Luigi's Mansion 3 is a 2019 action-adventure game created by Next Level Games and released by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the third game in the Luigi's Mansion series, following Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (2013). In the game, players control Luigi, who explores a hotel run by ghosts and rescues Mario and others after they are tricked into going there for a vacation by King Boo.
The game includes many features from earlier games in the series, as well as new elements such as additional moves for catching ghosts, a ghost-like copy of Luigi called Gooigi, and more ways to play with others. These include both cooperative and competitive modes that can be played locally or online. Critics praised the game, and it was nominated for several awards. It won the "Best Family Game" award at The Game Awards 2019. As of March 2024, the game has sold 14.25 million copies.
Gameplay
Luigi's Mansion 3 is an action-adventure game where players control Luigi from a fixed third-person perspective as they capture ghosts in a large hotel setting. The game includes two gameplay modes: a single-player story mode and multiplayer game modes. In both modes, players capture ghosts using the same methods as previous games. They stun ghosts with Luigi's Strobulb, use his Poltergust to snag them, and weaken their health to zero to capture them.
In the single-player story mode, players explore a hotel with seventeen floors. Each floor has a unique theme, atmosphere, and variety of ghosts, including a boss ghost that must be defeated. Some floors, like Floor 2, do not have a specific theme. Unlike the story mode in Dark Moon, which followed a set mission structure, Luigi's Mansion 3 allows more open exploration. Players cannot use the elevator to access floors until they find the button that activates it. The hotel's main lobby and basement are the only floors connected by a staircase, which bypasses the need for the elevator.
Players can find treasure during exploration by interacting with objects and solving puzzles. Items include coins (worth 1), banknotes (worth 5), gold bars (worth 20), and pearls (worth 100), as well as bags of money containing many coins. Special gems are also found on each floor, along with Boos, a common enemy in the Mario series. Players can collect hearts to restore health lost from ghost attacks or environmental hazards. Some features from Dark Moon are included, such as a stun charge function that helps capture ghosts and the Dark-Light Device, which reveals invisible objects and animates portraits. The device also restores possessed items, like chests or bins, to normal. New features include the Poltergust's area burst attack, which can push back enemies and reveal treasure, a suction cup attachment that allows players to remove obstacles, and a slam attack that damages ghosts repeatedly.
A major addition to the game is Gooigi, a ghost-like copy of Luigi introduced in the 3DS remake of the original Luigi's Mansion. Gooigi can perform moves similar to Luigi and can be controlled by the player or a second player in local co-op. Gooigi helps with battles and puzzles, some of which require both Gooigi and Luigi to complete. Unlike Luigi, Gooigi can squeeze through small gaps and walk on spiked floors but is weaker and loses its form if it touches water or fire.
The multiplayer mode supports up to eight players playing locally or online. In "ScareScraper," a returning feature from Dark Moon, players work together to clear floors of a randomly generated high-rise by capturing ghosts. In "ScreamPark," teams compete in three match types: Ghost Hunt, where teams earn points by capturing ghosts; Cannon Barrage, where teams score by launching cannonballs at targets; and Coin Floating, where teams collect coins in a pool while avoiding mines and inflatables. Players can choose from four color variations (green, purple, orange, or blue) for Luigi or Gooigi in both modes.
Plot
The Mario Bros. are invited to The Last Resort, a luxury hotel with high floors and Art Deco design, located in a mountain area. They visit with Princess Peach, Luigi's pet ghost dog Polterpup, and three Toads who accompany Princess Peach. After settling in, Luigi wakes up to find the hotel changed to look haunted and the others missing. He learns that the hotel's ghost owner, Hellen Gravely, lured them there as part of a trap set by King Boo, whom she freed from Professor E. Gadd's care after he was recaptured. King Boo plans to trap Luigi and his friends by imprisoning them in portraits, but Luigi escapes to the hotel's basement through a laundry chute. With help from Polterpup, who also avoided capture, Luigi finds E. Gadd's car in the parking garage and discovers his latest Poltergust device inside. Using the device, Luigi follows Polterpup to the lobby and finds that Professor E. Gadd has also been captured.
