- Luigi’s Mansion
For as long as I’ve been playing Nintendo, it’s always been “Mario this, Mario that.” He has been the Nintendo mascot since its start and continues to be the main lead of their products. Over time, characters have been made to accompany him, including a younger brother Luigi. Even though they’ve had multiple games together, it always felt like Luigi got the short end of the stick. He’s perfectly capable of saving the day; Nintendo even gave him a princess to save. But he was still reduced to being a part of co-op games rather than have his own centered title. When Nintendo launched the Gamecube, they included the title, Luigi’s Mansion—a game that had the player controlling Luigi. It was only the second title in the Mario franchise that had Luigi in the forefront and turned out to be one of the most memorable games on the console.
If there was ever a video game adaptation of The Shining, Luigi’s Mansion would be the closest portrayal. The story starts when Luigi finds out that he’s won a contest that he never entered. The prize is to stay in a fancy mansion that just happens to be haunted by ghosts. When Mario goes to investigate, he ends up missing and it’s up to Luigi to find him. Equipped with a vacuum called Poltergust 3000, his mission is to suck up the ghosts to make his luxurious getaway a little less spooky.
Although the game was limited to just the house, it felt like an open world setting. There are multiple levels to explore and each room had a different ghost to battle. They all led up to different bosses who were unique on their own(you’re lying if you say that you didn’t love the baby ghost battle).The ghosts may have been cartoonish (as Nintendo always does) but it was still scary. Before completing a level, you were trapped in the dark where anything can pop out in any moment. It kept any player on edge and added more authenticity to the horror setting.
– Yasmin Kleinbart
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