Luigi's Mansion

This article is about the Nintendo GameCube game. For the location, see Luigi's Mansion (location). For other uses, see Luigi's Mansion (disambiguation).

Luigi's Mansion
For alternate box art, see the related gallery.
Developer	Nintendo EAD
Publisher	Nintendo
Platforms	Nintendo GameCube Nintendo GameCube – Nintendo Classics (Nintendo Switch 2)
Release dates	Nintendo GameCube: September 14, 2001 November 18, 2001 May 3, 2002 May 17, 2002 August 23, 2002[?] Player's Choice: January 23, 2003 April 4, 2003 April 4, 2003 Nintendo GameCube – Nintendo Classics: October 29, 2025 October 30, 2025 October 30, 2025 October 30, 2025 October 30, 2025
Languages	English Japanese French (Europe) German Italian Spanish (Europe)
Genre	Action-adventure
Ratings	ESRB: - Everyone[?] PEGI: - Three years and older[?] ELSPA: - Three years and older[?] SELL: - All ages[?] USK: - All ages[?] ClassInd: - General audience[?] ACB: - Eight years and older[?]
Mode	Single player
Format	Nintendo GameCube: Optical disc Nintendo Switch 2: Digital download
Input	Nintendo GameCube: Nintendo GameCube Controller Nintendo Switch 2: Joy-Con 2 Joy-Con Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller Nintendo Switch Pro Controller Nintendo GameCube Controller Nintendo GameCube Controller (NSO)
Serial code	DOL-GLMJ-JPN

Luigi's Mansion is a launch title for the Nintendo GameCube initially released in 2001, and is the first installment of the Luigi's Mansion series. It marks the second time where Luigi is the main protagonist, with Mario playing a supporting role, the first being Mario is Missing!. The game marks the debuts of King Boo, Luigi's main enemy, as well as Professor E. Gadd, a major supporting character in the series, as well as later games. It was also one of the two games on the Nintendo GameCube to continue the use of Nintendo 64-era artwork and renders, along with Super Smash Bros. Melee (another early Nintendo GameCube title), though it also introduced the current 3D art direction of the Super Mario franchise, particularly with Mario and Bowser's in-game designs (Luigi's and Toad's designs still look noticeably different than their finalized design in Mario Party 4).

A sequel to Luigi's Mansion, titled Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, was released for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems on March 20, 2013, with a third installment released for the Nintendo Switch on October 31, 2019. A remake of Luigi's Mansion, developed by GREZZO Co., Ltd., was released for the Nintendo 3DS on October 12, 2018. The original game was released on the Nintendo GameCube – Nintendo Classics service for the Nintendo Switch 2 in October 2025, one day before Halloween in most regions.

The soundtrack to Luigi's Mansion was added to Nintendo Music on April 7, 2025 (PST).

Story

Instruction booklet

And the grand prize is a big, haunted mansion!?

One day, Luigi received an unexpected message: You've won a huge mansion! Naturally, He^[sic] got very excited and called his brother, Mario. "Mario? It's me, Luigi. I won myself a big mansion! Meet me there and we'll celebrate, what do you say?"

Luigi tried to follow the map to his new mansion, but the night was dark, and he became hopelessly lost in an eerie forest along the way. Finally, he came upon a gloomy mansion on the edge of the woods. According to the map, this mansion seemed to be the one Luigi was looking for. As soon as Luigi set foot in the mansion, he started to feel nervous. Mario, who should have arrived first, was nowhere to be seen. Not only that, but there were ghosts in the mansion!

Suddenly, a ghost lunged at Luigi! "Mario! Help meee!" That's when a strange old man with a vacuum cleaner on his back appeared out of nowhere! This strange fellow managed to rescue Luigi from the ghosts, then the two of them escaped...

It just so happened that the old man, Professor Elvin Gadd, who lived near the house, was researching his favorite subject, ghosts. Luigi told Professor E. Gadd that his brother Mario was missing, so the Professor decided to give Luigi two inventions that would help him search for his brother.

Luigi's not exactly known for his bravery. Can he get rid of all the prank-loving ghosts and find Mario?

Area 1

The Mansion.

