I'm still a little shocked we have Nintendo Arcade games coming out, and with the way Luigi Mansion Arcade is, we aren't missing much. A lot of the novelty of this game comes from the fact it's an Nintendo licensed game in your local arcade, and it even comes with neat physical controllers that look like vacuums. Unfortunately, there really isn't any substance or interesting hook that makes this game worth playing beyond saying you have done it.

For anyone that thinks they are missing out here, I just want you to look at the mission structure of Luigi's mansion 2: Dark Moon. In Dark Moon you'd constantly get interrupted from your exploration in order to return back to get informed what you'd do next. While arcade does have a similar structure to Dark Moon, the only thing it really interrupts is by giving you quick point scores and teaching you how to play the game; afterward it let's you keeping going after a loading screen. Arcade is also more of a rail style shooter where you will slowly move around encountering the various generic ghosts along the way. The game heavily uses assets and designs for the likes of dark moon too, and while it's possible that they are different mansions you explore, it did not feel that way to me.

That isn't to say I had a bad time with Luigi Mansion Arcade, the novelty controllers and on rail shooting system is a really neat way of going through a game like this while still having a sense of exploration. As well, the mechanics of shooting light first and then pulling away from your target feel even more satisfying when you are able to do them physically. Add the ability to play with another person, and I kinda finally get the appeal of Luigi Mansion multiplayer, although I doubt it's anything like this. Still the fact I felt like a ghostbuster while playing this game left me leaving the experience enjoying it more than the coins I used up to finish it.

Luigi Mansion Arcade isn't much of a stand out to when it comes to the series, but I certainly didn't feel like it ruined it in the way Dark Moon did. Despite having similar structure and mansions I liked arcade because it was on rails, felt like it was close to the original spirit of exploration, and I got to feel like a ghostbuster. It's a novelty of the main series, and while it doesn't do much for the story, the fun of it is still there. If you're able to find it, I'm sure you'll enjoy your time with it, but don't break your back hyping this game up in your head.

It seems like a very faithful arcade light-gun shooter translation at first glance; normal controls have you use the charged flash bulb to stun ghosts, then you can pull the trigger to suck the ghosts in while aiming in the opposite direction of the arrow to make sure they don't escape. Alternatively, you can use simple controls to both stun and suck with the trigger. You can also aim your vacuum at other assorted objects to suck them for coins, or use your bulb to take care of smaller enemies like spiders. The biggest problem though? You can only aim entirely on the left side if you're player 1 or on the right side if you're player 2. So if you're by yourself and a ghost shows up on the other side of the screen, you're shit out of luck and you have to take damage and wait for the ghost to hopefully show up on your side. It does baffle me that such an interesting and thought out translation has such a simple and crippling design flaw that basically turns it into a token guzzler if you come by yourself. Make sure to play with a friend if you want to progress far in the game, or you'll have a bad time.

EDIT: Gotten confirmation from a few others that I played on a busted machine, so withholding the rating for now. I'll probably delete and update this once I can get another playthrough on a working cabinet.

Played in co-op on original hardware. Being the first Luigi's Mansion game I actually beat, it was an interesting experience. As far as rail shooters go, it's pretty neat. The vacuum controller in terms of shape (plus the way the controller shakes as you vacuum in coins or whatnot) helped bring about a sense of physical immersion - though the controller also felt a bit small, like it was intended for a kid to hold. The way you alternate between using the light and sucking enemies into your vacuum was pretty neat, and I liked being able to vacuum the environment for coins in between enemy encounters.

All in all - not a revolutionary experience by any means, but I'm not necessarily looking for one, either. It's a fun, solid 3-level game to play around with at the arcade.