Luigi’s Mansion 2 Should Kick Off A New Nintendo Trend
The 3DS has plenty of gems worth saving from the pricey doldrums of the second-hand market.
Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD haunts its way onto Nintendo Switch this week. For the aging piece of hardware hitting its final stretch, it’s yet another well-received addition to the console’s extensive, best-in-class library. Nintendo still has plenty more to give in the months ahead, as shown by the company’s most recent Direct presentation. But Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD paints a clear picture of one final thing the Switch could do to place a bow on its stellar legacy: more 3DS ports.
Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD is a re-release of Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, a launch-era 3DS game that perfectly showcased the console’s stereoscopic capabilities. This Switch port cleans up the original’s graphics for high-definition displays, improves the controls slightly, and more importantly, preserves the game for players without access to a 3DS and a copy of the original game.
While I have my issues with this version of the game, mainly stemming from its failure to account for some of the 3DS’ more unique features, Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD is still a very competently made port. It’s perfectly playable and retains all the wacky humor and charm of the original game. And the timing couldn’t be better, as just last April, Nintendo ended online support for the retro system.
Luigi’s Mansion 2 is just the tip of the iceberg of great 3DS games that should come to Switch.
But Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD is just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many other games on the 13-year-old handheld worth saving, and Nintendo should continue what this relatively minor port has started.
Before the Switch, Nintendo had long split its development focus between console and handheld consoles. The Game Boy Color existed harmoniously with the N64. The same goes for the Game Boy Advance and the Gamecube. The hardware disparity rarely mattered when it came to game quality. The Legend Of Zelda: Minish Cap, a Game Boy Advance game, exists comfortably alongside Gamecube entries like The Legend Of Zelda: Wind Waker, a testament to Nintendo’s development prowess.
The DS and 3DS, which shared the spotlight with the Wii and Wii-U during its time, are no exception. Some of Nintendo’s best, most inventive, and memorable works were released on the handhelds. The 3DS, in particular, has a library of exceptional titles that still hold up in both the gameplay and visuals department.
More people should be able to play Kid Icarus: Uprising, a lost masterpiece stuck on the now-dead 3DS platform.
Unfortunately, as the libraries for Nintendo’s older handhelds have found a home of the Switch’s virtual console, there has been no such luck for the 3DS, or its non-steroscopic predecessor. Some of this had to do with the Switch’s lack of dual screens, of course. But I'd argue the more complex games that made these handheld must-haves lend themselves better to the Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD treatment.
For one, the Switch has already become an all-encompassing handheld that consolidates much of Nintendo’s and gaming’s history. Never before has a console had such a comprehensive library that spans classics from the PS2 and Gamecube era, improved versions of Wii titles, definitive remasters of Wii-U games, as well as the pantheon of some of the best games of the current generation. That’s all without mentioning its ability to play N64, Super Nintendo, and even Genesis games.
The 3DS is one of the only consoles to have little representation on Nintendo’s generation-spanning hybrid console, and the company should rectify that right away. There’s plenty of gold to be mined in the fallow hills of the Switch’s precursor. Super Mario 3D Land is a fun platformer that paved the way for one of the best Mario games of the last decade. Metroid Prime 4’s imminent release could mean Metroid Prime: Federation Force, a fun co-op shooter, could finally get the fair shake it deserves on Switch. And with Luigi’s Mansion 2 and 3, why not round out the trilogy by releasing the 3DS remake of the original Luigi’s Mansion on Switch too?
Super Mario 3D Land, an influential game in the modern Mario series, deserves the Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD treatment.
From The Legend Of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds to Metroid: Samus Returns, tons of tremendous experiences should be freed from the 3DS. But no game is more deserving of a Switch redux than Masahiro Sakurai’s 2012 masterpiece, Kid Icarus: Uprising.
Few may remember the fervor around fans wanting a new Kid Icarus game. After his Super Smash Bros Brawl redesign, fans were eager to see Pitt star in his own game after 22 years. It was the Super Smash Bros director who would deliver a wildly innovative fusion of an on-rails shooter and third-person action. From its genuinely funny writing to its unorthodox approach to difficulty and loot-based replayability, Uprising is unlike anything else in Nintendo’s library. It would be criminal for it to be lost to time.
Nintendo has announced that it’s gearing up for its next console. Its recent acquisition of Shiver Entertainment signals that more ports are coming, continuing one of the Switch’s greatest strengths. The console is rumored to be backward compatible with Switch, meaning for the first time in a long time, nothing will be lost as Nintendo transitions to new hardware.
But I’d argue that before the Switch 2 gets its inevitable wave of PlayStation and Xbox ports, it would be a greater service to see Nintendo dig through the crates of greatness currently trapped on its last handheld-only console. These games should get a bit more love than Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD received to ensure a smoother transition to non-3D displays. But with enough diligence, Nintendo could save some of the best games it ever made from certain obscurity.