Luigi, having won a mansion in a contest he did not enter, arrives in Boo Woods and locates it. He enters the mansion and is soon frightened by a Gold Ghost, but Professor E. Gadd appears and attempts to vacuum the ghost with his Poltergust 3000. Though his attempt fails, he introduces himself to Luigi before quickly escorting him to his laboratory near the mansion when more ghosts appear. In the lab, E. Gadd tells Luigi that the house is an illusion that has appeared out of thin air, where Mario has been captured by King Boo and his minions. He gives Luigi the Poltergust 3000 to vacuum up ghosts and the Game Boy Horror to communicate with E. Gadd, scan objects, and see a map of the mansion.

Luigi enters the mansion, sucking up ghosts and finding keys, while meeting Toad along the way, until he encounters a portrait ghost named Neville and defeats him with the Poltergust 3000. He does the same to Lydia, Neville's wife, and fights their baby, Chauncey, who sucks Luigi into his crib and fights him as a giant ghost, but is defeated and sucked into the Poltergust 3000. With the Poltergust filled to capacity, Luigi returns to E. Gadd's lab and empties it, turning Neville, Lydia, and Chauncey back into portraits.

Area 2

Luigi after defeating Bogmire

Luigi enters Area 2, another area through a previously blocked door and fights more ghosts. After defeating The Floating Whirlindas, he enters the Storage Room and hits a switch, which opens a fake door where 50 Boos and their leader, King Boo, are hiding. All of them escape and fly into different rooms of the mansion. Luigi returns to E. Gadd's lab and E. Gadd tells him that the Boos were the ones who released the portrait ghosts. Luigi must capture the Boos to weaken their power, as they are stronger in greater numbers. So Luigi goes through the many rooms of the mansion, vacuuming up any Boos he finds. He also meets Madame Clairvoya, a fortune teller ghost, who tells him to bring her any of Mario's items he finds lying around in the mansion so she can get details on his whereabouts. The items are Mario's Hat, Mario's Glove, Mario's Shoe, Mario's Letter, and Mario's Star. After sucking up Shivers the butler, Melody Pianissima, Mr. Luggs, and Spooky the dog, Luigi enters the Cemetery and fights the shadowy ghost, Bogmire. He defeats him and sucks him into the Poltergust. Afterwards, Luigi returns to E. Gadd's lab once again and empties the Poltergust to turn all the ghosts back into portraits.

Area 3

Luigi looking at the Secret Altar

Luigi enters a third area into the courtyard. Down the well, he sees into King Boo's altar and discovers that King Boo has imprisoned Mario in a portrait. Luigi becomes desperate to save his big brother as he reaches out for him. He goes through new rooms of the mansion, finding Mario's items and vacuuming up ghosts, including portrait ghosts Biff Atlas, Miss Petunia, Nana, Slim Bankshot, and the twins Henry and Orville. After Luigi brings Madame Clairvoya all five of Mario's items, she tells him that she sees Bowser in a vision, which is shocking because Mario defeated Bowser and she suspects that King Boo revived him. With her job done, she tells Luigi to suck her into the Poltergust so she can return peacefully to her portrait. After he does so and defeats 20 Boos, he enters the balcony and fights Boolossus, a Big Boo made up of fifteen Little Boos. Luigi defeats Boolossus by luring it into the unicorn statues to split it into its individual Boos and sucking them all into the Poltergust. Then, Luigi returns to E. Gadd's lab once more and empties the Poltergust to turn all the ghosts, including Boolossus, back into portraits.

Area 4

Luigi in the Breaker Room

When Luigi enters Area 4 in the attic, the mansion is suddenly struck by lightning, creating a blackout throughout the mansion. He then goes to the breaker room to turn the power back on, but finds it locked. Luigi looks for the key and soon encounters a ghost named Uncle Grimmly and defeats him to get the key. After he turns the power back on, he catches more Boos and portrait ghosts, including the Clockwork Soldiers, Sue Pea, Jarvis, and Sir Weston, before entering the room of Vincent Van Gore, one of the most prominent portrait ghosts who creates the regular ghosts. He sends several waves of ghosts after Luigi, but Luigi defeats them all, causing Van Gore to go into a state of depression and Luigi sucks him into the Poltergust without much resistance. He then goes to the Secret Altar down a creepy hallway in the basement and encounters King Boo, who reveals that he was the one who told Luigi that he won the mansion in a contest and set it up as revenge for all the trouble the Mario brothers had caused him. King Boo goes into Mario's portrait, which turns into a Bowser portrait and sucks Luigi into it. In an arena resembling the roof of the mansion with fire in the background, Luigi fights what appears to be Bowser (as Madame Clairvoya's vision had seen), but when he hits him in the head with an explosive, spiked metal ball, Bowser is revealed to be a protective suit worn by King Boo. Luigi defeats King Boo while avoiding the Bowser suit's head and sucks him into the Poltergust 3000.

