Luigi's Mansion

When Luigi discovers he's won a mansion in a competition he didn't enter, Mario runs off to investigate. But when Mario fails to return, Luigi sets off to find him. The mansion turns out to be dusty, grimy and, worst of all, haunted! Luigi meets Professor E. Gadd, an elderly ghost hunter and inventor who kits him out in top-of-the-range ghost-hunting equipment, ready to head inside and find his brother.

Gameplay

Each room in the mansion starts off dark. Upon entering you will have to find a ghost, shine your flashlight at it to make its heart appear, then trap it in the suction of the Poltergust 3000 until its heart is weakened and it is captured. When there are no ghosts left in that room, the lights come on and you are usually rewarded with a key or heaps of treasure.

Basic ghosts are easy to capture, requiring you to flick your flashlight on to make their heart appear. However, the special Portrait Ghosts have to be tricked into showing their hearts, each using a different method. Several of the Portrait Ghosts are also boss characters, providing you with a key to a whole new area of the mansion once they are defeated.

After certain conditions have been met, you will also need to capture Boos. These mischievous ghosts hide in already-lit rooms. You can't trap them in the Poltergust's suction, and they can even escape to other rooms.

When not hunting for ghosts, Luigi can investigate just about everything in the mansion, either knocking or using the Poltergust to suck. Nearly every cupboard, fitting and piece of furniture has something inside, from life-restoring Hearts to treasure. The amount of treasure Luigi has collected by the end of the game determines your rank and which ending you receive.

Other things to look for include Elemental Medals which allow you to shoot fire, water and ice from the Poltergust, and Toads who will save your game.

System	GameCube
Developer	Nintendo
Genre	Action

GameCube
	14th September 2001
	18th November 2001
	3rd May 2002

Cameos

Kazumi Totaka's Song

After meeting E.Gadd for the first time, you will have to do some training with the Poltergust. Before the training begins you are shown a screen displaying the game controls. Wait on this screen for 3 minutes and 25 seconds and Totaka's Song will play.

This strange song has been found in (almost) every game composed by Kazumi Totaka. For a full list, check out the NinDB Kazumi Totaka's Song Guide.

Neville's Book

Screenshot Required

The first Portrait Ghost you encounter is Neville. If you look closely at the book he's reading, it's titled "Mario Start" and has a side-view silhouette of Mario's head on the cover.

Melody's Music

The conservatory on the ground floor is filled with musical instruments. Activate them all by knocking on them and each instrument plays a part of the Super Mario Bros. Ground Theme.

Once the music is playing, Melody the Portrait Ghost will appear at the piano. She plays a song and you will have to guess what the composer had in mind while writing it. There are two songs she might play:

The Underwater theme, also from Super Mario Bros.
The Athletic theme from Super Mario Bros. 3.

Game Boy Horror

One of the tools E. Gadd gives you is the Game Boy Horror, based on the clear purple Game Boy Color system. When using it, it appears as a photo of the system. The only difference is that the word "Color" has been replaced with "Horror".

The Game Boy Horror plays an 8-bit rendition of the Luigi's Mansion theme when E. Gadd tries to communicates with you.

Meet the Pikmin

In the Options menu of the US and PAL versions of the game, you can find a promotional video for the upcoming game, Pikmin.

E. Gadd's Origin