Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (3DS)

[Kamicciolo]

So they have some naff games on their record, The main thing I take from that is that their best work has been specifically on Nintendo Properties, so I'd consider this game to be in at the very least capable enough hands to produce a competent and enjoyable experience.

Sure EAD would likely be give us a better game, but they're probably busy working on New Super Mario Bros 2 Super Mario Wii U Something kick ass. :V

[Tails spin]

I know, but it was quicker to put them rather then Intelligent Systems and whoever the hell is developing LM2.

EDIT: Did some research, Next Level Games doesn't seem to have such a great track record with games, but since Miyamoto is working on this, I guess I can trust him.

Agreed,

The original one was never scary, it just had that creepy atmosphere that was unusual for a Mario game, which makes alot of people hate how this one is more goofy for some reason.

Your right about the Miyamoto comment. Especially since he specifically said that Luigi's Mansion 2 exists solely because he wanted to do it. So he's not going to let something that he currently has a very close eye on get out of the gate half assed.

[Nintendoga]

Your right about the Miyamoto comment. Especially since he specifically said that Luigi's Mansion 2 exists solely because he wanted to do it. So he's not going to let something that he currently has a very close eye on get out of the gate half assed.

*Cough* Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 *Cough*

[Tails spin]

*Cough* Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 *Cough*

*Cough* Miyamoto never said he was strictly overseeing those to games *Cough*

[JezMM]

*Cough* Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 *Cough*

[Cola]

Mario 3D Land was not half-assed. Neither was Mario Kart 7, just lacking in customisation options.

[Nix]

I'd say Mario Kart 7's single player content is a bit lacking and "half-assed" as it were, especially compared to the likes of Mario Kart DS with its mission mode. However, playing a game like Mario Kart strictly for single player content is sort of missing the point, because Mario Kart truly only shines in its multiplayer.

Edited May 4, 2012 by Pinkamena

[Nintendoga]

Mario 3D Land was not half-assed. Neither was Mario Kart 7, just lacking in customisation options.

By half-assed I do not mean a horribly programmed game, I mean it was half-assed because

3D Land had 8 main worlds, and reused the same ones alot! But I would be okay with this if the special worlds weren't all reused ones with time limits, that even reuse the levels much more then the main world. Also the replayability (this doesn't come to half assed, but more stupid) is dumb. I was okay with beating the game once, then beating it again with Luigi in the Galaxy games, but here, you have to beat all 16 worlds as Mario, then Luigi, then get the golden flags, before you can play the final level. Making me play the game 3 times is not good replayability, it's an idea tacked on at the last moment, just like the streetpass and most of the special worlds was. Still the worst 3D Mario games imo, and it was obviously rushed.

Mario Kart 7, ironically is less half assed to me then 3D Land. All it's problem was is that it lacks in content, and has low replayability in Single player, when you can go to multiplayer to do things quicker. Also the communities were a nice idea, but the way they were executed wasn't all that great.

Nintendo could easily fix both these problems with DLC, but knowing them, it's not gonna happen for a long time.

But this isn't a "I don't like how 3D Land and MK7 was rushed" thread, so I'd rather end it here, but we could go to the 3DS thread if you want. Though it's just going to come down to "DLC can fix it"

[JezMM]

By half-assed I do not mean a horribly programmed game, I mean it was half-assed because

3D Land had 8 main worlds, and reused the same ones alot! But I would be okay with this if the special worlds weren't all reused ones with time limits, that even reuse the levels much more then the main world. Also the replayability (this doesn't come to half assed, but more stupid) is dumb. I was okay with beating the game once, then beating it again with Luigi in the Galaxy games, but here, you have to beat all 16 worlds as Mario, then Luigi, then get the golden flags, before you can play the final level. Making me play the game 3 times is not good replayability, it's an idea tacked on at the last moment, just like the streetpass and most of the special worlds was. Still the worst 3D Mario games imo, and it was obviously rushed.

I appreciate where you're coming from, and agree about the Luigi thing to unlock the final level. I'll just say that I was fine with this because I thought the level design was brilliant in 3D Land - brilliant enough for them to get away with suggesting "these levels are amazing so rather than throw infuriating designs at you, here's a simple but super hard rework to really test what you took for granted when you first played it".

Wish I had something constructive to add Luigi's Mansion 2-wise but I really don't have anything beyond the above to defend 3D Land, just saying why I was personally okay with what you criticised. There's nothing further for me to add 3D Land-wise so no point going into the other topic, forgive this one totally off-topic post.

