History Videogame / LuigisMansionDarkMoon

* UnwinnableByMistake: The Thrill Tower[=/ScareScraper=] if a necessary key fails to spawn. There's also the story from [[http://nintendo3dsdaily.com/nintendoarticles/should-nintendo-release-a-patch-for-luigis-mansion-dark-moon/ this article's comments]] of someone who managed to quit between the [[spoiler:Tough Possessor and final battle]] and find themselves locked out of [[spoiler:the final boss and ending]] as a result.

** The final story mission shares its name with a Music/DreamTheater song.

* ClockTower: The main sight of Old Clockworks is its huge clock tower. The boss fight against the Overset Possessor takes place here.

* FinalBossNewDimension: [[spoiler:Both the Tough Possessor and King Boo.]]

* GhostInvasion: In the level "Paranormal Chaos," King Boo activates a portal that brings waves of ghosts from another world into Evershade Valley.

* MurphysBed: In the first mansion. When Luigi sits on the rather large bed in one of the rooms, it swings up against the wall that the headboard is adjacent to, tossing the poor guy into the next room. This is needed to progress in a couple of missions.
* MyBrainIsBig: Poltergeists. This is lampshaded by the name of the super Poltergeist in the [=ScareScraper=] mode, "The Brain".

** The opening scene has nods to ''Film/{{Poltergeist}}'' and ''Film/{{Tron}}''.

* CutenessProximity: Nobody can really stay mad at the lick-happy ghost dog, despite the trouble it [[ObliviouslyEvil causes trying to play]]. [[spoiler:Luigi seems to have taken it in at the end of the game.]] The fact that the dog is the ghost which gives Luigi an extra life if he finds one of the Golden Bones kind of helps you like the little guy. It's the only ghost that Luigi never express fear towards, too... just exasperation.

* BagOfSpilling: The water, fire and ice medals that allowed the Poltergust 3000 to suck in elemental spirits and expel the substance they represented are not brought back, nor is the Boo radar of the Game Boy Horror, although the latter was built into that machine specifically and the Poltergust 5000 gets an upgrade that works equally well.

* BestServedCold: [[spoiler:The whole plot is King Boo's revenge plot against Luigi and friends. Note that this time the ''villains'' are putting the ''protagonists'' in paintings (he only mentions Luigi, Mario, the Toads, and Gadd as targets. Whether he has plans to do this to anyone else is uncertain.)]]

** Luigi's flashlight -- which, in this game, is used like a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dazzler_%28weapon%29 dazzler]] in order to stun ghosts. Some ghosts are wearing sunglasses that must be vacuumed off before the light can be shined at them. Others carry objects or wear buckets and the like. For these, you have to either wait for them to attack before stunning them, or shine them with your Darklight Device, which will make them taunt and open them up to a strobe flash.

* BondVillainStupidity: There are a few background scenes that suggest that King Boo is capable of ambushing Luigi several times over the course of the game, suggesting that this whole thing is sadistic "fun" to him. (Much like it was last time.)

* BookEnds: When we first see Luigi, he is sleeping in his chair, and is jolted awake by the TV going haywire. In the end, he is back in his chair [[spoiler:and Polterpup jumps in his lap, and they fall asleep.]]

** Earlier in the game, [[spoiler:a Strong Sneaker acts as a miniboss that holds the last piece of a giant clock mechanism in Old Clockworks. Unlike a normal BossInMookClothing, this Strong Sneaker is weaker than the ones found later in the game (Barring D-2 and E-5), but it sits in the sidelines while it sends regular ghosts at the player once it's cornered (it does have one clever tactic; this is the EscortMission, and it can grab hold of Toad and use him like a shield, making itself impervious to Luigi's flashlight for a few seconds).]]

* CerebusSyndrome: [[KnightOfCerebus With regard to the enemies]] -- the Boos at first are amusing and punny, but later on they actually become quite sinister by the fourth and fifth mansions. A key scene is [[spoiler:in D-2 in the crystal mine, where they are experimenting to make the other ghosts tougher and more vicious, and said other ghosts are visibly scared of them]]. King Boo is also far more frightening in this game than he was in the first.

