Space World 2001: Hands-onLuigi's Mansion

At the conclusion of its Space World press conference today, Nintendo gave the press hands-on time with the 100-percent complete version of Luigi's Mansion for the GameCube. Unlike the timed version shown at E3, attendees of the press conference were able to play as much of the game as possible.

Unlike the representatives at E3 this past May, the Nintendo representatives on hand to show Luigi's Mansion at the Space World press conference knew the game quite well and were able to offer a plentitude of new information. As you begin the game, you come into contact with Toad, who explains that he arrived with Mario but then became lost. Toad will pop up several times throughout the game and acts as a save point. However, you will not have to wait to find Toad again to save your game. You can simply backtrack to the last place Toad was spotted to save your progress.

The gameplay flow consists of entering each room and completely exterminating all the ghosts in it before moving on to the next room. The points you receive for each ghost captured depends upon how long it takes for you to capture it. When you first lock on to a ghost, a timer begins to count down. The timer for more difficult ghosts begins at 100, while the timer for smaller ghosts normally begins at 15. Once vacuuming has begun, the timer begins to count down, and you are awarded points for the number of seconds left when the ghost is finally captured. Small apparitions such as mice award Luigi with no points, but it's essential to exterminate them because they can still damage him. As Luigi is sucking up ghosts, they will drop banana peels that will cause Luigi to slip, lose his lock, and absorb damage. Nintendo representatives stated that sucking up the banana peels as quickly as possible is one of the primary keys to succeeding in the game.

Ghosts can hide virtually anywhere in the rooms, and it's your job to sniff them out. In order to find ghosts, you must search each item in the room by walking up to it and pressing the A button. You may also examine objects in a first-person view by pressing the X button. You may then move a cursor around the room with the analog stick and select individual objects for examination by pressing the A button. There is a wide variety of ghosts, and while some may openly attack Luigi, others must be captured in unique ways. The early stages of the game include encounters with an entire family of ghosts. First you must collect the father ghost, who sits in a rocking chair. The only problem is that when you turn to face the ghost, it disappears. To remedy the situation, you must extinguish Luigi's flashlight by pressing the B button. Once the flashlight is off, you can spin toward the father ghost, lock on to it, and attempt to suck it into Luigi's vacuum. The mother ghost sits at a mirror, and in order to capture it, you must pull a set of curtains back to expose a massive window. After doing so, the ghost will pull one of the curtains back to its original position. If you pull the curtain back once again, the mother ghost will then be available to capture. Later, you come upon the baby ghost, whose shadow appears on the wall if you shine Luigi's flashlight on its crib. After you clear a room of ghosts, you are awarded with a key. Immediately after you receive a new key, the screen switches to a 3D map that shows you which door the new key unlocks. You may access the 3D map at any time by pressing the Y button. Trap doors are located throughout the game, and if Luigi attempts to open them, he will be smashed flat and will lose health and coins. Searching each room thoroughly supplies you with other rewards as well. Sometimes you are given hearts that give Luigi health or golden bars that will unlock secrets hidden within the game.

If Luigi absorbs damage, he drops the coins that he has collected. If Luigi loses a significant amount of health, he will shrink and will no longer be able to use his vacuum. In order to return to his original size and regain his vacuuming abilities, he must collect power-ups. Shigeru Miyamoto demonstrated the ability to spray water with Luigi's vacuum at E3, and according to a Nintendo representative, this feature becomes active later in the game. Another feature of the vacuum is its ability to blow fire. You will eventually come upon special forms of fire that may be sucked up into the vacuum and then used as a projectile weapon. We were also able to see the first boss in Luigi's Mansion, which turned out to be the baby of the family. The baby ghost takes up the majority of the screen as Luigi fights it from a balcony. While equipped with a rattle and a pacifier, the baby instead hurls balls at Luigi. After dodging the balls, you can suck them up in the vacuum and then hurl them at the baby ghost. Once the baby ghost is stunned, you can attempt to suck it up with Luigi's vacuum.

Nintendo representatives stated that Luigi's Mansion is huge and that what has been seen of the game thus far is just the beginning. When asked about the game's length, representatives were unwilling to commit to a specific amount of time, but they stated that it takes Nintendo's best testers well over 20 hours to complete. Luigi's Mansion for the GameCube is finished and should have no problems making the November 18 launch of the console in North America. We'll have more information as it becomes available.