VideoGame Not as polished as the sequel, but has a unique charm of its own
While Dark Moon is a much longer and arguably overall better game than the original Luigi's Mansion, the original has a certain charm that I like about it over the sequel.
The entire game takes place in a single large mansion. As a result, it's fairly short compared to the sequel's multiple settings. But it also gives the game a certain cohesiveness to it, as you explore the one mansion at your own pace, with several ways to save your progress easily, unlike the sequel's mission-based structure that only let you save between each ~20 minute mission. Instead, here you can explore at your leisure and go wherever you want.
The mansion starts out linear, in a very blunt "room 1 contains key to room 2, room 2 contains key to room 3, etc." manner, but after a while, the game opens up and gives you multiple missions to do as you see fit. Boos fill every single room of the house, hiding in different spots, and some rooms contain hidden entrances rather than being behind locked doors.
While Luigi's Mansion was arguably a puzzle game of sorts, it was really the sequel that hammered puzzles home by making even the mere act of navigation a puzzle in itself. Here, the rooms have simple mini-puzzles that don't take too long to figure out, and once a room is solved, not only does the puzzle no longer have to be repeated (an annoying problem with navigation puzzles in the sequel), but the room lights up and becomes a more pleasant, livable place. It's nice to clear the rooms of the mansion and gradually see the place become less dark and spooky, and more inviting.
The ghosts themselves, the special "portrait" ghosts, are all the sorts you'd think might live in a mansion. They range from members of a family to an artist, a butler, a bodybuilder, and more. While Dark Moon's ghosts engaged in cartoony slapstick, they lacked the "human" feel of the ghosts of the original game, which contributed to the mansion feeling like an actual, lived-in place rather than a mere video game level.
This game does show its age, however. Puzzles are really simple, and combat is a bit lacking. Ghosts often break your vacuum's connection, which to me often comes across as a little unfair as I don't see a way to avoid it. But overall, for its atmosphere and emphasis on setting, I think very fondly of the original.
VideoGame A very flawed start, but still earns its love.
This game means a lot. Luigi's trademark fear was cemented, and E. Gadd debuted. There's little of the excellent character work of the later games, the house is oddly real and drab, and the plot is bare, but this game's impact was huge and I'll always be fond of the characters and aesthetic.
So, issues. Fighting ghosts with the Poltergust is a neat system where you stun a ghost with a light before holding a button and pulling the stick back to suck it up. But... 1. You get only a split second to vacuum a ghost after stunning- if you don't, the process repeats. Rare money ghosts are gone forever if you let them go or fail this step. 2. Ghosts can drag you and deal damage if you're not in control of the suction. This can be unfathomably hard, with some ghosts dragging or breaking your pull without you having any idea why. The sequels give you more time to react when starting a suction and reduce the drag force/damage to make the challenge fairer.
Boos being fought can leave the room, as they're hurt, but not sucked, by the vacuum. This gets infuriating.
The structure may be too linear. Despite the key system, each key goes to one door and you're always told which. There are points with multiple open rooms that can be done in any order and some boss ghosts are optional, but the game could have felt like solving a dungeon, which it doesn't. Since the rooms are basic, with ghost gauntlets or simple uses of element abilities to solve them, the linear nature stands out more. The sequels had cool environmental puzzles and better combat, making their linearity less obvious. The basic bosses are similar, with easy puzzle mechanics, but they have a ranking system based on how much health you can drain in one pull. The unfair task of controlling a pull while dodging drops of disruptive items that bounce randomly and can be unavoidable makes boss ranks a not-fun challenge, yet trying for better ranks should be a strong replay motive. Also, saves don't account for position in the house or equipped elemental powers when you reload a file.
The remake does let you rematch bosses for better ranks and has a charge flashlight as an option, as well as 2-player mode. However, this doesn't fix it all and they seemed to make the bonus-mode playthrough even harder than the originals to enforce 2-player.
I still like this game a lot, but it's the weakest design of the series.