* ChargedAttack: The Poltergust 5000 can charge up Luigi's flashlight for a strobe like pulse with a greater range, meaning you don't have to spend quite as much time making more light tolerant ghosts, which is nearly all of them in this game, vulnerable, and it can stun multiple ghosts at once. The Poltergust 5000 will also build up meter the longer you attempt to suck in an object with it, allowing for a temporary extra strength pull. This allows it to shave off the health of struggling ghosts more quickly and is necessary when dealing with some ghosts which have unlimited health, so they'll never tire out and can only get sucked in with a forceful charge. Examples include Creepers, who are anchored to the ground with gooey pseudopods, and Possessors, who are weakened by pulling off layers of their skin, not by draining health. The charge is also necessary to get rid of force fields certain strong enemies can generate, with the color of the field indicating the charge level that can remove it.

* TheChessmaster: [[spoiler:King Boo.]] The opening of E-3 makes it plain that he knew the whole time you were spying on him and was spying right back at you, and then lures Luigi into the train exhibit to make him fight the Big Boo. This is on top of shattering the Dark Moon so that he would have an army of minions and would keep Luigi busy.
* ClockTower: The main sight of Old Clockworks is its huge clock tower. The boss fight agains the Overset Possessor takes place here.
* ClockworksArea: Old Clockworks, being an old clock factory, is filled with clock and moving gears Luigi has to cross.

* CoOpMultiplayer: The [=ScareScraper=], which has up to four players trying to ascend through the building by either catching all of the ghosts, having everyone search for and stand on a set of switches in time, or chasing Polterpups depending which game mode is chosen.

* CreepyCemetery: Can't have a HauntedHouse-style game without one of these, right? There's one in the Haunted Towers. (Oddly enough, the only Mooks you have to worry are a few crows and a Golden Greenie, but this is where a Boo is found and a MiniBoss battle is fought.)

* CreepyDoll: The Rumpus Room in the Haunted Towers features one whose head follows you around the room as you walk around it. [[spoiler: Although its reason for moving is unexplained, the head is actually on a screw and can be fully detached if you run around it long enough. This gets you a gem.]]

* CutenessProximity: Nobody can really stay mad at the lick-happy ghost dog, despite the trouble it [[ObliviouslyEvil causes trying to play]]. [[spoiler:Luigi seems to have taken it in at the end of the game.]] The fact that the dog is the ghost which gives Luigi an extra life if he finds one of the Golden Bones kind of helps you like the little guy. It's the only ghost that Luigi never express fear towards, too...just exasperation.

* DamnYouMuscleMemory: Vacuuming up mice, bats, or spiders does not give the player any money. Rather, it's using the Strobulb on them that will get them to cough up any cash. Any players who are more familiar with the first game's mechanics are guaranteed to get frustrated with this new change, ''especially'' if it's golden variant of said critters.

* DevelopersForesight: In A-4: Visual Tricks, Luigi is supposed to retrieve the Dark-Light device from E. Gadd's Gloomy Manor lab, but the door is hidden by Spirit Balls -- [[TheKeyIsBehindTheLock which Luigi would need the very Dark-Light device he's going after to remove]] -- prompting him to take a detour. If you redo the mission with the Dark-Light device already in your possession, trying to reveal the door with it causes the Spirit Balls to emerge from the ''other'' side of the door. Even if you manage to vacuum them up through the wall anyway, the Boo responsible will simply spawn more to hide the door again (indicated by the Boo's laughter playing again), as if the developers themselves are telling you to play through the level as intended.

** Downplayed with the defeat strategy for the monster plants-- you feed them prickly fruits (or, in one case, a ''flaming roast chicken''), which will cause them to expire.

* ForgotFlandersCouldDoThat: While Luigi is mostly portrayed (in this game and others) as rather clumsy and accident-prone, quite a few scenes in this game show him to be surprisingly handy with tools and very good at fixing things. Then you remember - he's a ''plumber''. He does that kind of thing for a living.
* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou: An ''in-universe'' example. When you examine the security image before E-3, you see the identity of the final boss, only for him to turn round ''within the static image'' and laugh terrifyingly before making the shot fade to static.

* GhostTrain: Invoked in the level "Ambush Maneuver". Prof. E. Gadd shrinks Luigi down so he can enter a toy train set in one mansion. After activating the train, Luigi gets attacked by a giant Boo. He must fight the boo in the train set, while the train circles around them and CreepyCircusMusic plays. Ironically, though, Luigi actually uses the train to defeat the Boo, by using the big drill on its front to split the Boo into smaller Boos, then flinging them into the train cars, trapping them.

