Looking back at Nintendo hardware, dates often get separated from reality. We tend to develop a picture of a Mario platformer serving as an ever-present anchor, one hardware launch after another. That’s not always the case, though.
Super Mario World arrived alongside the Super Nintendo in 1991, and Super Mario 64 was the star of the Nintendo 64 in 1996, but more recent hardware has frequently launched without that safeguard. The GameCube started the trend. Super Mario Sunshine, the follow-up to Super Mario 64, didn’t arrive until July 19, 2002, almost an entire year after the console launched on Sept. 14, 2001.
Instead, the biggest launch title was arguably Luigi’s Mansion, a game that placed the portly plumber in an unusual role: abductee. Luigi’s Mansion is a different sort of game than Nintendo typically delivers, built in a familiar universe to highlight a unique experience. In that respect, it’s a bit like Donkey Kong Bananza, which arrived in the Switch 2’s launch window with the hard-hitting gorilla in the starring role. Players control Luigi as he explores a spooky mansion in search of his missing brother, which requires him to face off against a variety of malevolent ghosts.
It’s a big deal for the taller of the two brothers, who doesn’t care for spectral sorts at all. But his brother is in danger, and you do what you must for your loved ones. Fortunately, Luigi doesn’t have to go it alone.
He has a contraption along for company, the Poltergust 3000, which was developed by the eccentric Professor E. It resembles a vacuum cleaner. Using the tool, Luigi can suck up ghosts in a jiff, rather like the Ghostbusters.
He just has to find them first, and on favorable terms. When I first played Luigi’s Mansion, I divided my time between that game and Silent Hill 2, which offered a more horrifying take on the supernatural. The two titles felt surprisingly similar to me.
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