Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD May Have Already Met its Maker

While it may not be on the same level as the mainline Super Mario franchise, the Luigi’s Mansion series has made a name for itself as one of the most unique Mario spin-offs to date. Instead of taking the characters on another platforming adventure or tossing them into an RPG, Luigi’s Mansion has followed in the footsteps of Ghostbusters by tossing Luigi into all sorts of spine-tingling scenarios. But even though that blend has proven successful, it kind of feels like Nintendo may have forgotten about Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD.

It took more than a decade for Nintendo to make a follow-up to the original Luigi’s Mansion, and then six more before a third one hit store shelves. Now, five years after Luigi’s Mansion 3 launched on the Nintendo Switch, Luigi’s Mansion 2 is set to get a remaster in only a couple of days. And while that should be big news, Nintendo has seemingly done very little to actually hype that release up, which makes it feels like the game may not reach the same heights as its predecessors.

Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD Seems to Have Been Forgotten

Luigi’s Mansion 2 Already Felt Like an Afterthought

After the success of the original Luigi’s Mansion in 2001, it felt only natural that Nintendo would make a sequel. The game served as a launch title for the GameCube and would go on to become the fifth best-selling title on the console. Yet, instead of following up on it later in the console’s lifetime or on the Wii, it would take 12 years for the studio to revisit it. And this follow-up would not be on Nintendo’s main system, but instead it ended up being a major part of the 3DS library, with the remaster of the original also being relegated to the handheld.

Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon would go on to become one of the 3DS’ best-selling games, yet it felt like an afterthought. After serving as a major launch title for a brand-new generation of consoles, it seemed strange that the sequel would be a smaller-scale adventure on a handheld device. Additionally, that decade-long wait also seemed a bit odd, since the original was pretty popular. There were at least attempts to make a sequel during that time, but fans still ended up having to wait a bit too long to see Luigi headline another spooky title.

Nintendo Has Done Very Little to Actually Advertise This Game

Now, Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon is finally set to make its mainline Nintendo console debut. Dubbed Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD, this remaster will hopefully put the spotlight on this smaller-scale sequel, especially after the success of Luigi’s Mansion 3 back in 2019. However, while this feels like it should be major news, it currently seems like Nintendo is doing little to hype it up.

There just has not been that much marketing around Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD as the release date nears. The title only made an extremely brief appearance at the recent Nintendo Direct, Nintendo’s social media accounts have not posted about it much, and there are seemingly very few ads. The biggest news to actually come out about this game recently was the fact Walmart was allegedly canceling physical Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD pre-orders, which is never a great sign. Even though the pre-order cancelations are not new for recent Nintendo games, the rest makes it feel like the studio has mostly forgotten about the game.

Many Luigi’s Mansion fans are excited to get their hands on this remaster, especially since the original was a 3DS exclusive. But Nintendo has done little to really make the game go outside that circle. The minimal marketing seems strange after the success of Luigi’s Mansion 3, with it even winning the Best Family Game at The Game Awards 2019. While there is a chance that marketing will ramp up, based on the relative silence, Nintendo may have already moved on.