Luigi’s Mansion

2025-05-05
Despite having just played Super Mario Sunshine I was not prepared for Luigi's Mansion. First I was not prepared for the music. From E. Gadd's funky grooves--grooves plural--to that beautiful 40 second loop when you talk to ghosts that sounds like it was written to be remixed into dubstep. I was prepared for the Nintendo-ness of the little touches like Luigi somewhat confidently humming along to the music which changes to proper terrified humming as his health gets lower and, of course, the star of the show, the tactility and inherent fun of controlling the vacuum cleaner, with the ensuing frantic tug of war as the Sucker Luigi's ass is dragged around the room by the Suckee. But despite coming off Sunshine’s rough edges I was not prepared for Mansion’s frustrations. The perpetual fight with the inverted aiming (that you can’t change). The fixed camera, that meant any time I was fighting a ghost in the foreground it was basically a crapshoot if I could press the analog stick in the right direction: “Is that forward or backward, left or right? Ah fuck. Luigi, you’re gonna eat shit, my guy.” I should have been prepared for some absolute ball blenders of some bosses in the King Boo fight, sure, but most notably the apparently notorious Boolossus. Those last several of Boolossus’ Boos had me thinking about turning myself into a ghost. Throw in a lot of backtracking and the occasional “Where do I go” moments and for all the strengths of Luigi’s Mansion there were times I thought I’d be having more fun vacuuming my actual house. But damn if all that Nintendo charm don’t make the trip down to the Mansion worth it.