The Purple Punchers are the second species of normal ghosts Luigi encounters in Luigi's Mansion. As the name implies, these ghosts try to damage Luigi by giving a left or right hook to him; ten HP is lost for each successful uppercut punch. Luigi can stun Purple Punchers with his flashlight, and then suck them in with his Poltergust 3000. They can also be hurt by any of the three elements. In an earlier version of the game, Purple Punchers had 30 HP each. However, this was changed to 20 in the final version for unknown reasons. This pre-release screenshot can be seen on page 19 of the Luigi's Mansion instruction booklet.[1]
They appear again in Mario Sports Mix as spectators to the many sporting events. They also can be assistants to the players in the Luigi's Mansion stage.