[Salamander]

I was okay with beating the game once, then beating it again with Luigi in the Galaxy games, but here, you have to beat all 16 worlds as Mario, then Luigi, then get the golden flags, before you can play the final level. Making me play the game 3 times is not good replayability, it's an idea tacked on at the last moment, just like the streetpass and most of the special worlds was.

Why did you have to beat every level a third time just to get a gold flag? I got most of them on the first pass.

In any case, I suspect LM2 is being held back for a simultaneous release in all territories around Hallowe'en.

[Candescence]

Unlike Jem, I'm gonna have to be more harsh about this, Nintendoga, because there's a few things about your claims that are just plain wrong.

3D Land had 8 main worlds, and reused the same ones alot!

[Nintendoga]

Bullshit. Very few level themes are reused, and the ones that ARE reused are few and far inbetween. The main exceptions are the doomship levels and the castles, but that's to be expected. A good deal of the levels use original gimmicks and some very original and clever level design. My personal favourites are the levels with the sawblades and wood, and the rhythm-based level with the blue, yellow and red platforms.

Hell, I even just checked the first eight worlds in order, just to be sure. Yep, sure enough, most of the levels are unique, and the level themes that get re-used are done so only once or twice at most (except the end-of-world levels, duh). "Half-assed", my ass.

I never said the level gimmicks weren't all unqiue (most of them wasn't btw), I said that they got reused, which they did, a hell of alot. Which is not acceptable in any video game.

What Jem said - they're meant to be "hard mode" reworks of levels from the first eight worlds. And limited time limits aren't the only thing they throw at you, either. They throw familiar but reworked level designs that truly test your skills, and they're also worked carefully so that they're challenging, but not frustrating. Much better than throwing unfamiliar level designs at you that are frustratingly difficult. Hardly what I call "half-assed".

Hard mode, which was not hard at all, were rehashed levels of the same trope over and over again. Besides 1, are there even any original level designs? And no, adding one or two platforms to an old level, doesn't count.

Oh no, the clock is 30 seconds, oh but there's more enemies and you can kill them to get time.

So it's not really hard, more rush through the level. Same with cosmic mario.

And you just said, that you'd rather have old re-used level designs that throw in a few more enemies, rather then have new original hard levels that could truly as you put it "Test your skills" rather then you knowing "Oh well that's coming up, I know what to do here."

So yes, rehashing levels is what I shall call, Being Half-assed and lazy.

Um... No. You only need to play all 16 worlds twice, not three times. You get the golden flags simply by hitting the top of the flag at the end of every level. Sure, you'll probably miss some of them the first time around, and maybe even a couple the second time around, but if you need to re-play most of the levels just to get the golden flags, you suck at Mario. Just saying.

Luigi was easy to get the golden flags with. Mario on the other hand, has that short jump that will never make it to the flag pole at the end, unless you have the Tanooki suit.

And yes, still half-assed.

Can you honestly tell me everyone's reaction to having to beat the same levels only faster, plus the original levels if they missed the gold flags, plus as Luigi (or Mario if you don't do the special world with him) again, was fun? Because it wasn't, it was a poor excuse for a Mario game to do, no less a 3D Mario game.

So yes, I stand by my statement and say that Mario 3D Land was half-assed, and rushed.

[JezMM]

...Weeeeell I wanted to avoid staying off topic but what the hey there's nothing new to discuss LM2-wise anyway.

The 30-second time limits where you have to defeat enemies are not just straight forward speedruns. I've tried to play them as such and there just isn't enough time. There's a certain level of satisfaction to finding the perfect route each stage while straying from the path as little as possible for enemies and working out which ones can be incorporated into the fastest route.

The Mario clone also isn't as simple as just going as fast as possible, as they often re-arrange the levels in ways that in normal circumstances, would be fine, but in the circumstance of not being able to stand still or move back immediately the way you came, result in a fair bit of having to constantly think on your feet. With the giant clones even moreso, where you must cleverly lead them to destroy obstacles for you.

For the record by my count as well, a bit under half of the stages are clock/clone affairs).

Also have to say difficulty is subjective I'm afraid. Sorry you found them not hard at all but many levels took me a good 5-10 lives to beat, and I'm a fairly seasoned 3D Mario player (no super guide cropped up on my initial playthrough).

I'm also pretty sure it's completely possible to get every gold flag as Mario without the Tanooki Suit. I've got the vast majority of them.

