Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon

Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon
Developer	Next Level Games, Nintendo SPD
Publisher	Nintendo
System	Nintendo 3DS
Release Date	JP March 20, 2013 US March 24, 2013 PAL March 28, 2013 KO July 18, 2013

Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon is a supernatural exploration/adventure game that was released for the 3DS in 2013. It is a sequel to the original Luigi's Mansion, released over a decade later and retools part of the gameplay. Its released was considered part of the event known as the "Year of Luigi".

Story

Professor E. Gadd has started operating out of Evershade Valley, an area that is filled with ghosts that become docile when under the effect of something called the Dark Moon. This has caused Gadd to befriend and work with the ghosts. However, King Boo attacks the Dark Moon and shatters it into pieces. This causes all of the ghosts to become hostile and turn on Gadd, who flees to the safety of his bunker. He uses his new invention, the Pixelator, to teleport Luigi over and recruits him to lend him his aid once again. Luigi is sent out to explore different areas of Evershade Valley to seek out the different pieces of the Dark Moon while dealing with various hostile spirits along the way.

Gameplay

The gameplay is partially based on that of the original Luigi's Mansion. The player controls Luigi exploring different areas while armed with a flashlight and a Poltergust device (this time an advanced Poltergust 5000) and without utilizing his jumping ability (although now Luigi can perform small leaps while in the process of sucking up enemies or objects as a way of dodging attacks). This installment takes focus away from the flashlight, as the player can no longer turn it on or off, and it no longer plays a key role in stunning ghosts. Instead, the Poltergust has a feature called the Strobulb, which can be charged up by holding down the A button and unleashes a blinding flash. The Strobulb is now used to stun ghosts and interact with other parts of the environment, and the Poltergust is still used for sucking up ghosts. Another device added for this game is the Dark-Light Device, which can be used to reveal hidden parts of an environment.

Unlike the previous game, which consisted of Luigi exploring the same environment continuously throughout the game, Dark Moon has a series of different locations to explore, which each area being divided into several missions that end in a boss battle. Once Luigi completes a mission's objective, he is pulled back to E. Gadd's bunker, where a different mission can be selected. Each area has ten gems hidden within it, some of which can only be found during certain missions, and there is also one hidden Boo to be found in each mission. At the end of a mission, Luigi is ranked depending on factors such as how much damage he took, how much money was collected, how many ghosts were captured and the time taken to complete the mission. All the money acquired from a mission also goes into working towards upgrades for Luigi's equipment. There are also no longer 'portrait ghosts' in this game, although there are a few ghosts with more human characteristics.

Within E. Gadd's bunker, several other features can be accessed. This includes the Vault, where characters can view captured ghosts and collected gems, as well as check Luigi's progress towards unlocking upgrades. There is also the ScareScraper mode, which is a multiplayer mode that can be played locally or online with four players. It has up to three difficulty levels and involves clearing through different floors of a skyscraper by fighting ghosts.

Legacy

Dark Moon was notable for revitalizing the Luigi's Mansion name and led to it becoming a fiull-fledged subseries. Its gameplay changes also left its mark on the series, including the implementation of multiplayer gameplay.

In 2015, Luigi's Mansion Arcade was released. This utilized ghosts, environments and equipment from Dark Moon, but with first-person shooter-esque gameplay due to being an arcade machine. Additionally, the 2018 3DS remake of the original Luigi's Mansion included the option to use the Strobulb for the first game's gameplay.

Sequels

It was followed by the release of the aforementioned arcade game in 2015, which adapted the scenario of Dark Moon into a first person arcade game. A more direct sequel, tentatively known as Luigi's Mansion 3, has been announced for release on the Nintendo Switch in 2019.