In June 2011, Shigeru Miyamoto revealed that thanks to the work of Mario Strikers and Wii Punch-Out!! developer Next Level Games, one beloved GameCube launch title would be getting a much-awaited sequel on the Nintendo 3DS in early 2012. Originally introduced as Luigi's Mansion 2, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon became available worldwide in early 2013, 12 years after its predecessor was released, to highly positive reviews that still feel accurate playing the game up a few years later.
Dark Moon's main quest follows Luigi, who has been unceremoniously yanked from his living room armchair and dumped on E. Gadd's laboratory floor, as he attempts to fix the kooky professor's latest paranormal problem. Evershade Valley, his new base of operations, is populated by hundreds of ghosts in five different locations, normally kept docile and friendly by the mysterious relic that hangs above the area, the Dark Moon. When this enigmatic artifact's destruction causes the ghosts to become aggressive, Luigi is more or less forced to explore the valley's locations while using the Poltergust (still just a fancy vacuum) and a few flashlight upgrades to contain rampaging ghosts and reassemble the Dark Moon for E. Gadd. It's a good enough place to pick up where the first Luigi's Mansion left off without making a mess of the plot.
Dark Moon's ghost-busting gameplay is fun and fairly simple, and mixes in well with the puzzles and exploration the game has to offer. ScareScraper, the game's multiplayer mode, focuses on just ghost collection in a co-op setting, and while it's unexpected, initially confusing, and not as fun as the main game, it's still pretty nifty. Regardless of what mode you're playing on, though, there's something enjoyable and addicting about sucking up ghosts. It's easy to accidentally lose several hours to the game at a time, to say the least. Even if the controls are a little funky to boot, they quickly grew on me and every other player I've spoken to (this is in exclusion of the tightrope-act gyroscopic segments, which are utterly horrible but thankfully rare), and they make capturing ghosts as easy as it is enjoyable once you get the hang of it. Players will likely notice that E. Gadd's interruptions are insufferably frequent at first, but decrease shortly after the first levels and allow players to get into the swing of things without being nagged at too much. Plenty of cash, gems and Boos hide throughout the world, just waiting for players to come scoop them up, adding another challenge to the main game, and these collections only get harder to complete as the game progresses. While the rewards for building these collections (gameplay upgrades, bonus speed-catching challenges, and bejeweled statues of Luigi respectively) aren't special enough to warrant combing levels meticulously, looking while you go is an enjoyable addition to the main goals of the game and can get you some cool extra content.
Gameplay aside, it's nice to see a beloved and unique game from the GameCube era return with new, fresh ideas more than a decade later. As with any new installment after a long break, though, there are some subtly wonderful elements that can't be carried over from previous titles, and in Dark Moon, this happens in my least favorite way: its characters become watered down version of their previous incarnations. The toll time has taken on Luigi's Mansion's characters shows up even in the bland designs and personalities of the ghosts, and, as sad as I am to admit it, the problem doesn't stop with run-of-the-mill enemies. E. Gadd seems much less considerate of both Luigi and his Toad assistants, going so far as to forget they exist and that he has to actually pay them for their jobs, but this can possibly be chalked up to his old age and lack of truly defined character in Luigi's Mansion. However, Luigi has also changed, and his changes have even less viable explanations available -- that is to say, there are no viable explanations at all -- despite the professor's confident declarations otherwise. While he's still a charmingly nervous plumber bumbling about to do his best, some of the quirky fun that makes him feel very genuine in the first game is absent from its sequel. The dorky way he throws up a peace sign when getting an item, the ridiculous running cycles, the humming, the whistling -- these are not present in Dark Moon. If it's any consolation, you can rest easy at least knowing that while he doesn't feel as fully fleshed out as he did prior to Dark Moon, Luigi is still himself, just a little bit flatter than before (I'd make a Paper Mario joke here, but Luigi still has a lot of personality in those games, too), and as such is still very lovable.
There's another problem related to Luigi, however: the game doesn't give him any real motivation to help E. Gadd reassemble the Dark Moon. In Luigi's Mansion, Luigi is motivated to explore the mansion to find and rescue his brother, and uses his love for Mario to push through the scarier moments of his adventure. Through the majority of Dark Moon, Luigi has no reason to be there other than that he happens to be there already. You could reasonably say he's doing it to help his old pal E. Gadd, but I'm not so sure even that make sense: he was brought to Evershade Valley against his will, and doesn't actually seem to agree to help the professor. Luigi is really just along for the ride. This lack of character motivation makes the plot feel impersonal, shallow, disconnected. This disconnect is worsened by the weird storytelling decision of playing King Boo as a big late-game shocker despite the fact he is shown destroying the Dark Moon in the very first seconds of the game.
The mission system further compounds the storytelling issues by interrupting game flow and breaking the game into clearly defined chunks that are very separate from each other. Dark Moon is far too split up for its plot to be its biggest draw. The upside is that the mission system allows players to easily jump back into the game after breaks, but there are more drawbacks yet: there are no checkpoints or opportunities to save during missions, which vary wildly in length. Even if the mission system helps players advance more easily than they would if it was not present by laying out quests, I'm not really a fan of missions being a part of Dark Moon. To make matters worse, a lot of missions have a distinct fetch quest feel to them. There was a lot of huffing and puffing and back and forth involved when I played these levels, with the feeling that nothing could ever go right and that my time was being wasted, especially during missions that involved crisscrossing the level several times in a wild goose chase. No matter how frustrating they became, though, I stuck with missions because of the enjoyable gameplay.
It's worth noting that some fans of the original specifically may find Dark Moon disappointing outside of its story and gameplay issues. There are a few smaller features present in the first Luigi's Mansion that didn't make their way into the sequel that, while small, are certainly unique and fun enough to be missed. If only I could describe in words the face my girlfriend made when I told her you can't examine things in Dark Moon as you used to be able to with the GameBoy Horror. I'm willing to admit I do miss that feature quite a bit, simply for the novelty and familiarity. Let it be known, too, that arachnophobic players, previous fans or not, will also likely not find the game enjoyable. Trust me, if cartoon spiders make you anxious, you should very much consider passing on this game because those suckers are everywhere, especially in the first area of the game. If you're looking for a spitting image of the original or even just a spider-free ghost game, you're probably just better off giving the first Luigi's Mansion another spin.
For all its flaws, however, Dark Moon is a solid and fairly good game, and a perfect sequel for Luigi's Mansion, as becomes exceedingly apparent at the end if it was not apparent before. The heart-pounding final levels are followed by a boss battle and, most importantly, a wholesome and deserved ending. Everyone is happy, and Luigi gets to celebrate his success with E. Gadd, the Toads, a very proud Mario, and his new ghost friends before returning to the comfort of his own home, relieved. It nearly brought me to tears to see such an underappreciated and lovable character get the happy ending he deserved (though what else would you expect from a Mario game?), and to see the sequel to a game I love with all my heart wrap up in a way that does its predecessor good. Certainly, Dark Moon is a worthy successor to Luigi's Mansion and, just as the original, is worth any Mario fan's time.