In my post about Ghostbusters, I brought up the game Luigi’s Mansion and mentioned my disappointment with its sequel, Dark Moon. This surprised some people. In general, it seems like Dark Moon is considered the better game, with a Metacritic score of 86 to the original’s 78. Well, it wouldn’t be the first time my opinion was out of the norm…

So let’s not stop talking about ghost stories just yet. Let’s take a look at Luigi’s Mansion and Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon. That’s right, TWO reviews at once!

Luigi’s Mansion came out in 2001, as a launch title for the GameCube. If I didn’t get it with my GameCube, I didn’t wait long. It quickly became one of my favorite games. This was before I got into the survival horror genre, and this spooky little Mario spin-off was unlike anything I’d ever played before. Although I rarely replay games once I’ve finished them, I played Luigi’s Mansion at least three times.

I know what you’re thinking. Blinded by nostalgia, right?

Hey, at least you’ve got a case, unlike when people say nostalgia is the only reason people like the classic Resident Evil games. I have treasured memories of Luigi’s Mansion, and maybe it’s just a bit better in my memory than in reality… Except I watched the Luigi’s Mansion Super Replay, too, which helped me remember the things that made it great.

You had a whole mansion to explore and ghosts to fight–including the portrait ghosts, actual human ghosts in a world of Boos and other silly monsters, with their own personalities. While sometimes spooky, the game also had its moments of humor. Partway through the game, Boos were set loose in the mansion, which added a collecting element to gameplay. Finally… let’s talk about the plot.

Luigi wins a mansion from a contest he never entered and makes plans to meet Mario there. When he arrives and finds that the place is haunted, he meets Professor E. Gadd, who witnessed Mario enter the mansion and never come out. E. Gadd gives Luigi the ghost-hunting tools he needs to solve the mystery of the mansion and Mario’s disappearance. As a kid, I was fascinated by the very idea that Mario was the one who needed to be rescued for once. I couldn’t wait to find another one of his items so I could visit Madame Clairvoya and get one step closer to victory. And I loved the way the plot forced a very cowardly Luigi to face ghouls and ghosts in order to save his brother. He even nervously hummed along with the theme song from time to time!

Luigi’s Mansion may not be plot heavy, but “non-heroic character must become a hero to save someone he/she loves” is one of my favorite plot setups, and this game handled it well.

In addition to the Ghostbusters references it took me far too long to get, Luigi’s Mansion is filled with shout-outs to the survival horror genre. It even parodies Resident Evil’s door animation loading screens!

It doesn’t really work as a survival horror game… in part because it’s somewhat linear. You generally fight ghosts to get a key to unlock one new room so you can fight more ghosts. But as a homage marketed toward kids? Perfect.

This was 2001. As time passed, I stopped replaying Luigi’s Mansion, but I kept thinking about how great it would be if they made a sequel…

And then it happened. Nintendo began developing Luigi’s Mansion 2 for the 3DS. I was ecstatic. At E3 2012, Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon was one of the many games Nintendo showed off. Dark Moon and one other game made that one of the most exciting game events for me… and considering the other game was an utter disaster, it now stands out as one of the most disappointing game events for me…

Even back then, there were some things about Dark Moon that made me uneasy. Everything seemed a little sillier than in the original. Not that the original was dead serious, but it had some creepy stuff. Those portrait ghosts were menacing. Yet Dark Moon seemed to have dropped all that in favor of a more humorous, slapstick approach. And what about those multiple mansions? That meant more gameplay, I assumed, but would it take away from the presence the original mansion had? What sort of plot would send Luigi to multiple haunted mansions?

But I kept Dark Moon on my list, especially when it released in 2013 to positive reviews. I bought it. I played it. I hoped it would be the fantastic sequel I wanted it to be.

Yet while it was a decent game (certainly better than the travesty known as Sticker Star), it pales next to its predecessor.

All those things I mentioned that I loved about the first game? Get rid of them. Dark Moon feels like Luigi’s Mansion re-imagined by someone who only remembered vacuuming up ghosts as a terrified Luigi, not someone who remembered exploring a spooky mansion with a fantastic atmosphere. It kept the core Luigi’s Mansion gameplay, but as far as I’m concerned, it lost the game’s soul.

In Dark Moon, the… Dark Moon… is shattered, which results in a bunch of friendly ghosts becoming hostile. Professor E. Gadd forces a reluctant Luigi to visit 5 haunted mansions to retrieve the pieces. (Comedy instead of self-sacrifice? Sets up the tone of the game rather well.) And so, Luigi once again goes on a ghost-hunting quest…

…presented to the player as a series of missions.

When I talked about the upcoming Resident Evil: Revelations 2, I criticized its planned episodic format and mentioned this very game:

“I often complain about how Revelations was a disjointed experience (complaints I also level at Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, by the way) that didn’t let me explore at my own pace or really get to know the Queen Zenobia setting.”

More than the silly atmosphere or lighter plot, this is what really damaged the Dark Moon experience for me. Not only is it set across five haunted mansion instead of one, but each mansion is split into a series of missions. Each mission is fairly short and has a set objective. You go in, you complete your objective, and you get a ranking based on how well you did. I hated it.

Some games can do this. I have no problem with the chapter system used in Bayonetta, for example.

Luigi’s Mansion is not Bayonetta. Neither is Resident Evil: Revelations. When gameplay revolves around exploring a particular location, that location becomes a central part of the story. (This is also very common for horror in general, where the setting becomes as much a “character” as the people there.) Dark Moon’s system meant I was never in a given mansion for an extended period of time. Yes, this is a longer game than the first one, but since it’s split across five different mansions, you never spend as much time in any one of them as you did in the original… and it still felt the need to pull you out on a regular basis?

I also have a practical annoyance with Dark Moon’s mission-based gameplay. If I wanted to save my game, I couldn’t run back to the save point like in the original Luigi’s Mansion. Instead I had to leave–either by finishing the mission or quitting it. That’s another thing I hate–the game taking complete control over when I can save. Yet this is presented as a feature, bite-sized levels perfect for a handheld console. Ugh.

Gloomy Manor

While the mansion in Luigi’s Mansion was the center of everything, the mansions in Dark Moon were just places I visited to do things. I didn’t get to know them. The best was the first one, Gloomy Manor. It somewhat resembled the original mansion and had slower, more exploration-based gameplay.

Once I moved on to the second mansion, it really felt like I was just dashing from place to place to complete certain goals. I’d spend one mission in a couple of rooms, then move on to other rooms for the next mission. It was very disjointed, and the end result was that I never really got attached to any of the locations. I didn’t care about them. They were just there.

Dark Moon had fun moments, but in a contest between the two, the first Luigi’s Mansion wins hands-down. I’ll never play Dark Moon again. I might just drag out the original someday for yet another playthrough. If you just want some lighthearted ghost-fighting fun split into bite-sized missions, go on and get Dark Moon…

But if you want an E-rated yet spooky adventure as Luigi faces his fears, fights unique ghosts, and explores a memorable location… find a GameCube or a Wii that can play GameCube games and pick up an old copy of Luigi’s Mansion.

Buy Luigi’s Mansion from Amazon