Game Discussion of the Week: Luigi's Mansion series

Only played the the first one on the Gamecube and thought it was very average really. kind of disappointing.
Visuals are nice though.

I wish I could vote on this one, but I haven't played any of them. The 3rd one is getting great reviews, and I'm really intrigued. It will remain in the back log for now, though.

I enjoyed the GameCube entry quite a bit. I know folks were disappointed not to get a 'proper' Mario game for the system launch, but I think Luigi's Mansion has aged very well, particularly for an early title on the system.

I had never played Dark Moon, or the 3DS remake of the original, but now that I'd been getting back to some DS and 3DS titles, I'll have to try them eventually.

The remake was in the odd position of being a late 3DS title. I think they decided to put it there instead of the Switch because the 3DS had the higher install base, but I think the Switch would have been a better choice given how well it was selling. Since Luigi's Mansion 3 has sold quite well, hopefully we'll see the remake of the first one ported over to the Switch, or even better a compilation of the first two.

I've always been a fan of the original Luigi's Mansion on GC. Even though it doesn't have the same effect on me as an adult gamer, it was a wonderful kids game in the same vain as other kid titles by Nintendo like Yoshi's Story on N64. I regret never having owned it as a kid; it was just a game I would rent frequently. I didn't actually buy a copy until I was a teenager, and by then the game's appeal had worn off. But for those of us who did play Luigi's Mansion as kids, it was a special and nostalgic experience. And regardless of whether you were a kid, a teenager, or an adult when/if you played it when the GC launched in 2001, everyone will say that it was a very pretty tech demo, complete with great particle effects, cloth physics, high quality CGI cutscenes (I always liked the short clip that would play whenever Luigi would try to open a door), and inspired art direction. I always liked the ghost designs a lot, and the game seems to take a lot of visual inspiration from the 90s CGI film adaption of Casper. It seems like the designers had a lot of fun making Luigi's Mansion.

Overall, the original Luigi's Mansion was a fun kids game and a nice tech demo, and I have very fond memories of playing it as a kid when my folks bought me a GC in 2002, so I feel inclined to give it a 4/5. But since this thread is discussing the series, and because I've only played the first game, I'm not going to vote.