Luigi’s Mansion 3 was a great success. Now, it’s time for Luigi’s Mansion 4 to up the spooky anté. Here’s what we’d like to see, and what we expect the Luigi’s Mansion 4 release date to be.
The Luigi’s Mansion series has seen quite the transformation over the years. Starting with the original Luigi’s Mansion for the GameCube, the Poltergust has seen various technological upgrades that have made playing the games all the more fun.
Luigi’s Mansion 3 breathed new life into the ghost busting video game subgenre, and is sure to be a classic in the eyes of many. What made the third in Luigi’s first starring role series so special? Let’s boil down why Mansion 3 was so amazing, and what needs to go in the sequel.
Luigi’s Mansion 4 wishlist
Ghost backstories
In the Luigi’s Mansion series, we never really get to know any of the ghosts. They usually are caricatures of roles such as a hotel housekeeper or an angry mother, but the games never really explore beyond that.
If all of the enemies in the games were once alive, then why don’t we know more about what lives they led before they died? We can guess a couple of things from their personalities in the afterlife, but I still want to know more about how they all ended up haunting the same mansion.
We could learn more about the ghosts’ pasts via flashbacks, or even some time traveling. The Luigi’s Mansion series is more sci-fi than most Super Mario games, making the possibility of time travel in Luigi’s Mansion 4 not out of the realm of personalities.
Birds of a feather
As we’ve seen in Luigi’s Mansion 3 with the director ghost, not all ghosts are evil. Heck, even the ghosts at the end of the game help Mario and friends rebuild back up the hotel.
If we’re to go with the ghost backstory plot, we could see Luigi’s Mansion 4 as a story of Luigi sending ghosts beyond the veil in a pleasant way. Maybe a ghost will have marital trouble that was never solved, or maybe there will be another ghost staying in our realm to look over their children. If Luigi is able to help the game’s ghosts reach some resolution, the game would turn from a fun romp into a more serious drama.
The fourth Luigi’s Mansion could keep the tone a bit whimsical, much like the somewhat heavy Chibi Robo, with zany action set pieces and goofy smaller enemies. It’s not unlike Nintendo to evolve their series into more serious titles, such as the Legend of Zelda or Smash Bros. games. Why not make Luigi’s Mansion 4 a title more geared toward an older audience? Those that played the original Luigi’s Mansion at the GameCube’s launch have matured since then; maybe it’s time for Luigi to do the same.
Spook to the max
The Luigi’s Mansion games may all have an E for Everyone ESRB rating, but that doesn’t mean they can’t evolve into more mature titles. If Nintendo takes a page from the Jak & Daxter series and crafts a more nuanced, and maybe even darker narrative, Mansion 4 would end up all the better.
It would be neat if the game invested in a whodunnit plot, or perhaps even one where a main character is actually in peril. Then, I might be more spooked by all of the twists and turns. I wasn’t quite scared enough to be jumping or exclaiming at the third title’s mild jump scares, but that was mostly because the stakes felt so low.
Hide the monster. Don’t let me see who or what is picking off my friends, until I’m the last one left, and am forced to walk down a creepy darkened hallway to find them. Less is more, and with the Luigi’s Mansion games, we are certainly given a bit more than is conducive to standard horror fare.
Even grander Poltergust upgrades
It was a funny thing for Luigi’s Mansion 3 to introduce the superpowered suction upgrade of the Poltergust-G00, only to have it available for one small section. Sure, it made a lasting impression, but it didn’t come back for any sort of boss fight or puzzle, which felt a bit odd.
Were we left hanging here so that we would want more? I’d say yes, that was the developer’s intention. I see Luigi’s Mansion 4 taking a bit of a Katamari route here. It’s possible that the next game in the Mansion series will take the foundation of what was developed in the first three games, and amp it all up to a massive global scale.
While it wouldn’t be appropriate for Luigi to start sucking up larger objects such as trees or buildings, it would be neat to see him use the superpowered suction upgrade on things such as a safe, a large group of ghosts, or even something like a haunted car or statue. The sky is the limit when it comes to what the Poltergust can suck up, making Luigi’s Mansion a game series full of twists and turns in terms of both gameplay and story.
‘Luigi’s Mansion 4’ release date
While we wait for a Luigi’s Mansion 4 release date, keep in mind the following. While the first Luigi’s Mansion released for the Nintendo GameCube in 2001, it took up until 2013 for the next game in the series to hit in the form of Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon for the Nintendo 3DS. While the first game did get a port over to the 3DS in 2018, it wasn’t until 2019 when Luigi’s Mansion 3 released for the Nintendo Switch. It may take as long as ten years for the Luigi’s Mansion 4 release date to hit, but it could be as short as six years, or less.