Preview 11 years later, one of the best 3DS video games arrives on Nintendo Switch. Can he reconnect with the exceptional? on Switch

Preview 11 years later, one of the best 3DS video games arrives on Nintendo Switch. Can he reconnect with the exceptional?

Like the first Luigi’s Mansion with the Gamecube, we didn’t have to wait long to see Luigi’s Mansion 2 land on the 3DS a few months after its launch. A second episode which was a hit at the time, in 2013. More than ten years later, it was at the end of the Nintendo console’s cycle that it appeared in a full HD version. If it is legitimate to think that fans of the world of video games are waiting with curiosity for information on the successor to the Nintendo Switch, they must deal with a first half of 2024 not very focused on new products. Princess Peach: Showtime is the only guarantee of something new among Mario vs Donkey Kong, Endless Ocean Luminous or even Paper Mario: The Millennium Door. Remastered versions which remain impressive if not surprising. A trend that Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD follows?

Gameplay still effective on paper

With several hours under my belt, I can say that this remastered version in high definition takes the same path as the remastered opuses released this year. Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD maintains the same gameplay as back then.

Luigi, Mario’s cowardly brother, is once again called upon by Professor K. Tastroff. Gentle as lambs after Luigi’s feat in the first episode, the ghosts of the region are once again sowing discord. Aggressive behavior caused by the premeditated bursting of the Black Moon. Despite himself, Luigi is summoned to investigate the scene and calm all these beautiful people.

The campaign then takes place in different environments and is divided into chapters. They are themselves divided into missions, each imposing a different objective on Luigi. Collect the Ectoblast 5000; cleaning the cobwebs from the mansion… A hatched architecture that allows you to appreciate Luigi’s Mansion 2 in small sessions. A slower pace caused by K.Tastroff’s speeches and end-of-level sequences which may however annoy some players, as at the time.

In addition to the construction of the game, it is also the gameplay that is preserved. And unlike the furniture in the mansion, it hasn’t gathered dust at all. We control Luigi with the left joystick, who uses his flashlight to dazzle his enemies or activate electrical circuits when you press A. The Octoblast 5000 sucks up (almost) everything in its path by pressing the ZR button (the right trigger); while the Revéloscope, once acquired, is activated with the Y key.

As on the 3DS opus, it is possible to tilt Luigi’s tools up or down. It is now possible to move the camera with the right joystick. The lack of features specific to the 3DS is not felt: the map has been integrated into the upper right corner of the screen, the use of the touch screen was already marginal on the original opus and it is the gyroscope (tilt the console / controllers) which has also been preserved. Overall, I didn’t feel any major differences in gameplay in this remastered version, especially since I finished Luigi’s Mansion 2 3DS a few days before this preview. Getting started takes some time but remains mastered and manageable with little time under your belt.

Unchanged gameplay in the service of gameplay that is still effective in 2024, at least from what I was able to see in these first hours. We always get caught up in the game of searching every corner of the abandoned barracks in search of a little extra greenback.. The puzzles remain perfectly adjusted in terms of difficulty so that you rack your brains without spending the night. Sometimes we have to pull on ropes that are lying around or make a missing pipe appear to restore a flow of water that is essential to our progress. And of course, all the work done around ghost hunting has not lost its charm: this Mario-style Ghostbusters is still just as entertaining, especially since I have the feeling that the hunted spirits do less worse than before.

Far from Luigi’s 3 but…

Luigi’s Mansion 2 is conservative in substance and modernized in form. This is, after all, what we expect from a remastered version. With three remasters and remakes already released since the start of the year, Nintendo has always seduced us with its facade renovations. In the first hours of the adventure offered by Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD, Nintendo remains more than convincing in this area.

It should be remembered that the second episode of the adventures of Luigi’s Mansion offers a less elaborate universe than the recent Luigi’s Mansion 3: released in 2019, it benefits from the advanced technology of the Nintendo Switch and has been praised for its atmosphere and its environments.Disney style“. The fact remains that Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD offers, on its first levels, a good quality graphical facelift on Switch. If it is less striking than that of Mario VS Donkey Kong or that of Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door , it should be remembered that only 10 years separate the releases of the original game from its remaster (compared to 20 for the others). Generally speaking, we expected no less. A modernization that is even more appreciated on a portable version with the OLED model of the Nintendo Switch. The emphasis on the different effects of light gives character to Luigi’s nocturnal escapades, so much so that we want to prolong the minutes spent in the mansion. At the expense of our cowardly but valiant hero.

This care around the atmosphere is also observed through the ears. If the soundtrack of Luigi’s Mansion 2 is largely based around sounds and sound effects, this does not mean that it should be put aside. Maybe it’s my brain playing tricks on me with auditory hallucinations (which would be appropriate in this context), but it seems to me that Nintendo has integrated new sound effects into this remastered version.