Luigi's Mansion 2 on 3DS (Japanese version), the franchise's original sequel with five distinct mansions. Luigi and his Strobulb against varied ghosts. Rich content and engaging gameplay. Japanese version of the classic.
Your verdict
Category
Action Adventure1 player7+
Description
Luigi explores five thematically distinct mansions to retrieve the Dark Moon shards and defeat King Boo, who has made the ghosts hostile. Published by Nintendo, released in Europe in March 2013. Five thematic mansions, missions divided into objectives, Poltergust G-00 vacuum, online co-operative multiplayer mode. Multilingual version.
Luigi's Mansion 2 review
4/5
Art direction
★★★★★
"Striking"
4/5
Music
★★★★★
"Excellent"
2/5
Story
★★★★★
"Classic"
Lighting is the real subject of the artwork here. Almost everything is read through a torch cone that carves out the dark, reveals a slice of wall then loses it again, and a second lamp makes invisible furniture appear, walkways that were not there, chests that did not exist. The ghosts themselves are handled as coloured translucency, so they live through the light passing through them rather than through their outline.
Sound does all the work of the capture. Every spectre has its own cry, shrill or whining, the vacuum climbs in pitch with a metallic complaint that tightens as the resistance weakens, and a resolving chord lands exactly as the grip gives way. That rise and fall, repeated hundreds of times, stays satisfying precisely because it is written as a complete musical phrase.
The Taiwanese edition of Luigi's Mansion 2, locked to the CN region, is a rare regional variant with a print well below the JP and PAL pressings. Collector interest focuses on the Taiwan-specific local packaging and on its scarcity outside Asia, where it surfaces only occasionally. A completion piece for Asian Mario collectors aiming at all physical localisations.
Is Luigi's Mansion 2 still worth playing in 2026?
Released in 2013 on 3DS and known in North America as Luigi's Mansion - Dark Moon, Next Level Games' project resurrects the ghost hunting with the Poltergust after over a decade of absence. Luigi, trembling and endearing, vacuums up the spectres after dazzling them with the flashlight, in mansions packed with puzzles and secrets. The humour filled art direction, the expressive staging and the mission structure cut for portable play make for a charming adventure. The mission segmentation divides fans of free exploration. An excellent action adventure game, recommended for fans of puzzles and humour.
