Luigi, Mario’s taller brother, is often seen as just that, Mario’s taller brother. Usually relegated to spin-off titles and the character you pick when your older sibling picks Mario (to be fair, I’m more of a Toad man myself). But over the last few Nintendo consoles, that has changed. Not only has he been a big part of the Mario & Luigi series, but he’s also received a trilogy of his own games, Luigi’s Mansion. The most recent entry, Luigi’s Mansion 3, dropped onto the Switch a few years back to overwhelmingly positive reviews. So it’s no surprise that in this day and age of remasters, remakes, and ports, the older titles would eventually make it to the Switch. And that brings us to now with Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD. But should you pick up this HD rerelease of a 3DS game? Let’s find out.
REVIEW CODE PROVIDED BY NINTENDO. ALL VIEWS ARE MINE ALONE.
Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD story is the same as the 3DS original with no changes whatsoever. The game once again takes place in the Evershade Valley, which is home to countless ghosts and illuminated by the Dark Moon. The ghosts are helping Professor E. Gadd with his research into the paranormal until King Boo returns. The giant Boo shatters the Dark Moon into pieces, causing all the ghosts in the valley to turn hostile and wreak havoc. Upon retreating to his bunker, and with few options, the Professor once again enlists the help of Luigi to capture ghosts, restore the Dark Moon, and defeat King Boo.
This story does a fine enough job, just like it did back in 2013. It gives a reason for why Luigi is back catching ghosts and why said ghosts are causing mayhem. It’s nothing special, but I never expect groundbreaking narratives from Mario (or, in this case, Luigi) games. I do wish they had added a little bonus campaign, similar to Super Mario 3D World where they included Bowser’s Fury. Just a little something extra in the story/gameplay department to give people who have already played the original something new.
Similar to the story, the gameplay also remains pretty much the same. You still have access to all the tools from the original, like the Poltergust 5000, Strobulb, and Dark-Light, to help you in your ghost-catching endeavours. The big change, though, is being able to play the game with a controller instead of cramping your hands with a 3DS. Having played the original, this new control scheme is ten times better. I remember having to contort my hand in odd ways in order to catch ghosts effectively, so not having to do that is a plus. It made the game feel a lot better to play, and I had longer play sessions as a result.
Unfortunately, even with a controller, some of the quirks of the 3DS linger. The biggest example is that you still can’t free-aim the Poltergust once you start sucking or blowing. This was fine on the 3DS version because you only had the circle pad, but to not change it in this port is disappointing. The mission structure is also the same, and it still hurts the game’s pacing at times. It would’ve been nice if, in this version, you didn’t get sent back to the Professor every time you catch a handful of ghosts or find an item. That’s my main complaint about this port in general; they didn’t do anything to improve the experience and just copied and pasted the 3DS game with some visual improvements.
The biggest overall difference between the 3DS and Switch versions is in the title: HD. The game looks better than ever, making everything look a bit more vibrant and less grainy. The ghosts’ colours pop a lot more, and the game’s different mansions’ general ambience also got decent upgrades. The cutscenes also look pretty good, and overall, the game now looks like an early Switch release. I also busted out my old 3DS to compare the improvements, and it’s night and day comparing the two.
And not just in the visuals; the sound has also been upgraded and is way less crunchy (probably because it’s no longer on a 3DS). I do wish that they had done a bit more with the visuals besides just upgrading it to HD. If they had updated the visuals to be similar to Luigi’s Mansion 3, I would’ve been a very happy camper, but that would also have taken a lot more work than just porting the game over.
On the technical side of things, the game runs great. I didn’t notice any frame drops or stutters throughout my time with the game. The load times were also greatly improved, making the constant back and forth between the mansions and bunker a little more bearable. I also didn’t encounter any glitches, which was nice, because I remember getting soft-locked in a few instances on the 3DS (probs a combo of glitches and me being an idiot). Overall, this is the best way to experience Luigi’s Mansion 2.
Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD is the definitive way to experience the middle entry of the Luigi’s Mansion series, but it’s not perfect. While the game has been updated to run on the Switch, they’ve done little else besides that. The controls still have the jank found in the 3DS version, the mission structure still hurts the pacing, and the visuals were only upgraded to the bare minimum. It’s also a shame that no bonus content was added in this rerelease, as it would’ve given old players a reason to jump back into the game.
At the end of the day, this is a bare-bones HD port of a 3DS game from 2013, but there is still fun to be had catching ghosts and solving the mysteries of the Evershade Valley. If you have never played this game before and want to try it out, this is the version to play. For people who’ve played the original, maybe wait for a sale before indulging in some 3DS nostalgia.
Have you played Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD? What did you think? Have you played the 3DS version? Let us know in the comments where we can talk about our favourite Mario spin-off games.
