"There was nothing weird about it" - Nintendo talks about why Luigi and crew wandered into another haunted locale

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Plus other details about the spooky sequel

You'd think after two forays into spooky adventures, one that included multiple haunted mansions to explore, Luigi would be wary of anything that even looks like it's full of ghosts. Yet, here we are again controlling Luigi as he tries to save his brother, Peach, and an army of Toads from the grips of certain doom in Luigi's Mansion 3.

"The invitation looked pretty real," director Yoshihito Ikebata told Eurogamer in an interview during E3. "There was nothing weird about it," longtime Nintendo veteran Kensuke Tanabe added. "The Mario family does not really doubt."

Ikebata and Tanabe covered a range of topics in the interview confirming that online multiplayer would work with friends and strangers, that no Labo support for the game was planned but it could be possible later on, and that you could pet Luigi's spooky pooch, Polterpup.

"With the overall hotel structure and different floors, we wanted players to be able to visualise how the hotel was set up," Tanabe said. "So, for example, if there's water dripping through the ceiling, maybe there's a bathtub upstairs and you should look up there. Having that kind of three-dimensional exploration is something we put a lot of focus on."

Nintendo originally had an idea where Luigi could travel all over the hotel through TVs placed in each room. "We had planned that warp feature throughout the game but ultimately we weren't able to put a TV in every room, so we didn't do it throughout the hotel," Tanabe said.

Tanabe also said that the primary means of progression would be through hotel elevators. "The main method of exploring the hotel is the elevator, but its buttons are missing and you have to get them by defeating bosses," he said. "It doesn't necessarily go up in order, either. You may find yourself on the seventh floor, then the third floor, jumping around."

Luigi's Mansion 3 is heading to Nintendo Switch sometime in 2019, release date still yet to be confirmed. 

Aron Garst
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Aron Garst is a journalist and writer exploring the future of games and interactivity. Follow him on X at @GarstProduction.