List of Luigi's Mansion pre-release and unused content

This is a list of pre-release and unused content for the game Luigi's Mansion.

Early ideas
Different kinds of houses were proposed for the game, including an apartment complex, a dollhouse, a 'ninja mansion', a Japanese-style house, and a prarie and desert level using a Mario theme. The game was originally conceptualized to resemble the Mario series more closely, but strayed when the haunted western mansion concept took priority. The idea of multiple, Mario-esque themed houses would later be used in the game's sequel.

Luigi's Mansion was developed with stereoscopic 3D compatibility. The Nintendo GameCube was built with 3D components which could be activated by an unreleased add-on. This add-on was never released as its price would have been far greater than the console. Another unreleased add-on would have allowed the Game Boy Advance to be used as an external controller in conjunction with the game.

Early iterations
Concepts for Luigi's Mansion, such as character designs, were being planned during the Nintendo 64's lifetime.

The game was first revealed at Nintendo Space World in 2000 as a Tech demo, designed to show off the graphical capabilities of the Nintendo GameCube.

Nintendo then decided to make Luigi's Mansion into a full-fledged game, and was later showcased at E3 in 2001, with notable changes to the design of the disc.

Early builds
Old issues of Nintendo Power (pictured below) contain details of early elements in screenshots and descriptions.

Poltergust
In earlier builds, the Poltergust 3000 originally featured a pressure meter ranging from one to ten, and was slightly bigger. If the pressure meter reached ten, the vacuum would burst out flames, causing Luigi to fall over and lose health, his HP eventually raises back up slightly after a while. Earlier versions of the game allowed Luigi to spray water. The Poltergust 3000 also had different nozzles depending on what element was being used.

GUI changes
Luigi's total remaining health was shown as a fraction. Coins also had their own meter. Early builds reveal that Boos captured would be displayed by a whole number.

Originally, the Game Boy Horror had an LCD border, which would function as a red flashing radar to show Luigi the locations of both ghosts and Boos within a room, and had a clock function. One clip shows that once the clock reached 1:30 on the E3 Nintendo Booth version, E. Gadd would contact Luigi and send him back to the title screen. Early gameplay images reveal that instead of showing Luigi his current gold total, the Game Boy Horror would always display a first-person view camera, giving the player two perspectives in a room at once. It was cut due to the Nintendo GameCube's hardware not being able to handle it.

