Luigi's Mansion 3

Busting makes me feel good...

Luigi's Mansion 3 is a third-person adventure game developed by Next Level Games for Nintendo Switch. The third entry in the Luigi's Mansion series, the game released on October 31, 2019, just in time for Halloween.

Luigi has been invited to an all-expenses paid vacation at the luxurious hotel and spa, the Last Resort. Taking Mario, Peach, and three Toads with him, along with Polterpup - from the first game - they arrives at a virtual palace, where their host, the generous socialite Hellen Gravely, welcomes them warmly and promises a holiday like none other. It seems too good to be true...

...which, of course, it is, because Hellen actually built the Last Resort with a specific clientele in mind - ghosts like herself, and is the biggest fan of Luigi's old enemy King Boo!

Now, once again, Luigi has to enlist the help of Professor E. Gadd, and armed with the Poltergust G-00 and his ectoplasmic partner Gooigi, Luigi has to conquer his fears, explore the ghostly hotel, and rescue his friends, which is much, much easier said than done...

Putting aside the mission-based structure of Dark Moon, this game brings back to the more open-ended style of the GameCube original, but also retains the more varied environments. Luigi must explore each themed floor of the hotel while fighting ghosts, solving puzzles, and defeating bosses to obtain elevator buttons that he can use to access more floors, meeting a strange cast of ghosts along the way. The upgraded Poltergust G-00 gives Luigi several more attack options, such as Suction Shot plungers, and he can now summon Gooigi to act as a second set of hands to reach new areas and provide extra firepower, cause he's gonna need all the help he can get. A two-player console mode can be used with Player 2 assuming Gooigi's role, while the ScareScraper multiplayer mode returns from Dark Moon, now supporting up to eight players at once so you can play with others online.

The teaser trailer can be viewed here, and the E3 2019 trailer here. Nintendo Treehouse's gameplay presentation can be watched here.

Tropes used in Luigi's Mansion 3 include:

• Adorable Evil Minions: Goobs are pretty cute, especially the mask-wearing, dancing Goobs you encounter in the battle with Amadeus Wolfgeist.
• Ambiguously Evil: The only ghosts that are confirmed as truly evil in this game are King Boo and Hellen. For the other bosses, it's hard to say, seeing as the rank-and-file Mooks were brainwashed by King Boo's crown jewel or at the very least didn't wish to aggravate Hellen Gravely. It's not clear what happens to most of the bosses at the end of the game when the standard ghosts are freed, so it's hard to tell.
• Bad Boss: It's hinted that Hellen Gravely isn't really as nice as she acts when welcoming Luigi and his friends to the Last Resort. It's shown that her workers get frightened of her when she becomes angry. She's also shown to be annoyed with her staff's incompetence. Having said that, she expresses anger at Luigi for vacuumimg them up.
• The Bait: One of Gooigi's useful talents, mostly with Ug and the possessed furniture. Since Gooigi's "death" merely sends him back to the Poltergust's tank, it's not a problem.
• Berserk Board Barricade: After Luigi discovers that the hotel is haunted, he also discovers that the Goobs have barricaded his only way out of the hotel.
• Big Eater: Mario. The first thing he checks out in the lobby is the buffet, and later, when Luigi searches his room, he finds about six empty pizza boxes!
• Blob Monster: Gooigi is a benevolent example. He can ooze through bars or drains, walk on spikes, and reach areas where Luigi otherwise cannot go, and can do almost anything Luigi can. But he has only 20 hp and deactivates instantly if he even touches water.
• Breakout Character: Hellen. Less than a month after the game's debut, fans were already putting her on lists of desired characters for any new installments of Mario Kart and Mario Party.
• Bungling Inventor: According to a comic tie-in, Gooigi is invented when Professor Gadd accidentally spills coffee into some ectoplasm he's studying which somehow animates it.
• Canine Companion: Polterpup - from the second game - frequently appears to help Luigi. First he serves as a target during the tutorial stage. Afterwards, once Luigi gains some Golden Bones, he can revive Luigi like he did in the previous game. And he frequently shows up to give Luigi hints on hard puzzles.
• Cats Are Mean: Hellen's beloved ghost cat Polterkitty gives Luigi a terrible time, swiping his hard-won elevator buttons after two boss fights and leading him on a chase to recover them. When found, she goes One-Winged Angel and turns into a vicious cat-beast. Ironically, Polterpuppy doesn't bear any animosity towards her.
• Cats Have Nine Lives: It isn't obvious unless you actually keep track, but when you finally capture Polterkitty, you'll have, over the course of fighting her on five floors, reduced her HP to zero a grand total of nine times.
• Climax Boss: The three Toads are being guarded by Hellen Gravely's strongest employees. They are Amadeus Wolfgeist, Ug, and Captain Fishook. Mario is being guarded by Hellen Gravely herself. And of course, King Boo is fought on the rooftop.
• Cute Monster Girl: Serpci, DJ Phantasmagloria and the three sisters Nikki, Lindsey, Ginny play it straight. Hellen is one too, although when she's angry, her makeup runs, giving her a hideous Game Face
• Demonic Possession: Several bosses can possess objects and turn them into monsters. Amadeus Wolfgeist uses his piano, Ug uses a T-Rex skeleton, and Captain Fishook possesses his entire pirate ship!
  • The game also introduces small ghosts who look like violet spheres. Unlike the more familiar blue ones who turn objects invisible, these turn objects like trash cans and chests into monsters that can attack Luigi. In one room, they possess the key he needs and turns it into a gold rabbit who tries to run away. Like the blue orbs, violet orbs can be purged from an object with the Dark Light.
• Dragon-in-Chief: Hellen Gravely is the antagonist Luigi interacts the most with, but she is, in fact, King Boo's accomplice.
• Devil in Plain Sight: Hellen is this at the beginning. Right from the first trailer, fans saw something suspicious about this woman that Luigi, Mario, and Peach clearly didn't, and indeed, she's one of the Big Bad Duumvirate luring them into a trap.
• Dismantled MacGuffin: Overlaps with Broken Bridge. The hotel has 17 floors (15 numbered floors, the basement, and sub-basement), and most are only accessible via the elevator, but the ghosts have swiped all the elevator's buttons. Luigi thus has to hunt them all down; with each Boss defeated, Luigi gains a button, meaning each victory grants him access to a new floor.
• Evil Elevator: Inverted. The elevator may actually be the safest place in the haunted hotel other than E. Gadd's lab.
• Faux Affably Evil: Hellen Gravely may seem friendly and charming, but she's dangerous enough to frighten even her fellow ghosts.
• Feed It a Bomb: How you have to fight Amadeus Wolfgeist, Captain Fishook and King Boo.
• Foil: The Polterkitty is one of these to Polterpup. While Polterpup doesn't harbor any animsoity towards Luigi even when he was at his worst in Dark Moon, Polterkitty will attempt to attack Luigi if he continues to chase her.