Luigi's Rank B mansion.

Luigi with a tear rolling down his eyes laughing at Mario.

Luigi returns to E. Gadd's lab one last time and empties the Poltergust to turn all the ghosts, including King Boo, back into portraits. E. Gadd then reverses the Portrificationizer to release Mario from his portrait. After Mario goes through the machine backwards, he rockets out of the vent and collides with Luigi. Seeing that Mario has been left dizzy with the vent cover around his neck, Luigi laughs with tears in his eyes, relieved Mario is safe.

Since King Boo has been defeated, his illusion of the mansion fades away, though the money and jewels Luigi had collected in the mansion were real. With it, he gets a new residence, which varies in size depending on the amount of money he collected.

Gameplay

The Blue Twirler holding the Nintendo GameCube controller, showing the standard and sidestep controls.

Luigi uses two devices given to him by E. Gadd to progress through the game: the Poltergust 3000 to suck up ghosts and the Game Boy Horror (which is designed to resemble a Game Boy Color) to investigate objects, navigate the mansion and communicate with E. Gadd. On top of its primary function, the Poltergust has various other uses as well, such as sucking up money and being used as a flashlight to help Luigi see and even stun ghosts. Once Luigi collects the corresponding element medal, he can also use the Poltergust to suck up Elemental Ghosts and expel their fire, water or ice powers to fight other ghosts and deplete their HPs so that Luigi can capture them. In turn, Luigi's own HP is lowered whenever he takes damage and requires him to replenish it by collecting Hearts, or risk a Game Over (at which point he collapses and the words "Good night" appears overhead).

Controls

Action(s)	Input
	Nintendo GameCube Controller	Dual Joy-Con Dual Joy-Con 2 Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller
Move
Examine Things / Open Door
(Hold) Turn Off Flashlight
Search Mode
Floor Map
Item List
Change Flashlight or Vacuum Direction
Expel Element from Vacuum	(Partially)
(Expelling element) Shoot Out Lump	(Fully)
Use the Poltergust
Pause

Characters

Character	Description
Luigi	The game's main protagonist and single playable character of the game. Luigi arrived at a mansion he supposedly won, only to find it is extremely haunted. He must push through his cowardice and explore the mansion and find his missing brother, armed with a flashlight and the Poltergust 3000 ghost-catching vacuum.
Professor E. Gadd	The inventor of the Poltergust, Prof. Elvin Gadd is a paranormal researcher who has a hideout right outside where the mansion appeared one night. He communicates with Luigi throughout the game via the Game Boy Horror, and asks for Luigi's help in recovering his escaped portrait ghosts and the Boos - the latter of which allows E. Gadd to save his game.
Toad	Toad can be found four times throughout the mansion, at first crying. If Luigi cheers him up, he can be used to save whenever spoken to.
Mario	Luigi's more-famous older brother, who arrived at the mansion beforehand and has gone missing thanks to the ghosts and King Boo.
Ghosts	The main enemies of the game, a plethora of ghosts infest the mansion's dark rooms, from weak-and-simple normal ghosts, the more powerful-and-complex portrait ghosts, and the quick-and-sneaky Boos.
King Boo	The game's main antagonist, the king of the Boos wants revenge on Mario and Luigi for foiling the Boos in previous games and on E. Gadd for imprisoning his ghost allies in paintings.

Ghosts

“As a result of extensive research, I have divided ghosts into several categories.”

—Professor E. Gadd, Instruction Booklet

Normal ghosts

Small

Small ghosts can be sucked into the Poltergust without any resistance. They do not have hearts, so they do not need to be surprised before pulling them in, either. They are not required to suck up to complete a room; if a room is completed and the lights turn on while they are still present, they fade away. The exceptions to this are the Elemental Ghosts, which remain in lit areas.

