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It has been over a decade since the release of Luigi’s Mansion 2 (2013) on 3DS, which went on to sell nearly twice as many copies as the original Luigi’s Mansion (2001) on GameCube. With the gargantuan install base of the Nintendo Switch (recently surpassing the DS to become the best-selling gaming console of all time in Japan), Luigi’s Mansion 3 (2019) also managed to double the sales units of its predecessor, making the action-adventure series more popular now than ever before. For the millions who were introduced to the world of Luigi’s Mansion with the threequel, Nintendo is bringing the 3DS sequel to Switch, now enhanced with spiffy HD graphics. Removing the North American “Dark Moon” subtitle from the original, likely to prevent any confusion with more casual consumers, Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD is launching later this month, but is the Switch remaster a good enough replacement for the 3DS version?
3DS exclusive games being ported over to Switch have been pretty few and far between, as the dual-screens of the 3DS were often utilized in such a way that would make it difficult to convert into a single-screen experience. Fortunately for Luigi’s Mansion 2, the bottom screen was only used to view the map, health points, and currency total, therefore not having any major gameplay significance. For the Switch version, the map has been reduced to a mini-map in the top right corner of the screen (although it fades away while using the Poltergust 5000 so as to not obstruct your view) that can be maximized with the push of the ‘-’ button. Upon doing so, the sides of the screen resemble the layout of the bottom half of a DS, which is a nice reference to the in-game “dual scream” device. Health points are now visible in the top left corner of the UI at all times (as well as important items like keys), and currency total appears in the bottom left corner only briefly after you collect treasure.
Apart from those minor changes and a few slight menu adjustments, Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD is virtually the exact same game as the 3DS original, with the main selling points being, of course, the graphical leap, updated controls, and the ability to now play on the TV via the Nintendo Switch dock. Although I was only able to play the first 7 levels for the purpose of this preview, I wouldn’t get your hopes up about there being anything new here. At least with the Switch generation, Nintendo has typically used the word “Deluxe” when a port includes additional content (i.e. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Kirby’s Return to Dreamland Deluxe, and Pikmin 3 Deluxe), whereas Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD is, as the title suggests, Luigi’s Mansion 2 but in HD; nothing more, nothing less. The only semi-notable thing that has actually been removed from the original is the stereoscopic 3D, but that’s an inevitable omission considering the Switch hardware doesn’t have the necessary technology to make that possible.
Although it’s immediately apparent that Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD is not quite on par with the visuals of Luigi’s Mansion 3, which was built from the ground up for Switch and is one of the best looking games on the platform, Nintendo (and subsidiary developer Next Level Games) put a lot more work into the remaster than simply upscaling the resolution. Textures, lighting, character models, and even some of the animations have all been drastically improved, with Luigi himself often appearing much more expressive and noticeably more scared by the environment than before. While it’s not a full-blown remake like Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, there are more than enough graphical enhancements to make Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD feel like a modern release (especially when playing on the still impressive screen of the Nintendo Switch OLED model).
Since the announcement of Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD at the September 2023 Nintendo Direct, a big topic of discussion has been about the unfortunate pricing. When the game initially launched for 3DS, it was priced at $39.99/£39.99, dropping down to $19.99/£19.99 a few years later when released as part of the budget Nintendo Selects line. Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD is being priced at $59.99/£49.99 (the same as Luigi’s Mansion 3), which is a pretty hefty increase considering the game is over a decade old at this point. When compared to Metroid Prime Remastered, which received a similar graphical overhaul and only costs $39.99/£34.99, the problem becomes more apparent. A remake of the original Luigi’s Mansion was released for 3DS in 2018, so it would have been really nice to see an HD port of that game bundled with Luigi’s Mansion 2, providing even more value and making the entire trilogy available on Switch, but I suppose that idea is just too good to be true. Game development has been getting more and more expensive as time goes on and prices have been increasing across the entire industry.
Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD is a more than welcomed inclusion to the Nintendo Switch library of games. First impressions already show that it’s undoubtedly the definitive way to play the sequel to the family-friendly comedy/horror series that puts Mario’s often underappreciated brother in the eerie spotlight. Although it’s not quite as graphically impressive as Luigi’s Mansion 3, the visual differences between the 3DS and Switch versions will make it worth the double-dip for many, even with the increase in price over the original. While there doesn’t seem to be anything new in terms of content, the remaster will definitely be an extra special treat for those who never owned a 3DS and haven’t played the critically-acclaimed game before. Make sure to keep an eye out for our review to hear our final thoughts before Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD launches for Switch on 27 June 2024.
A copy of Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD for preview purposes was provided by Nintendo UK.