Luigi's Mansion

Luigi's Mansion was a launch title for the Nintendo GameCube, released in November of 2001. The game started its developement cycle as a Nintendo 64 title, but the N64 version was eventually canceled near the end of the system's lifecycle. It also marks the second time where Luigi is the main character, with Mario playing a supporting role, the first being Mario is Missing!. Professor E. Gadd and King Boo are also introduced in this game.

Storyline
Luigi had always been accustomed to Mario being in the spotlight for a long time. That's why he's surprised when he wins a free mansion in a contest he didn't even enter. Letting Mario enter first to check it out, Luigi follows behind and enters to find a dark, creepy foyer. Soon an orange spirit drops a key. Upon entering the parlor, Luigi finds E. Gadd and three ghosts. Gadd explains that the house appeared just a few days ago and Mario must have been captured by the spirits. With Gadd's Poltergust 3000, Luigi must now take center stage to save his brother.

Controls
Luigi's Mansion has some interesting controls that shaped the Nintendo GameCube controller (according to interviews in the Nintendo Players' Guide) The Poltergust 3000 is controlled by pressing and holding the R button. When the ghost(s) are being sucked, the player must tug the control stick in the opposite direction of the nozzle to take away HP. The player can move only the Poltergust but not Luigi with the C stick, most helpful in capturing the sneaky Boos.

The A button examines objects or makes Luigi call out for Mario (how he says it depends on Luigi's health). The B button controls Luigi's flashlight in dark areas. Ghosts are naturally afraid of the light, and will freeze for a short time when Luigi points the flashlight at them. The trick to capturing ghosts is holding the B button to turn off the flashlight, then let the ghosts come close, then release B. The ghosts stop right in front of the Poltergust, where the player can now suck them up with R. Finally, the L button emits an element once you get an Elemental Medal: Fire, Water or Ice.

There is also an option to move Sidestep. In this mode, Luigi won't face in the direction he's moving. To change what he's facing, the player will have to use the C stick.

The X button brings up the Game Boy Horror.

Portrait Ghosts
In Luigi's exploits, Luigi captures up to twenty-three gallery ghosts (five are optional). These ghosts have 100 HP, but their hearts are not automatically shown like other ghosts: Luigi must find each ghost's weakness before he can suck them up. The following are listed in order of appearance appear in the game:

Area One

 * '''Neville, The Bookish Father
 * '''Lydia, The Mirror-Gazing Mother
 * Chauncey, The Spoiled Baby ''(First Boss)

Area Two

 * '''The Floating Whirlindas, The Dancing Couple
 * '''Shivers, The Wandering Butler
 * '''Melody Pianissima, The Beautiful Pianist
 * Mr. Luggs, The Glutton ''(Optional)
 * '''Spooky, The Hungry Guard Dog
 * Bogmire, The Cemetery Shadow ''(Second Boss)

Area Three

 * Biff Atlas, The Bodybuilder ''(Optional)
 * '''Miss Petunia, The Bathing Beauty
 * '''Nana, The Scarf Knitting Nanny
 * Slim Bankshot, The Lonely Pool Shark ''(Optional)
 * '''Henry and Orville, The Twin Brothers
 * Madame Clairvoya, The Freaky Fortune Teller*
 * Boolossus, Jumbo Ghost ''(Third Boss)

Area Four

 * '''Uncle Grimmly, Hermit of the Darkness
 * '''Clockwork Soldiers, The Toy Platoon
 * Sue Pea, The Dozing Girl ''(Optional)
 * Jarvis, The Jar Collector ''(Optional)
 * '''Sir Weston, The Chilly Climber
 * '''Vincent Van Gore, The Starving Artist
 * King Boo ''(Final Boss: 500 HP)

* Note: Although Madame Clairvoya technically first appears in Area 2, she cannot be captured until Area 3.

The Boos
Main article: Luigi's Mansion Boos

There are fifty Boos that hide in the various rooms of the mansion. Thirty-five of these are named to differentiate between them, and the remaining fifteen make up the third Boss of the game, Boolossus. The magic of the King Boo's spells increase based on the number of his minions nearby. Because of this, Luigi needed to capture twenty Boos to break the seal designed to block Boolossus from him. After capturing twenty more, the seal separating Luigi from King Boo was broken. If Luigi catches all fifty Boos, he will be rewarded will the extremely valuable Gold Diamond. Each of the Boos' names are puns. For example, "Booigi" is a pun on "Luigi" and "Game Boo" is a nod to the Game Boy.

Common Ghosts

 * Bat
 * Blue Blaze
 * Blue Mouse
 * Blue Twirler
 * Bowling Ghost
 * Ceiling Surprise
 * Flash
 * Flying Fish
 * Garbage Can Ghost
 * Grabbing Ghost
 * Gold Ghost
 * Gold Mouse
 * Mr. Bones
 * Purple Bomber
 * Purple Puncher
 * Shy Guy
 * Spark
 * Speedy Spirit
 * Temper Terror
 * Waiter

Other Spooks

 * Bogmire Shadow
 * Fire Elemental Ghost
 * Ice Elemental Ghost
 * Trapdoor
 * Water Elemental Ghost

The Money

 * Gold Coin - 5,000G
 * Bill - 20,000 G
 * Gold Bar - 100,000G
 * Blue Jewel - 500,000G
 * Green Jewel - 800,000G
 * Red Jewel - 1,000,000G
 * Blue Diamond - 2,000,000G
 * Gold Diamond - 20,000,000G
 * Red Diamond - 5,000G
 * Small Pearl - 50,000G
 * Medium Pearl - 100,000G
 * Big Pearl - 1,000,000G

