Nintendo put a mansion in a box!

Some things stay with you forever, it’s a universally acknowledged fact of life that certain events or situations can happen that are so important, so profound or a perfect storm of timing that the moment remains as fresh in your mind as the day it occurred. For those of us who live to appreciate videogames these happen way more often than we may sometimes either think, admit or even realise. It’s not rocket science to see why either as videogames are the most interactive form of both entertainment meeting escapism meeting art. To be able to pick up a pad, or a joystick or a mouse and through someone else’s artistic vision create intense memories of how you experienced it. Each game is unique, each individual who plays them share that description too so for some one game may change how you see things, for others it may be something else. Then there are some games that seem to cross all lines, tick all the boxes and give such a universal sense of wow. Although rare, those games do exist and today I want to take a look at one of those that against odds, expectation and with a lot riding on it didn’t just knock it out the park… it hit it into a different time zone!

 

With Sega feeling the full force of internal financial pressures and terrible business mistakes over a near 10 year period and reeling from the tidal wave that was the Playstation 2 another famous member of the ‘old boys’ network were also finding it hard to compete against Sony. Nintendo had come second in the previous console war as the incredible N64 struggled to sell globally against the phenomenon that was the original Playstation. With Microsoft now in the fight and with huge pressure to produce their first CD based home games console Nintendo were about to release their 128-Bit games machine, the Nintendo Gamecube.

 

As always an industry held it’s breath waiting to see just how incredible this new console was to be, especially as it was going to launch without the traditional flagship ‘Mario’ game. From the NES to the SNES and the N64 itself, a new home games machine from Nintendo would often yield the next advancement in platform gaming. Not only were Nintendo the very best at introducing new ways to control videogames but the actual gameplay experiences themselves were absolutely always a quantum leap forward. 

This time however Mario’s Brother, Luigi, was going to be the star of the show, far too often the bridesmaid but never the bride, as the saying goes. Whilst it was not his first time staring in a game under the ’Mario series’ banner, that of course was the Super Nintendo game ’Mario Is Missing’ this would be the first time a Nintendo home console would hit the market in every major territory with the man in green at the wheel. Luigi had big shoes to fill, and at a time when Nintendo needed everything to go right, the company they so cruelly embarrassed years before (Sony) had taken their revenge and for businessmen in Japan, reputation and pride was everything.

 

Luigi’s Mansion was released on the same day as the console itself in every region with Japan being the first to sample it’s delights on September 14th 2001. Just over two months later on November 18th 2001 North American consumers got to try out Nintendo’s newest moment of  pure genius and then finally Europe and Australia were given the option to fall in love in May 2002. The North American timing was crucial because this was mere days after the original Xbox console was launched and Halo had been turning heads for months prior to release. Gaming was growing up and FPS games and serious graphic jumps were heralded as the way forward. Nintendo as usual, had other ideas… Nintendo, as usual got it spot on.

 

An action adventure game, Luigi’s Mansion is absolutely built from the ground up with the Gamecube’s outstanding controller in mind, almost a mirror to how Mario 64 and the N64 controller were like soul mates this new game staring Luigi simply would not have worked the same on any other console. A true Nintendo game by Nintendo, for Nintendo fans, done the Nintendo way… and then some!

 

The story begins with our hapless hero arriving at a spooky mansion in the dead of night to meet up with his brother Mario after he informs him that he has won a competition, a competition he never entered. Mario has gone to the huge residence to check it out but has mysteriously vanished and now Luigi must enter the dark and scary building to locate his brother. Upon entering this completely empty, dark and eerie mansion you as the player are tasked with getting to the bottom of everything. Mere minutes after arriving you encounter a ghost who vanishes into a room at the top of the stairs of the main hallway and after picking up a key you venture in to begin what is, one of the most incredibly wonderful games Nintendo have ever produced.

 

It seems that the Mansion is extremely haunted and that ghosts, once trapped inside the paintings that exist inside, have escaped and now prey on any who enter. An encounter with a scientist, and other major character in the game, Elvin Gadd, or E.Gadd as he is mostly known as sets you up with the games coolest selling point, the Poltergust 3000. A weapon and tool that is designed by the crazy old professor to trap the ghosts located inside this enormous mansion. On top of this you are also issued with the ‘Game Boy Horror’ which is of course a fantastic play on words with the GameBoy Color console. This device enables you to communicate with the professor who resides in his laboratory and also scans rooms for possible ghosts. Unfortunately the Professor is too old to capture all of the spirits in the house and so enlists you to help him. Luigi, bravely agrees and thus the adventure begins.