50 best Nintendo 3DS games right now

Best Nintendo 3DS Games – #21 Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon

Developer: Next Level Games, Nintendo Software Planning & Development

Release Date: March 24th, 2013

Synopsis: As if Luigi didn’t get enough ghost wrangling in Luigi’s Mansion, Professor E. Gadd has called him back to equip the Poltergust 5000 and suck up ghosts as he explores multiple haunted mansions and retrieves the Dark Moon fragments hidden inside. Instead of a single house open for exploration like in the previous game, Dark Moon is mission-based and takes place across several different locations. Luigi will be sent to a house with a goal, such as defeating a boss or retrieving an item, and is free to explore as much of the house as can be unlocked with his current arsenal until he accomplishes the mission. Upgrades to the Polturgust offer the ability to uncover new secrets and unlock rooms that may have been bypassed the first time, for collectible rewards and secrets.

Why It’s One Of The Best Nintendo Games: Finally, a good ghost game for those of us who can’t handle the spook. Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon is so very charming. Exploring the same mansion over multiple missions sounds dull, but in practice with each new upgrade unlocking a new area or inspiring a return to an old one to open a new door, the structure of the game is a lot of fun. The ghost fights are just difficult enough to prove a challenge (having to restart the entire mission if you die is a bit of a drag, though) and E. Gadd consistently gives you only just enough hints to go on, forcing you to explore every nook and cranny to solve the puzzles before you. Luigi is such a charming hero, too, with his adorable idle animations and whistling. It’s a shame that ghost busting is all the green guy gets to do by himself.

Next: 20 - Shin Megami Tensei IV