Luigi locates E. Gadd's Dark-Light Device in a safe and uses it to free the professor. In the garage, E. Gadd explains that Hellen tricked him into visiting The Last Resort and stole his ghost collection to staff the hotel. E. Gadd suggests Luigi find elevator buttons from upper floors, which were removed from the main elevator. Luigi explores themed floors with help from E. Gadd's inventions: the Virtual Boo communication device and Gooigi, a ghostly copy of Luigi who helps catch ghosts. Luigi searches for the missing elevator buttons to reach the upper floors.
While exploring, Luigi defeats various ghosts, retrieves the elevator buttons, and rescues the Toads, who are then kept safe in E. Gadd's lab. He reaches the top floor, defeats Hellen, and rescues Mario. On the roof, they find Peach's portrait. After freeing her, the group faces King Boo, who plans to trap them in a single portrait. Polterpup saves them at the last moment, and Luigi, with Gooigi's help, defeats King Boo again. During the battle, King Boo tries to pull the hotel down with a portrait, but Luigi stops him before the hotel collapses. After freeing his friends, the ghosts from E. Gadd's destroyed lab become friendly when King Boo's crown jewel disappears, indicating they were brainwashed. E. Gadd decides to build a new hotel, and King Boo and Hellen are returned to custody. The size of the new hotel depends on how much money Luigi collected during his adventure. After the hotel reopens, Luigi and his friends return home.
Development
Luigi's Mansion 3 was created by Next Level Games, the same company that had previously made Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon for Nintendo. The game was first planned for the Wii U system, and early versions included new abilities called Slam and Burst. However, development shifted to the Nintendo Switch after Next Level Games completed Metroid Prime: Federation Force. The setting was changed from a mansion to a hotel to allow players to explore the environment in three dimensions. Kensuke Tanabe, a member of the development team, explained that the goal was to help players understand how the hotel was arranged. While the hotel was the main setting, the team intentionally made some areas look very different from a typical hotel. This was possible because the hotel’s layout connected all the areas. Some features from the Nintendo 3DS remake of the original Luigi's Mansion were improved in the third game, including cooperative play on the same screen and the new abilities. Before the game was officially announced, Luigi’s new tool, the Poltergust G-00, was first shown during the August 2018 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Nintendo Direct when Luigi was introduced. The Poltergust G-00 was added to Luigi’s moveset, allowing him to pull opponents from a distance with the Suction Shot. His new Final Smash uses the Poltergust G-00 to suck opponents in and then eject them.
Luigi's Mansion 3 was announced during a Nintendo Direct presentation on September 13, 2018. At the time, the title was listed as tentative and planned for a 2019 release. The game was part of Nintendo’s E3 2019 showcase, where a new trailer showed the game’s story, gameplay, and modes, including the return of the online multiplayer mode, ScareScraper. A demo was also available for players to try on the show floor. Nate Bihldorff of Nintendo of America said the game’s main story would be longer than that of Dark Moon. He also noted that the title was changed to simply "3" instead of a subtitle because the time between the second and third games was much shorter, making the series feel more established compared to the 12-year gap between the first and second games. A new trailer shown during the September 4, 2019 Nintendo Direct revealed parts of the hotel setting and introduced ScreamPark, a new party mode for up to eight players on one console. Luigi's Mansion 3 was released on October 31, 2019.
Reception
Luigi's Mansion 3 received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to the review aggregator website Metacritic. Another review aggregator, OpenCritic, reported that the game received "strong" approval, with 91% of critics recommending it. In Japan, four critics from Famitsu gave the game a total score of 33 out of 40. Chelsea Stark of Polygon praised the use of Gooigi and the variety of levels in the game, stating, "this is our scaredy-cat hero's best adventure yet." Ryan McCaffrey of IGN also praised the level design and variety, saying: "Luigi's Mansion 3 is so fun, charming, and smartly designed that I hope we get more than three of these every 20 years."
By March 2024, Luigi's Mansion 3 had sold 14.25 million copies worldwide, making it one of the top-selling games for the Nintendo Switch.