Blackout

"Criminy! What a calamity the elec...the electricity has gone out! That lightning strike just now must've caused a blackout. I can't see anything in this blasted darkness... The ghosts will have the run of the place in the dark! Be careful, !"

- Professor E. Gadd

The blackout is an event in Luigi's Mansion and its Nintendo 3DS remake. After Luigi defeats Boolossus and opens the door to Area 4, several bolts of lightning strike the mansion. This causes the power to go out, darkening every room, including ones Luigi has already completed, and allowing ghosts to wander freely.

During the blackout, set groups of ghosts appear in rooms, even replacing ones Luigi has not caught, including portrait ghosts. This can make the mansion difficult to navigate. Gold Mice reappear in the darkened rooms if Luigi had not captured them before, so the blackout can be used to his advantage. Ghosts in a room respawn if Luigi captures all of them and reenters the room during the blackout. The only rooms without ghosts are the Foyer, the Bottom of the Well and the Breaker Room, though they still go dark. The player cannot save during the blackout as none of the Toads appear and no Boos can be caught. This means Luigi has only one chance to catch all of the Speedy Spirits available only during the blackout.

In order to turn the power back on, Luigi must find and capture Uncle Grimmly in the Wardrobe Room, causing a chest containing the key to the Breaker Room to appear. He can get a hint about this by talking to Professor E. Gadd in the Telephone Room. Luigi can use the key to enter the Breaker Room and pull a switch that restores the mansion. Rooms that Luigi had not previously completed stay dark except the Breaker Room, which lights up.

Until the blackout situation is resolved and Uncle Grimmly captured, Luigi cannot go back to the lab via the Mansion's entrance in the 3DS remake of the game as the door is locked by a "mysterious force".

The blackout returns in Luigi's Mansion 3, though only in ScareScraper mode. Sometimes when playing a floor, a blackout may occur and make all rooms go dark, unlike in Luigi's Mansion; this makes it hard to see the Luigis and Gooigis. They must find a storage room containing a Strobulb terminal; once flashed, all the lights come back on.

Ghosts
This list shows the different ghosts that appear during the blackout and the rooms in which they are found. They are listed in roughly the ordered in which they are encountered.

Trivia

 * Although the Sitting Room and Guest Room are inaccessible during the blackout, they have ghosts set to appear there. The Sitting Room has four Temper Terrors, and the Guest Room has two Garbage Can Ghosts along with two Temper Terrors.