Ghost	Description	Locations (normal)	Locations (PAL Hidden Mansion)
Mice
Blue Mouse	Tiny ghost mice that slowly scuttle along the floor, moving through walls.		Anteroom, Armory, Kitchen, Safari Room
		Breaker Room, Butler's Room, Hallway 1, Hallway 2, Hallway 3
Purple Mouse	Tiny ghost mice that walk along the floors and walls.	Hallway 1, Hallway 2 Hallway 3
Gold Mouse	Tiny ghost mice that appear randomly in certain places or after examining a piece of cheese. They move extremely fast, but catching one earns a large amount of treasure.	Dining Room, Fortune-teller's Room, Hallway 2, Hallway 3, Kitchen, Safari Room, Sealed Room, Study, Tea Room
Bats
Purple Bat	Swarms of bats that attack Luigi when he approaches.	Hallway 2, Hallway 3
Yellow Bat	Swarms of bats that attack Luigi when he activates the Poltergust.	Hidden Room	Breaker Room
		Hallway 2, Hallway 3
Elemental Ghosts
Fire Elemental Ghost	Small spirits that spawn from strong flames after the Fire Element Medal is collected. Sucking them in lets the Poltergust shoot fire.	Butler's Room, Cold Storage, Dining Room, Graveyard, Mirror Room, Study, Hallway 2, Hallway 3, Roof, Sitting Room
Water Elemental Ghost	Small spirits that spawn from sources of water after the Water Element Medal is collected. Sucking them in lets the Poltergust shoot water.	Bathroom (2F), Boneyard, Courtyard, Kitchen, Sitting Room, Washroom (2F)
Ice Elemental Ghost	Small spirits that spawn from frosty areas after the Ice Element Medal is collected. Sucking them in lets the Poltergust shoot ice.	Balcony (3F), Ceramics Studio, Kitchen, Pipe Room, Tea Room
Flying Fish
Pink Flying Fish	Floating ghosts that spawn endlessly and float through the air, moving at medium speeds.	Courtyard	Ball Room
Green Flying Fish	Floating ghosts that spawn endlessly and float through the air, moving at fast speeds.		Ball Room, Butler's Room, Courtyard
		Pipe Room
Miscellaneous
Shining Ghost	Meteor-like ghosts that cannot be fully sucked in, but pulled against the Poltergust's nozzle and released to shoot them out at a high speed.	Observatory
Spark	Slow-moving spiky red ghosts that come out of walls and explode.		Hallway 2
		Hallway 3, Hallway 4

Large

Large ghosts must be stunned in order to show their hearts before they can be sucked up. Often times, this is done by shining the flashlight on them. Before they can be pulled all the way in, the Poltergust needs to pull on them enough to bring their HP down to 0.

Ghost	HP	Description	Locations (normal)	Locations (PAL Hidden Mansion)
Punching ghosts
Gold Ghost	10	The most basic ghost enemy, these orange ghosts appear from behind Luigi and punch to attack.	Armory, Sealed Room, Sitting Room, Wardrobe Room	Cellar, Roof, Storage Room, Tea Room
			Anteroom, Astral Hall, Balcony (2F) Balcony (3F), Billiards Room, Butler's Room, Conservatory, Dining Room, Kitchen, Master Bedroom, Nursery, Parlor, Safari Room, Telephone Room, The Artist's Studio
Purple Puncher	20	A magenta-colored intermediate ghost which attacks Luigi by punching from behind.	Armory, Kitchen, Storage Room	Kitchen, Parlor, Pipe Room, Roof, Safari Room
			Anteroom, Balcony (3F), Cellar, Conservatory,Fortune-teller's Room, Laundry Room, Nana's Room, Nursery, Sealed Room, Telephone Room, The Artist's Studio
Blue Twirler	30	Powerful ghosts that slam the ground around them to attack. They are the strongest of the physically attacking ghosts.	Armory, Sealed Room	Anteroom, Cellar, Laundry Room, Parlor, Pipe Room, Roof, Storage Room, Tea Room, Wardrobe Room
			Balcony (3F), Bathroom (2F), Fortune-teller's Room, Hidden Room, Nursery, Rec Room, Telephone Room, The Artist's Studio
Element-protected ghosts
Temper Terror	10	White-sheeted Gold Ghosts with fiery energy protecting their hearts. They must be hit with a water attack before they can be stunned.	Bathroom (1F), Boneyard, Sitting Room, Washroom (2F)
Flash	20	White-sheeted Purple Punchers with icy energy protecting their hearts. They must be hit with a fire attack before they can be stunned.	Hidden Room	Armory, Tea Room
			Butler's Room, Kitchen, Roof
Blue Blaze	30	White-sheeted Blue Twirlers with watery energy protecting their hearts. They must be hit with an ice attack before they can be stunned.		Telephone Room
			Safari Room, Tea Room
Grabbing Ghosts
White Grabbing Ghost	10	Lavender ghosts that latch onto Luigi from behind, slowing him down