• Game Over Man: Lose all your health with no Golden Bones and you see King Boo cackling with Luigi added to the hostages in the paintings, with an ominous "Good Night!"
• Ghost Pirate: Captain Fishook is this and a Ghost Shark!
• The Glomp: Luigi gets one from Mario after rescuing him; later he gets double-glomped by Mario and Peach.
• Graceful Loser: Amadeus Wolfgeist seems to think the Boss Battle is part of his performance, and if reduced to zero HP, makes a formal bow before he's sucked into the Poltergust G-00
  • Oddly enough, Hellen. Once she knows she's lost, she signals Luigi to wait a second so she can apply her makeup one last time, does so, and gives a "thumbs up" signal to tell him to finish her off.
  • DJ Phantasmagloria does a dance before she's captured by Luigi.
  • When Serpci is captured by Luigi, she...decides to take a snooze.
• Hammerspace Hideaway: One of Dr. E. Gadd's new inventions: his portable lab! It starts out as a breadbox-sized, dome-shaped object, and with the touch of a button, expands into a cottage-sized lab, complete with his ghost-containment device and computers.
• Kleptomaniac Hero: While there's a lot of money, coins, and jewels to vacuum up, most players are going to use the Poltergust to suck up every last thing when they explore a new room even if they don't have to. It's too much of a temptation, because it's just so fun.
• Kryptonite Factor: Water is Gooigi's weakness, so it's inevitable that some of the bosses will exploit that against him. Unfortunately, Professor E. Gadd didn't design Gooigi to be waterproof.
  • Kruller uses a water gun against Gooigi.
  • Johnny Deepend spits out water at Gooigi. Gooigi needs to hide from Johnny while Luigi stuns him with a volleyball so that he can reach the pool valve.
  • Hellen Gravely realizes that Gooigi is shutting off her laser security system, so she starts flooding the lower levels with water. Fortunately, the attack is telegraphed and there's a warning before she uses it.
• Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Hellen Gravely. ("Hell" and "Grave", enforced by the fact that the name "Helen" usually has only one "L".) Makes one wonder why Luigi and his friends didn't suspect that she was evil.
• No OSHA Compliance: This hotel is a complete mess, and can't be even close to being up to code. There's garbage all over the floor, furniture is haphazardly strewn about, rats, bats, and spiders are everywhere (both the normal and ghost types) and the restaurant would be shut down in a minute if the health inspector ever saw it. There's no fire escape or even stairway other than a maintenance stairway connecting the first floor with the second, an obvious fire hazard. Of course, this is likely how the intended clientele of the place - ghosts - would like it.
• Intrepid Merchant: In the previous games, Luigi was able to collect a lot of money, gold, and gems; in this game, Professor E. Gadd gives him something to spend it all on, opening an internet shop in his lab with instant delivery. The Gold Bones are the most valuable merchandise, and the first one is free!
• It's Personal: Hellen Gravely grows to hate Luigi as the game progresses, though there's a case of Moral Myopia going on.
• Laser Hallway: Hellen Gravely's Master Suite is full of lasers. Her office is no exception.
• Lethal Chef: Chef Soulfflé, the boss of the Mezzanine, overlaps this Trope with Chef of Iron and Evil Chef. When Luigi first enters the kitchen, Soulfflé is totally hidden in a cloud of smoke from whatever he's cooking (presumably fish) that covers half the room. His kitchen is also a complete mess that most cooks would find unsanitary, and the walk-in refrigerator is worse, holding a gigantic angler fish inside! (Fortunately, it's not dangerous.) Of course, a common trend among the boss ghosts in the game is their incompetence at whatever job they're supposed to be doing. You know, seeing as they're ghosts.
• Load-Bearing Boss: Strangely enough, defeating Hellen Gravely, the hotel owner has no effect on the hotel. It's defeating King Boo that causes the entire hotel to collapse.
• Mad Love: Hellen Gravely's love for King Boo. She blames her failures to impress her crush on Luigi, rather than the fact that King Boo refuses to treat her as anything but a means to an end - that end capturing Luigi and all his friends. Averted with her love of Polterkitty - it's hinted that Polterkitty loves Hellen as much as she loves her.
• Money Spider: The Gold Ghosts from Dark Moon return. Like before, they are very fast and very slippery, and successfully bagging one gives you a LOT of coins.
• Moral Myopia: Hellen Gravely is offended by Luigi's decision to flee like a coward instead of allowing himself to be captured by King Boo, even though King Boo had already inflicted that fate on his friends. She also expresses anger at Luigi for capturing her hotel staff, even though she had helped King Boo capture all his friends. And she also lashes out at him for capturing her Polterkitty, even though he wouldn't have done so if the Polterkitty hadn't attacked him first.
