RetroJoe: Luigi's Mansion 3 showed off Nintendo's artsy side at its best

RetroJoe: Luigi's Mansion 3 put front and center Nintendo's fun side

Luigi's Mansion 3 oozed creativity.

Imagination dripped off the game like imagination drips out of every Pablo Picasso painting.

It was everything. Everywhere. All at once.

In Luigi's Mansion 3, gamers played as Luigi. He's invited to a mysterious resort, and he brings with him the core Mushroom Kingdom crowd. Why he never stopped to think this welcome may be a dupe after the first 2 series' games, we will never know.

King Boo, the overarching villain of the franchise, has teamed up with the hotel's owner, Hellen Gravely, a ritzy ghost dressed in a silk scarf and dress, and set a trap for their guests. Four of the five guests were easily captured by King Boo and Gravely, but Luigi performed his best Bridgette Fonda impression in Point of No Return and jumped down a laundry chute.

Shortly after his escape, he uncovered a familiar vacuum, then he embarked on an adventure to collect elevator buttons, move up the hotel floors, and save his friends and brother.

The artsy pipeline first spewed originality on the true title screen. Right away, the initial true view of The Last Resort established two things: Nintendo spent a large amount of time lovingly crafting the exterior of the building, and what a name!

The Big N laid out the stakes of the game with just three words. THREE! That fact is pretty darn creative. Should Luigi succumb to any ghostly shenanigans, this hotel would be his final resting place.

And, what a resting place it would be.

Exterior features delighted the eye with a mashup of various styles and even teased possible themes for each floor.

A peek at the Greek-style pillars in the middle of the hotel hinted at a museum or historical floor design residing behind the standing columns. Pink neon lights funneled through a groovy bent tube close to the penthouse suggested there may be a disco or diner on the upper levels. Gnarled castle spires made this gamer excited to reach the floor they were located on.

After gamers entered the game proper, the creative pipe gushed additional good vibes. Those vibes came in the form of the hotel's interior, ghosts, Gooigi, puzzles, and boss ghosts.

Once gamers saved the captured Professor E. Gadd, of course, the opportunistic professor can be found in the ballroom, they received one of the true creative pleasures of this game: Gooigi.

A green gelatinous facsimile of our hero, Gooigi proved useful. Darn useful. He slipped through the many vents, grates, and pipes Luigi failed to access. The reward was usually more money, jewels, or an important key for progress on one of the floors. His goo uncontrollably giggled when he was close to a Boo's hiding place. He could do just about anything as long as he didn't get wet, or get hit. He only possessed 25 health. He also had a unique personality. Where Luigi was craven or afraid, Gooigi confidently marched around the map and even threw up unique celebrations upon completion of an objective.

Each floor delivered on the teased expectations promised by the exterior view.

The hint of the Greek pillar gave way to an earthy prehistoric museum complete with an ominous Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton. I wonder if the bones will come to life.

Was there a disco or diner located on the upper levels? Yes, siree. Floor 13 housed a groovy dance hall featuring a full multi-color disco, a coat check room, and a few tricky secrets. Complete with a great soundtrack, the design and feel of the floor was an all-night ghost party.

Floor 6, where the ghost spires rose out of the right side of the castle, presented a medieval-themed Castle McFrights. The level came complete with a jousting arena, torture hall, well-stocked armory, and even a hidden treasure room. Exploration through this floor was an absolute delight. Each room contained a puzzle that was easily solved with just a few minutes of critical thinking.

All the aesthetics and puzzles infused every floor with a charm and personality all of their own. No puzzle was too challenging because gamers discovered new things to take their mind off the intensity on the way to the completion of a challenge.

If players required a break from Ghostbusters: The Game, they had the opportunity to enjoy the game's gem hunt. Each floor consisted of a hidden set of six colored gems. All of these objectives can be hard to find. They are not just out in the open. It took some thought and patience to track down all six games.

I also participated in another charming ghost hunt: The obligatory Boos. There are 16 in total and you have to track them down with Gooigi or by luck with Luigi. They are hidden in various objects in a room. Once you found one, you shined your dark bulb on it, vacuumed up its tongue, and repeatedly slammed it into the floor. I found all of them so I could learn all their names. Each name was based on the floor's theme or just a fun play on words like Boosment, Booigi, or Boocaneer.

Once gamers pushed through the challenges of the amazing floor designs with Luigi and Gooigi, they experienced another of the game's creative highlights: boss ghosts. The big kahunas, who held an all-important elevator button, spread inspiration and spirit in everything from design to execution.

One of my favorite bosses was The Spectral Catch's Captain Fishhook. A great white shark with an eyepatch and hooked hand, the captain possessed the ability to take over the floor's pirate ship. His boss battle is one of the more memorable ones in the outing. First off, the captain could take over the ship at will. He manifested as a giant angry face that flowed across the wood of the deck. All the while, three orange ghosts fired explosive barrels at Luigi.

Luigi needed to suck up a barrel, fire it into the captain's open mouth, and force him to come out on the deck. I won't spoil the whole fight.

Another favorite boss of mine was Basement 2's Clem, the single-toothed, hat-wearing hotel janitor. Luigi finds him snoozing on an inflatable raft after Clem locked himself in the main water tank while still in possession of an elevator button. Once you woke him up, he filled up the water tank and began his fight.

This fight was a challenge for a couple of reasons. One, Luigi doesn't receive much room to maneuver his inflatable raft, thanks to a ring of nasty-looking spikes around the tank's rim. Two, players must be judicious in their use of the Poltergust so as not to build up too much momentum and slide into the spikes. If your inflatable pops, you need to blow up a new one, while you briefly become a sitting duck for Clem's explosives. Three, you must avoid Clem's swipes so he gets dizzy and floats around the arena.

Naturally, you needed to avoid Clem's attacks, suck up his inflatable swan, and fire him at the ring of spikes. This act threw Clem into the outside of the ring, where Luigi could stun him, and begin the process of shaving off his health. I enjoyed this fight because it took me three of four tries to get used to the suction and repel effects on Luigi's inflatable.

Floor completion usually occurred once Luigi returned to the elevator as the recovered button flew out of Luigi's hand and screwed itself into its corresponding spot, however, once in a while, you dealt with Polterkitty.

This purple cat brought an additional level of fun to the game. She twice stole an elevator button and forced Luigi to hunt her down. This section of the game, critics may call it padding, felt like the villains fought back. They weren't about to let Luigi just waltz his way to the top floor. Luigi must play a cat-and-mouse game with Polterkitty to recover the elevator buttons.

Bottom-line is should gamers take the time to play Luigi's Mansion 3 they will be treated to a wonderfully creative game that never gets old.