Light is shed on Luigi Mansion 2: Dark Moon and multiplayer

We’re not really sure why but Nintendo have dubbed this year the “Year of Luigi”. The often side lined side kick will be taking centre stage in quite a few titles this year, though arguably his biggest outing is the sequel to the original Gamecube launch title, dubbed Luigi’s Mansion 2: Dark Moon.

The main attraction during the Nintendo Direct broadcast this evening were the new multiplayer modes. Dark Moon will include four player online and local co-operative play, with three different modes available to those who decide to join the ghost hunt with their friends.

All players will play as Luigi, and work together to solve puzzles. Each will also have access to Luigi’s full ghost catching set of equipment – the Poltergust vacuum cleaner, strobe light and dark light.

Scare Scraper mode sees the players fighting together to climb a tower of ghosts. Hunter mode sees players attempting to defeat all the ghosts on each floor of the tower within a pre-determined time limit. Finally, Chaser Mode see players scrambling to find hidden ghost ducks (yes, ducks) throughout the tower’s rooms.

In addition to these new modes – gameplay mechanics were also discussed by Satoru Iwata. Obviously, the Poltergust is used to capture the ghosts, but it can also be used to suck up liquids as well as fill balloon in order to fly (in the short term, anyway). For those who played the original, you’ll know that the ghosts had to be stunned before they were sucked up by the poltergust – this is what the strobe light is for (although ghosts will now block the light with objects or wear sunglasses to put up more of a fight). The dark light, on the other hand, will be used to explore and solve puzzles by seeing things that aren’t visible to the naked eye.

A new character, the Polterpup (who looks suspiciously like Poochey from Yoshi’s Island) will also help Luigi along his quest – where players will use the Dark Light to find and follow his footprints to retrieve gold and other in-game bonuses.

And finally, for those who might be put off by the haunting aesthetic, Miyamoto assured us that Dark Moon is a lighthearted game based on funny interactions with comical ghosts. I’ve got to be honest though – did anyone actually expect this to be a “scary horror game”?

Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon (as it will be called here in Australia) has still yet to see a proper release date, but we know it’s coming in March. Hopefully it’s not too far from the announced European release date of March 28th. Once we have an official date we will, of course, let you know.