• Multiple Endings: When King Boo is defeated, the hotel itself is destroyed, leaving the rank-and-file ghosts whom he had brainwashed homeless and jobless. Professor E. Gadd offers to rebuild the place, and like in the first game, the quality of the rebuilt hotel depends on how much treasure Luigi has accumulated. This time, however, there are only three rather than five.
• Ominous Pipe Organ: When you hear this upon entering a room, it means a Boo is hiding in the room somewhere.
• Phantom Zone Picture: Like before this happens to Mario, but also happens to Peach and the Toads. Also happens to Luigi in the "Good Night!" sequence.
• Redeeming Replacement: It's implied that Professor E. Gadd becomes the owner of the hotel following Hellen Gravely's defeat.
• Rooftop Confrontation: Where Luigi fights the Final Boss.
• Schmuck Bait: The offer of a "free vacation" to a luxury hotel kicks off the whole plot, which no surprise given the main cast's luck with vacations. King Boo even states he's surprised Luigi actually fell for it!
• Self Deprecating Humor: Like the previous games, Professor E. Gadd gives Luigi a communication device that parodies one of Nintendo's older systems; the Virtual Boo. Gadd lauds the benefits of this new invention, stating that once he starts to publicly markets it, he expects it to "fly off the shelves". Oh course, anyone who knows anything about the Virtual Boy (or God-forbid, bought one) knows that Nintendo is making a joke here at their own expense.^[1]
• Sequential Boss: Several of Hellen Gravely's staff members are this, though it's mostly the bosses that are guarding the three Toads. Hellen Gravely and King Boo are no exception. The former signals that a new stage is beginning by applying makeup to herself while inside her security cameras, while King Boo signals a new phase by creating one or two copies of himself.
• Shoo the Dog: One of the Goobs that barricaded the front door to the hotel shoos away Polterpup.
• Slapstick Knows No Gender: Luigi has some new moves that border on brutal, like grabbing a ghost and slamming it on the floor multiple times, even using it to hit other ghosts, and he'll gladly use this maneuver on Hellen, Serpci, or any of the other female bosses.
• Sore Loser: Dr. Potter, the boss of the Garden Suites. When Luigi successfully catches him, his last act before being vacuumed up is to throw the elevator button on a ledge he assumes is inaccessible to Luigi. It isn't, if Luigi waters a nearby plant he can use as a ladder.
• Squick: In one cutscene, Luigi looks through a peephole into a bathroom, where he sees a Goob brushing its teeth... Then scratch its behind with the brush, and then go back to brushing its teeth. Gross.
• Technopath: Hellen Gravely has the power to control technology. And unfortunately, she filled her office with lasers...and for some strange reason faucets.
• Trailers Always Spoil: While most fans give the boss battle with Morty's ghost-in-Godzilla-clothing a high-rank among Awesome Bosses, much of the gameplay regarding this boss was spoiled by the E3 2019 trailer.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: You can flash your Strobulb at Professor E. Gadd or Mario (after rescuing him) to make them make funny faces. When using Gooigi, you can do the same to Luigi, but it doesn't work the other way.
  • Morty isn't a bad ghost, giving you the elevator button after you help him make his movie, but you can capture him anyway afterwards. You even get an achievement for this!
  • Before the Final Boss, you find the portrait holding poor Peach prisoner; this means, of course, that you have to use the Dark Light to break her out. However, if you purposely take your sweet time to do so, Mario starts pleading with you to hurry up. He really wants you to save Peach!
• Wanted Poster: When the Big Bad's initial plan to nab Luigi fails, the Mooks start pasting Wanted Posters of Luigi everywhere in the hotel.
• Warmup Boss: Steward is the first boss, and is hardly a threat to Luigi, being there mostly to show the player how to effectively use the Poltergust G-00.
  • Chambrea and Kruller too. Neither is dangerous, Chambrea's purpose being to show the player how to use the Suction Shot accessory, Kruller doing the same for Gooigi.
• The Worf Effect: The Goobs that frighten Luigi are themselves frightened by Hellen Gravely. Perhaps they've seen what she looks like without her makeup.
  • Hellen Gravely herself seems frightened of King Boo...though considering how obsessed she is with him it's not to a great extent.
• Villain Decay: Downplayed. King Boo is much less of a threat than he was in Luigi's Mansion 2, as his plans are far smaller in scale this time. But his plans are still larger in scope than in the original game. Instead of simply imprisoning Luigi and Mario in paintings, he decides to do it to Professor E. Gadd, Princess Peach, and three unfortunate Toads that happened to accompany them to the hotel as well.

1. ↑ For those who don't know, the Virtual Boy was a commercial and marketing disaster for Nintendo for a variety of reasons.