’s Mansion 2 has been given a notable upgrade in quality. While Tantalus could have simply upscaled the original game and called it a day, it’s instead taken the time to ensure that the Switch version looks as sharp and visually appealing as possible.

Some textures have been recreated, while numerous character models – such as those of Luigi himself and the quirky scientist Professor E Gadd – have been replaced with more detailed, expressive versions, allowing the game’s fantastic animations to shine even more.

Naturally, it goes without saying that Luigi’s Mansion 3 still looks better, because it was built with the Switch hardware in mind, but that’s not to say that Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD looks prehistoric by comparison – far from it.

The tweaks have extended to the gameplay as well, although perhaps not to such a successful degree. The 3DS original suffered somewhat from a lack of a second analogue stick, meaning it was a little fiddly to aim Luigi’s vacuum and torch.

Here, the presence of a second stick improves things somewhat, but because the game was originally designed without one in mind, it hasn’t transferred over perfectly – certainly not as well as Skyward Sword HD converted the Wii Remote sword swipes to the Switch’s right stick.

As a result, while it’s now possible to aim your vacuum and torch with the right stick, and while numerous control options have been added for inverting axes, toggling gyro aiming and the like, we never really felt entirely comfortable with the controls even as the final credits rolled.

It could be argued that those somewhat unwieldy 3DS controls worked in the original version’s favour, because they added extra tension to ghost battles (much like the tank controls in the early Resident Evil games). This doesn’t escape the fact that we would still have liked something that feels a little more intuitive, however, for those who don’t want to feel like they’re fighting against the game as much as they are with the ghosts.

“Here, the presence of a second stick improves things somewhat, but because the game was originally designed without one in mind, it hasn’t transferred over perfectly”

The 2D presentation of a game that was built with 3D stereoscopy in mind also impacts on the gameplay a little. The game’s camera is quite low down because the 3DS version presented each room almost as a small 3D diorama, but without that depth it’s now sometimes difficult to judge where enemies and cash are on the screen. Often we tried to vacuum some fluttering banknotes, only to realise they were actually falling behind us.

These issues aside. Luigi’s Mansion 2 remains just as entertaining as it was when it was first released. The game follows Luigi as he attempts to put together the Dark Moon, a mystical floating object that keeps the local ghosts friendly. King Boo has shattered the Dark Moon, and in doing so has turned all the ghosts nasty, so it’s up to Luigi to visit a series of mansions to hunt for the shards, while catching the rowdy spooks along the way.

Each mansion contains a number of separate stages, and before attempting each one, Professor E Gadd marks areas of interest on Luigi’s map. This map was in the bottom screen on the 3DS version, but now it’s moved up to the top-right corner. Thankfully, however, it isn’t intrusive.

The majority of the game, then, is a combination of ghost-catching and puzzle-solving as Luigi tries to figure out how to trigger the switch, gimmick or trap that will reveal the path to the next room in the mansion. Expect plenty of sucking up scenery with your vacuum, activating switches with your torch and revealing hidden items with your special darklight. The lack of a hint system may stump some younger players, but most will be able to eventually figure things out through trial and error.

The jump from 3DS to full HD also allows the game’s personality to truly shine. The original release was lauded for its fantastic animation and it’s even easier to see this here. The updated Luigi character model is a joy to control as he wanders terrified around the hallways and clumsily fiddles with each mansion’s various gizmos.

The picture is pin-sharp in both docked and handheld mode, with no image blurring to be seen. If this game isn’t running at a native 1080p and 720p, respectively, then it can’t be far off it. Frame rate buffs may be disappointed to hear this is a 30fps game, but given its relatively slow pace, it’s not really an issue.

“The updated Luigi character model is a joy to control as he wanders terrified around the hallways and clumsily fiddles with each mansion’s various gizmos.”

The soundtrack is also fantastic throughout, and occasionally Luigi can be heard nervously humming along in an attempt to calm his nerves. It’s a brilliant use of layered music and ensures the game sounds as polished as it looks.

While its original home on handheld may give the impression that it’s lacking in content, that’s not the case either – this is a pleasantly meaty experience which will probably take a first-time player around 15 hours to complete. That’s before adding in the replay value in trying to find the hidden gems and Boos, and trying to get a three-star rating on each stage.

Then there’s the ScareScraper, a separate mode (which was originally called Thrill Tower in the European version of the 3DS game) in which players can either go it alone or team up with up to three others as they explore the randomly generated floors of a tower, capturing all the ghosts along the way while up against a tight time limit.

The ScareScraper may be lacking in story and its speedier pace means a lot of the personality found in the main adventure takes a back seat, but it’s a fun action-focused alternative to the game’s typical puzzle-solving which allows you to focus on the ghost-catching mechanics. It’s also the most natural fit for the game’s handheld origins, as it’s ideal for a quick blast during a commute.

Ultimately, Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD is that perfect catch-all situation – a remaster that not only revives a great game so newcomers can enjoy it for the first time, but also improves on the visuals to such an extent that even those who did play through it 11 years ago will have good reason to revisit it (even if the controls still aren’t perfect).

The game obviously comes with the sizeable caveat that Luigi’s Mansion 3 is still the better game – especially on a visual basis. If you’re new to the series we’d still probably recommend that you get the third game, purely to enjoy Luigi’s Mansion at its best, before then moving onto Luigi’s Mansion 2 if you crave another adventure.

With the Wii U almost entirely rinsed of remaster resources (we’re still looking at you, Star Fox Zero), Nintendo is seemingly turning increasingly to the 3DS for inspiration. If the final days of the Switch are going to consist of more ports of 3DS games like this, then as long as they’re handled with such care, we’re all for it.