* GoingThroughTheMotions: Luigi has a few animations (most of them cowering in one way or another) while he's face-to-face with Gadd. Over the DS, he always has a "hmm mmm" expression even when Gadd is saying things that should be terrifying him and always lets out a big shudder when done with the call. Luigi always cowers with [[JerkAss Gadd laughing]] every time he's sent through the pixelator, which Gadd lampshades at one point.

* HeelRealization: Some of the ghosts at the end, when the Dark Moon restores them to sanity. The Polterpup looks particularly ashamed of his repeatedly obstructive actions beforehand. [[spoiler: Luigi instantly forgives him.]]

* InternalReveal: The player knows from the start King Boo is responsible for the Dark Moon shattering, but E. Gadd and Luigi don't discover this until late into the game.

* LostInTranslation: [[spoiler:Big Boo is actually Boolossus from the first game. You can only know this if you're playing the Japanese version of the game due to the DubNameChange, however.]]

** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gfogbD7H6Y mansion intro]] theme seems to be a remix of the original VideoGame/LuigisMansion theme.

* {{Adorkable}}: ''Luigi, Luigi, Luigi'', from his interactions with the Toads and the little victory dances he does.

** The developers of the previous game had acknowledged that the Boo Sidequest was terribly flawed and made considerable adjustments to reduce the difficulty in having to catch them.

** Surprisingly averted during mission 5-4, where E. Gadd keeps telling you that their dimension will fall apart if you don't hurry. If you do time out, [[spoiler:Luigi simply bows his head in disapointment as the words "Good Night" appear.]]

* SequelHook: [[spoiler:At the end of the game, Elvin Gadd releases all the imprisoned ghosts after the Dark Moon is fully restored; the remote used to do so has a button for this. It also has a button for releasing the ''Boos''.]] In ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion3'', one half of the BigBadDuumvirate, Hellen Gravely, tricks Professor E. Gadd into coming into the hotel so she can re-release King Boo and trap E. Gadd, the Mario Bros. and their friends in portraits. However, the remote is never mentioned.

* SequelHook: [[spoiler:At the end of the game, Elvin Gadd releases all the imprisoned ghosts after the Dark Moon is fully restored; the remote used to do so has a button for this. It also has a button for releasing the ''Boos''.]] With [[VideoGame/LuigisMansion3 the third game]] in the works, time will tell if this plays out.

An Arcade RailShooter adaptation of this game developed by Capcom, simply called ''Luigi's Mansion Arcade'', was released in 2015 in Japan and 2017 in the United States. A [[VideoGame/LuigisMansion3 sequel]] for the Nintendo Switch was released in 2019.

An Arcade RailShooter adaptation of this game developed by Capcom, simply called ''Luigi's Mansion Arcade'', was released in 2015 in Japan and 2017 in the United States. A [[VideoGame/LuigisMansion3 sequel]] for the Nintendo Switch was announced in 2018.

* DiscOneFinalBoss: [[spoiler:Big Boo and the Tough Possessor.]]

* BadassInDistress: [[spoiler:Mario... again.]]

* CowardlyLion: Luigi, of course.

* AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever: [[spoiler:The Tough Possessor's final host is a giant suit of armor.]]

* DevelopersForesight: In A-4: Visual Tricks, Luigi is supposed to retrieve the Dark-Light device from E. Gadd's Gloomy Manor lab, but the door is hidden by Spirit Balls -- which Luigi [[KeyIsBehindTheLock would need the very Dark-Light device he's going after to remove]] -- prompting him to take a detour. If you redo the mission with the Dark-Light device already in your possession, trying to reveal the door with it causes the Spirit Balls to emerge from the ''other'' side of the door. Even if you manage to vacuum them up through the wall anyway, the Boo responsible will simply spawn more to hide the door again (indicated by the Boo's laughter playing again), as if the developers themselves are telling you to play through the level as intended.

* DevelopersForesight: In A-4: Visual Tricks, Luigi is supposed to retrieve the Dark-Light device from E. Gadd's Gloomy Manor lab, but the door is hidden by Spirit Balls--which Luigi would need the very Dark-Light device he's going after to remove--prompting him to take a detour. If you redo the mission with the Dark-Light device already in your possession, trying to reveal the door with it causes the Spirit Balls to emerge from the ''other'' side of the door. Even if you manage to vacuum them up through the wall anyway, the Boo responsible will simply spawn more to hide the door again (indicated by the Boo's laughter playing again), as if the developers themselves are telling you to play through the level as intended.