Wonder with who you could play in co-op.
Maybe you can play as Mario :)

I got the LM on GC and its funny how time affects the perception of Nintendo games...

I've seen in various places people going ape-shit about how cool Luigi's Mansion was back in the day... Praising it in all manner ways - original, fun, endearing, classic Nintendo, brilliant launch title.

But I have to say that most of these people probably haven't played it. I was very underwhelmed by the 7 hour adventure.

It WAS fun - yes. It did look kinda cool. The rumble effects were nice and it did feel like a classic Nintendo game. But it was an above average game at most - NOT in the league of other Nintendo heavy-hitters of the time.

I WOULD BET MY VG PROFILE (though the bet is not possible) that if another company released EXACTLY the same game (but obviously not with Ninty characters) then it would've be seen as nothing more than an average and somewhat fun game. Perhaps worse than 'Grabbed by the Ghoulies' - and none of you are talking Rare up to make another one of those eh.

*rant almost over*

But even as I stare the truth in the face, I can't help hearing a voice saying that I want to play Luigi's Mansion 2. Heck, I want to dust off my Cube collection and rekindle the purple-love for ol' time sake.

Nintendo has turned me into a schizophreniac.

To change one's mind one needs to know it to begin with.

Clearly I have variable opinion on the game.

But, what you are writing there sounds good. Actually, if there was a time-trial mode with online leaderbords then it would be pretty kick ass.

I'm personally psyched. I hope Nintendo makes all their future games co-op both on and off line. As for Luigi's Mansion being underwhelming honestly it was original and a great concept. I played a good hour or two of it when I was at McDonalds as a kid they used to have their GameStations. But in all honesty I never found it good enough to warrant a purchase mainly because at the time I was in school and had no income as I was in foster care. My only income was working during the summers and mowing people's lawns and doing yard works etc... oh and Berry picking.

I used all my money to purchase Nintendo's biggest titles. Later on in the Gamecube generation when I actually had an income I didn't bother going back and buying it. I wish I did purchase it though I just never got around to it.

However you must remember Luigi's Mansion was always meant to be a 3D game. We also don't know what changes were all made to get the game to shelves. Considering this new title is from a different studio and already confirmed to feature new features and content from a fresh perspecitive while being heavily influenced by the original Luigi's Mansion team in Japan.

I have great faith that this title will be amazing even more so then the original whether you liked it much or not this one should be better.

I only played the original for the first time two or so years ago on Wii. It's a very polished, highly atmospheric game, and it's quite surprising how well it holds up after ten (!) years. It must have been mighty impressive from a technical perspective when it launched, and the core mechanics are still fun to this day (though control of Luigi's movement might need some reworking to be more intuitive).

With that said, the game is so short it's understandable people were a bit miffed when they first got their hands on it. It feels more like an old handheld game in its scope and duration than a full-blown console experience - a very polished, very small game with limited replay value. Reminds me of Metroid Other M in that sense.

I'm a sucker for atmosphere (which is why I liked both games) but it never had the longevity and lasting appeal to become a true classic, not as a fully priced game. I've noticed a lot of Nintendo franchises often start off as small, rather limited games and generally I think this is a good strategy as long as you get to revisit the concept later on and flesh it out more (I'm looking at you Pilot Wings Resort, Steel Diver, Mach Rider, Pac Man Vs. etc etc. Hell even less successful ideas that could have been awesome a second time around such as Metroid Other M, Wii Music, any game from Skip, and so on..)

Hopefully the sequel can expand upon it enough in order to fulfill its initial promise (like Pikmin 2 did, or Endless Ocean 2, or StarFox 64 or ExciteBots - though that last one bombed terribly...)