Gallery
Professor E. Gadd had trapped the Portrait Ghosts into paintings during his past ghost adventures and put them for display in his personal gallery--until King Boo released each of them! As Luigi recaptures gallery ghosts, they will be framed in three colors: bronze, silver, or gold. The color depends on how much HP (out of 100 for each non-boss gallery ghost) Luigi sucks in one try, which produce pearls:


 * Bronze. Only small pearls, which Luigi earns one for every 10 HP sucked at once. The portrait ghost itself is poor in quality.
 * Silver. At least one medium pearl, which the ghost gives up for every 50 HP sucked and every 10 after. So for 60, 70, and 80 HP at once, Luigi earns another medium pearl. The portrait ghost is shown in better quality. 90 is reserved for...
 * Gold. The only big pearl possible is given up if Luigi can suck 90 HP in one turn. The quality of the portrait ghost is most often just what it looked like when Luigi captured it.

If Luigi sucks all 100 HP at once, no extra pearl is awarded, but he made capturing a Portrait Ghost a lot easier. The max amount of money to be gained per Portrait Ghost is 1,600,000G: 4 small pearls, 4 medium pearls and 1 big pearl.

Boss gallery ghosts' (Chauncey, Bogmire, Boolossus, and King Boo) frames and quality are determined by how high Luigi's health is after capturing the ghost. Luigi must enter the battle at full health (100) if he wishes to have a chance to receive a gold frame, it won't do if he doesn't take damage but started out at 50 HP (that's a bronze frame). To gain a gold frame Luigi's health must not decline below 90.

Luigi's New Mansion
All the money Luigi collects in his adventure is used to build a new mansion on top of the old one. The more money he collects from treasure rooms, watering plants, catching Portrait Ghosts and examining furniture, the better the mansion will be (it will be a large / small house in the lower ranks). The house will become a painting at the front of the Gallery, with Luigi's total money on the bottom-left corner. The message will be "Welcome to Luigi's NEW Mansion!" unless Luigi achieved Rank A or H:


 * Rank A: Finish the game with 100,000,001G + Message: Congratulations! Your mansion is complete!
 * Rank B: Finish the game with 70,000,001 to 100,000,000G.
 * Rank C: Finish the game with 60,000,001 to 70,000,000G.
 * Rank D: Finish the game with 50,000,001 to 60,000,000G.
 * Rank E: Finish the game with 40,000,001 to 50,000,000G.
 * Rank F: Finish the game with 20,000,001 to 40,000,000G.
 * Rank G: Finish the game with 5,000,001 to 20,000,000G.
 * Rank H: Finish the game with 5,000 to 5,000,000G. + Message: And the Mansion disappeared without a trace...

Oddly enough, it may be considered more difficult to achieve Rank H than Rank A, as to get rank H, Luigi mustn't collect anything except for King Boo's Crown, worth 5,000G.

It should be noted that the Rank A Mansion appears at the side of Luigi Circuit in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!.

Hidden Mansion
Once the player beats the game once, the quest can be tried over again in the normal mansion or the "Hidden Mansion". It is the same gameplay, except for two things: a) Ghosts (including Boos) give double the damage to Luigi, but b) The Poltergust 3000 has 1.5 times more power. This can help get more pearls, which means more money and nicer frames.

PAL Differences
The PAL version of Luigi's Mansion (Europe and Australia) increased the number of changes for the Hidden Mansion than the NTSC (Japan and US, the first countries to get the game) version:


 * The PAL Hidden Mansion is mirrored from left to right when compared to the Normal Mansion. The NTSC version keeps the layout the same.
 * There are more normal ghosts around the mansion.
 * Bosses are harder, having different attacks (Chauncey's rocking horses, for example, are much bigger, and swerve left to right instead of going straight). A major change in the Boolossus battle is that you ride around on your vacuum cleaner while trying to pop Boolossus, making movement more slippery.
 * Rooms are much darker in the PAL version; this, however, is only as dark as in the NTSC version of both mansions, the normal PAL mansion being lighter.
 * Most Boos have more HP in the PAL version, although some have less.
 * Fewer hearts. Locations that always had hearts in the Normal Mansion no longer have them. Hearts that heal 50 HP no longer exist.
 * Speedy Spirits and Gold Mice always give up a Blue Diamond when caught, adding an extra 50,000,000G to the maximum possible amount of money.
 * Possibly (not confirmed) up to five times more power for the Poltergust in the PAL version.
 * 45 rather than 40 Boos are required to fight the final boss.
 * Boos are, in general, more agile.

These changes were made after American and Japanese gamers complained that the Hidden Mansion offered virtually no changes. Shigeru Miyamoto himself thought up some things to add to the PAL version's Hidden Mansion.

Trivia

 * In Mario Kart: Double Dash, a Battle Mode arena named Luigi's Mansion contains numerous references to the game, including ghost portaits and floor panels from the Ball Room. Mario Kart DS featured a circuit built inside a similar mansion and the surrounding woods.
 * Some rooms of this game have cheese in them; this cheese is used to summon Gold Mice. Nintendo published the Rare, Ltd. game Perfect Dark, in which wedges of cheese also appeared.  These were easter eggs rather than elements of gameplay.
 * The box art of Luigi's Mansion resembles the movie Home Alone's promotional art.