Room changes
A playable tech demo revealed many room layouts that differed from the final version.
 * Decorative vases and candles were colored blue, instead of red. Oddly enough, a blue vase appears in the Luigi's Mansion battle arena, in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
 * When a room is completed, vertical spinning coins would pop out of a treasure chest. In the final game, the coins are stationary and lay flat on the ground.
 * The Foyer was originally called the "Entrance", and the door to Area Two was locked without a vine on it and featured a different texture. The mirror in the Foyer had no cloth covering it, a walk way carpet, a chair beside the wall, lamps, and Toad was missing. A blue ghost was suppose to chase Luigi inside the Foyer.
 * The Parlor was called the "Living room", and its furniture was arranged differently. After beating the room, a treasure chest with coins and a key for the Study room is awarded. The room had an extra side-chair pulled out in front of the china table, which had a cloth on it, the paintings on the wall were ghosts (in the final game they are humans), and the door to Anteroom was boarded up and differently textured and designed. The table to the right had no tablecloth, but a lighted candle on top of it. One sofa was positioned at the left of the room and two other sofas were seen to the far right. Blue ghosts were seen playing cards, featuring their own cutscene. An image of the three blue ghosts appears near the Ghost Portrificationizer in the final game, whereas the ghosts themselves are missing.
 * The Wardrobe Room had a green treasure chest.
 * In the Study, the chair next to where Neville sat, had a table with two drinks on top of it. There were Boos in the room.
 * The Master Bedroom was originally called "Bed room 1". It had two twin beds horizontally from each other, instead of one, with a shared drawer with a lamp on top between them two. A wardrobe was positioned at the far left of the room. There were two paintings on the wall to the left, instead of one, and no drawer to the right of the room. Of the two paintings on the right side of the room, one is lower than the other, instead of being parallel placed to one another. There were two ghosts, a Purple Puncher and Gold Ghost. After beating the room, coins would appear out of a treasure chest.
 * The Nursery was originally called the "Child's room", and Chauncey was missing. Instead, the room was filled with two ghosts, a Blue Twirler and Gold Ghost, and Boos. A stuffed rabbit and two teddy bears were to the far right on a shelf, with two paintings in between the three stuffed animals, and the different styled crib and mat were further away from the wall. The chairs were further from the table, which had no vase, and a stuffed rabbit sitting on one. After beating the room, coins and a normal key for the Area 2 door would appear out of a treasure chest.
 * The Washroom was called the "Lavatory", and had a Gold Ghost and Boos
 * The Dining Room could also be accessed by another door beyond the Area 2 door, in its own hallway. There were seven chairs in front of the table instead of two. There was a grandfather clock to the right corner of the room. The doors to the Billiards Room and the Projection Room were boarded up and a china cabinet was positioned between the two. The Dining Room had many ghosts residing in it, a typical orange colored Gold Ghost, Gold Ghost, Blue Twirler, Purple Puncher, and did not include Mr. Luggs.
 * The Kitchen had many ghosts, including an unseen chef-like ghost. Had a different array of pots and pans above the stove. Two bottles on top of the sink, to its left.
 * The Boneyard had no Mr. Bones ghosts. Orange Punchers were originally present. The yellow sign was missing. The Graveyard wasn't visible from the Boneyard at all.
 * The Bathroom had only small Boos residing in it.
 * The Area 3 door was blocked by stacked boxes.
 * Some Area 3 rooms (such as Washroom (2F), Bathroom (2F), and Nana's Room) were switched and were merged with Area 2.
 * The Rec Room's ladder and mirror in the back were switched up. Its windows had metal protectors, along with three plant pots.
 * The Conservatory door wasn't available, as Nana's Room was originally in its spot. It had a saxophone and a French horn hanging on the wall, a staircase that Luigi could climb, and a blocked door.
 * Nana's Room had the yarn spinner at the back left of the room instead of in the front left.
 * The Courtyard after the Area Three door lacked Flying Fish.
 * The Telephone Room had mice.
 * The Breaker Room featured a different layout with a water pipe in the corner with a wheel valve attached. Along with an unclothed table, two chairs, a bucket, and two oil barrels. The switch was absent.
 * The table in the Sitting Room had no cloth on it.
 * The Safari Room didn't have three tiger mats on the floor, but only two on the tables.
 * The Gallery had to go through many changes:
 * First Gallery: The first gallery had no angel statues, was shorter, had a wall texture similar to that of the Training Room, and had an underground look to it.
 * Second Gallery: It had smaller scaled unicorn statues from the Balcony instead of angels and was a bit longer than the first one.
 * Third Gallery: It was the same as the second one, but was a lot shorter and was linked to the final gallery room.

Early ghosts
The playable demo also revealed early ghost behavior and locations (possibly including an "Area Select" option like most Tech demos do), as well as beta ghosts.
 * There were ghosts in earlier versions that were similar in appearance to Gold Ghost. They would attack Luigi from behind by going "BAAHHHHH!", causing Luigi to scream, crab-walk backwards uncontrollably, and lose half his HP. Luigi's HP raises back up after a while and his heart would beat fast on his health gauge. These Gold Ghosts could've been used for Sneakers from Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon.
 * The issue also makes note of an unused Hunter Portrait Ghost who would have wanted to add Luigi's head to his collection of other heads. This Portrait Ghost would have appeared in the Safari Room and may have been removed due to the fact that his dialogue and actions would have frightened younger children. He was thought removed during later in development.
 * In earlier versions of the Kitchen, a ghost resembling a chef would have appeared while holding a tomato. This method of attacking may have been recycled into the Hiders from Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon.
 * Gold Ghosts were similar to the white colored version of the Grabber Ghost and had smaller eyes, fangs, a row of teeth, and different shaped heads. Gold Ghosts had 10 HP.
 * Blue Twirlers had a purple color, fangs, teeth, small eyes and a big nose. They had 10 HP.
 * Purple Punchers had an orange color, similar to the Gold Ghost, they had the same eyes too. The variations are different fangs, and a large nose. They also had 30 HP.
 * Boos had a basic design, lacking tongues and having more teeth, were more common, and easier to capture since they have no HP.
 * Gold Mice and Bats were colored white to resemble ghosts.
 * Ceiling Surprises, Purple Bombers, and Bowling Ghosts did not appear in any hallways.
 * All Portrait Ghosts had 50 HP and gave out coins instead of HP orbs. Upon defeat, the player was rewarded a green treasure chest filled with coins.
 * Neville was significantly easier to capture.
 * Lydia did not use a mirror and looked at the player directly. Other ghosts had to be captured before Lydia.
 * Spooky's personality was different.
 * Nana did not cry while being vacuumed.
 * Flashes were silvery ice in color and behaved like Purple Puncher ghosts.
 * Chauncey and Bogmire were missing, as the Area system was not present.
 * Mr. Luggs was missing, as were numerous other Portrait Ghosts.
 * The demo ended with the player fighting Boolossus, thus all Area 4 Ghosts were unseen. Boolossus was smaller and had no tongue.
 * King Boo's design changed drastically. His original design resembled a Big Boo and did not wear a crown.
 * In the game's original plans, there were 6 more portrait ghosts: Biff Atlas' "admirer", a wizard, the safari ghost, a knight, a squire, and a plumber; with clothing akin to Mario's.

