#30: Luigi's Mansion
One of my childhood favorites. If you read some of my list's previous entries you will know that the first few games I played were on the DS. Luigi's Mansion was my first Gamecube game. I watched my mom play this alot before I was allowed to do so myself. It was around 2007 or 2008. Not completely sure. Just recently I also played the 3DS version, which is also pretty good.
Luigi's Mansion was the first game to make me genuinly scared beyond just a jumpscare, like what the haunted piano in Super Mario 64 DS gave me. LM's atmosphere is really creepy. I think this might be the reason why I love horror movies. The ghosts look creepy too (I like how they're slightly transparent), but also silly and dumb. Especially scary were the ones that sneak up from behind while invisible and you only see their shadow or reflection. There is a similar ghost in Luigi's Mansion 2, but less creepy looking and more annoying.
E. Gadd is called I. Gidd in the German version, which is pronounced like the word "igitt", which means yuck. Funny wordplay. He is a very weird guy, looks hilarious, eats weird stuff and is just all around weird.
The plot is very straightforward and gives a good excuse as to why Mario isn't available. This time around he is the one in need of saving.
The portrait ghosts are the highlight. They're all more or less interesting puzzles that you need to solve. Some of them are bosses. The boos hiding everywhere is a great concept, since it's fun to find and hunt them all down. Big Boo is one of the better boss fights in the game. King Boo's final fight is the best of the game, like in every Luigi's Mansion game.
Finding money and gems everywhere is fun and pays of in the end with Luigi building a real house where the mansion stood after it disappears and the more money you find the bigger Luigi's real mansion will be.
Luigi's Mansion is easily the game I played through the most. At least 30 times or more. I once spent a whole week just playing through the game over and over again at least once a day. Obviously it helps that the game is very short.
This game is fantastic, full of detail and character. I love it.
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