Considering 3D levels are a lot more difficult to construct than 2D ones, they really had to make each one count, and frankly I think 53* tightly designed levels, every single one distinguishable from the others, not just in aesthetics but gimmicks and gameplay, is not half-assed at all.

(*More or less, including the final secret level and the 4 (I think) 100% original Special World levels).

And then there's the streetpass bonuses, 10-second mini cube levels (which I'm still getting occasional new ones of months after launch), optional medal puzzles, ridiculous amount of secrets, crazy shortcuts and speedrunning potential (seriously watch some of the hint videos on the eShop sometime), streetpass time record sharing (I dedicated a whole replay session once to just beating the times I'd collected, and I'm looking forward to doing it again after Summer of Sonic has rolled round and I've probably collected a ton more that are better than mine), and yes, even a whole set of challenging re-arrangements of those brilliant level designs.

The only parts of the game I'd call half-assed is perhaps the boss battles, but even those aren't repeated verbatim. And honestly the fact that the Bowser battles, and several of the final stages in the Special Worlds, are just extra intense platforming sections anyway shows that just pure 3D platforming was the point of the game.

Edited May 6, 2012 by JezMM

[Katzii]

I'm not going to get into the argument, but I'm pretty certain you only needed to get the flags with one character.

That, and with the controls, I found it difficult to get flags with Mario unless he had the suit, since half the time, he wouldn't make the jumps I wanted him to.

It was a good enough game to play through twice (to get the final level), but I don't envision myself playing it again.

[Tails spin]

bumped for relevance

http://e3.nintendo.com/games/#/3ds/luigis-mansion-darkmoon

now know as Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon

[Nintendoga]

Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon

Screenshots and Pics here http://e3.nintendo.com/games/#/3ds/luigis-mansion-darkmoon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-PMsFbHYPchttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-PMsFbHYPc

Ghostly Adventures Await in Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon

The new Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon gives players multiple mansions to explore, a variety of puzzles to solve and new ghosts to capture. Armed with the Poltergust 5000, a ghost-sucking, vacuum-like invention, Luigi must complete a number of missions assigned to him by Professor E. Gadd.

Features:

Shining a light on the ghosts is no longer enough to stun them into immobility. Players need to activate a new strobe function to stun the ghosts before sucking them up with the Poltergust 5000.

Every mansion is filled with unique puzzle elements and ghosts. Players must figure out how to defeat each one of them and find hidden clues and keys to unlock new areas.

Expect more details tomorrow at the 3DS software conference

[Nintendoga]

Sorry for doublepost but more screenshots and pics, below are only a few

[-Robin-]

I actually "D'aww"'d irl when I first saw that Luigi and Toad picture. Little moments like that can go such a long way towards making the experience enjoyable.

[Katzii]

That first Luigi render is excellent.

See, this is what I don't get about Nintendo. WHY do all of their Mario games/renders from those have to look so generic, when they're more than capable of putting stuff like this out?

[Nintendoga]

Some gameplay footage, being played by Charles Martinet.

Shows how Luigi gets the vacummn, though what an odd place to find it...

[Sean]

Watching Charles Martinet play a Mario-related game is so heartwarming but I just can't really explain why.

[Arcade Racer CC14]

I love the little character bit when Luigi starts playing around with it and accidentally knocks into something. Those touches are why I love more story-based Mario games.

[Cola]

Am I the only one who hates how the "2" isn't in the title anymore?

Sure, it's ok if you add a subtitle. I'd just prefer it if it had a "2" at the end.

Just a minor gripe. Game's shaping up to be pretty great, and full of personality.

[lounge]

See, this is what I don't get about Nintendo. WHY do all of their Mario games/renders from those have to look so generic, when they're more than capable of putting stuff like this out?

Agreed! This has been bothering me for a long, long time. The N64 era had really nice, expressive renders. After Sunshine, that's when they started getting lazy with the renders.

Anyway, I also agree that I miss the 2 in the title. Cause if some kid ends up playing this without knowing about the original, he may not even know there exists a prequel. He/She'd be surprised, wow there was another luigi's mansion from when I was a baby in 2001!

[JezMM]

I don't really mind the lack of "2". It kind of makes it more accessible. Until gamecube games appear on the Wii U Virtual Console, they're getting more and more difficult to get a hold of legally now (and even illegally you need a good computer to emulate last-gen stuff). It kind of removes the obstacle of "oh I shouldn't get number 2 if I haven't played 1" issue.

I'm pretty sure they'd have called New Super Mario Bros. 2 something else were it not for the fact that New Super Mario Bros. 1 is still well-known, easy to buy, and playable on a 3DS.