Other

 * The game had a different main menu, giving the options to "Skip Intro," or play "From The Beginning." E. Gadd also had different dialogue. E. Gadd had different dialogue, then had two options to choose from.
 * The cutscene showing Luigi walking to and opening the door to the mansion was slightly different. The door was also designed differently.
 * The mansion had three top windows, no visible chimneys and no grave stones. A broken horse-drawn carriage resided outside the gates of the Mansion. E. Gadd's Lab was notably missing, along with the front yard being bare.
 * Originally, the mansion had an RPG-type quality which included real-time changes of rooms and also an underground cave-like basement.
 * Many doors were originally boarded up like how the Sealed Room was. Doors leading to the basement, Ball Room, Laundry Room, Nana's Room, and Fortune-Teller's Room were boarded up.
 * There was an 8-bit techno-like tune while walking in the hallway.
 * Luigi had more of a chubbier, big headed, big blue-eyed look during cutscenes, a different scream, facial expressions, and held his flashlight with two hands (which is still possible if Luigi has 30 HP or less). Luigi had a different flashlight and vacuum. Luigi also had a bright green hat and shirt and grey-blue overalls.
 * If idle, Luigi would sometimes crouch down, as if he was scared.
 * Treasure chests were more rectangular shaped.
 * There is an unused cutscene with Luigi being surrounded in circles by blue ghost in the Parlor, similar to how Boolossus' minions did.
 * When Luigi is sucking up a ghost, he says, "Eheee!"
 * When Luigi gets a key from the treasure chest, he doesn't do his normal peace sign routine.
 * If Luigi's HP is low, the normal hallway tone is played with a deeper tone than when he has more health.
 * After finishing any room, the final hallway theme with a lighter melody would play.
 * In most rooms, small, early versions of Boos, would bounce on the floor.
 * Ghosts had a different sound effect when appearing upon from behind the player, instead of the final scary, loud scream from behind in the final. Ghosts also didn't startle Luigi upon appearing.
 * In the game's coding, there are many unused graphics, maps, 3D models, textures, animations, music, sounds, and text, including a cropped image of Daisy from Mario Tennis 64 labeled "Test".

Unused models
There are three renders of Luigi left in the code for the ending, each with a varying degree of happiness. The renders are a depressed Luigi holding a flower (worst), a pleased Luigi with a peace sign (good), and another pleased Luigi with two peace signs (best). An unused model for Mario, named "bmario", is stretched to Luigi's proportions and given the backstraps for his Poltergust 3000, possibly suggesting that multiplayer was originally planned.

Cyan and blue-colored Shy Guys are also in the game's data.

In the game's data is also the unused Poltergust 3000, along with two unused nozzles; one of them is labeled "wpwater".

Other

 * There were two unused early ghost designs:
 * A blue ghost, Obake01 (thought to be an early Gold Ghost)
 * A green ghost, Obake02 (thought to be an early Purple Puncher)
 * There were four unused dialogue icons:
 * Bowser
 * Green Toad
 * Gold Ghost
 * Mario (missing when Mario talks to Luigi at the Bottom of the Well, while trapped in the Secret Altar)
 * There were four unused text strings suggesting that E. Gadd's Lab was once explorable. (The Gallery is explorable but its associated area text seen upon entrance is unused.):
 * Underground lab
 * Gallery
 * Training Room
 * Ghost Portrificationizer Room

Trivia

 * The Japanese version of the game kept Luigi's early or cut hurt sound, while U.S. and European versions didn't.
 * The Game Boy Horror's timer and first person view is still in the game's code and has been found and made into AR codes.