Luigi's Mansion 3DS: GameCube Port or Full Mobile Remake?

[@lirfrank]

It's remarkable how the 3DS has ports of N64, GameCube, Wii, Wii U and arguably even Switch titles and it manages to have them playable.

[@PiffGamer]

Partly why it's the best handheld of all time

[@neroultimate1]

Not only that, but the homebrew scene for 3ds is INSANE

[@OneTwoMark]

lirfrank By making them look like Utter shit is how. 3ds is underpowered, Nintendo need to get their head out of their asses and make stronger hardware. I played the definitive edition of Botw on PC because 900p 30fps sucks ass compared to 60fps 1080p on my laptop.

[@lirfrank]

@@OneTwoMark I'd disagree that the Switch is underpowered for what basically is a tablet. As for the 3DS: it is 7 years old, and it was underpowered next to the Vita. That's why I find it remarkable that it can pull off the games it can, wih the visuals it does it.

[@lirfrank]

@alak58 If the gamecube is almost two decades old, the 3DS is only a decade older. So we're talking about hardware that came out a while ago. I'd argue models, colors and animations are better than the Gamecube original. And well, the 3DS is a handheld device, while the gamecube is a homeconsole.

[@gabrieleriva651]

5:26 "using official Gamecube component cables" Now I'm imagining the Digital Foundry studio selling office stuff to afford those cables.

[@mrratchet]

Gamecube component cables are like £150+. That's almost the same price as a 3DS!

[@Poever]

I got them for $20 in 2007

[@jc_dogen]

probably got em years ago. I bought some for 50 bucks around 5 years ago.

[@ZinhoMegaman]

I bought mine for 70 U$ (total with shipping) from Japan to Brazil. It was here that i have to pay the biggest theft in tax form, which where around 45 U$!

[@fancyslimoshady]

The Wii sell those cable for like $14 .. so just use the Wii as a gamecube

[@HybridAngelZero]

Grezzo is so underrated as a developer, it's wild. I may be showing my age a bit here, but as someone who clearly remembers a time before PS2, GameCube and XBOX, the fact that the 3DS can run Luigi's Mansion and Tales of the Abyss is just amazing to me.

[@AgsmaJustAgsma]

Ever Oasis is a really good action RPG. One of the very few that I was actually hooked on for quite some time.

[@bananachild1936]

Grezzo is one of the few devs who makes the most beautiful games on the 3DS. I wish Nintendo would've done more remakes for the 3DS with Grezzo before the near end of the system's lifespan.

[@admin8244]

Reflective mirrors! That RTX looks awesome.

[@pegasusdrive12]

Doorknob is better

[@Fendera1]

Lol

[@DanteGuitarra]

The 3ds is the cure for vampirism.

[@JeffreyThrash]

That part of the RTX Demo always baffled me. I was playing Shenmue at the time of the RTX reveal (the PS4 version, though that version isn’t too different from the Dreamcast version other than being HD) and was confused that a 1999 Dreamcast game was handling reflections pretty well without Ray tracing.

[@JeffreyThrash]

I think raytracing is a bigger deal for game developers than for consumers. Raytracing makes it easier for 3D artists who are used to being able to create reflections and shadows without relying on fancy graphical magic, sort of like working with a photorealistic render engine like Pixar’s Renderman, but in real time. Basically, 3D artists don’t have to “fake” reflections like they did in the past.

[@GamingMyWholeLife]

The Gamecube was a beast. Very powerful for the time :)

[@frankiebeans8055]

I was so disappointed by the 3ds controls that I bought a gamecube and Luigi Manson to get the better experience. Money well spent. Dark moon is a great game too

[@ajaakola2]

@@frankiebeans8055 Never liked dark moon as it had no human ghosts or the feel of the first one

[@retrosoul8770]

Strictly from a hardware perspective, the GameCube is the best engineered game system that Nintendo's ever produced, only the Famicom was also well engineered for its time. I know most ppl will yammer SNES! N64! But they both had big hardware issues relative to their era which counts them out.

[@johnnyboy5354]

Xbox: hold my beer...

[@retrosoul8770]

Merlin Xbox was definitely a monster too. Ninja Gaiden, Chronicles of Riddick, Doom 3, HL2, Fable, Halo 2 etc fantastic graphics. Graphically the XB was greater than the GC, but I think their processing power was roughly equal from what I've researched. I heard the PowerPC cpu archit. was superior to the Pentium III but don't quote me on that I need to do more research on it.

[@anasevi9456]

considering that by 2011 the 3ds [and yes this still applies to the slightly upgraded New one] was considered bottom of the barrel mobile graphics nintendo bought for next to nothing; it's amazing games look as good as they do.

[@Treetops27]

It was par for the course for 2010. There were phones with the same specs

[@SENATORPAIN1]

@@Treetops27 there were phones with far far better specs.

[@senorsnipey1595]

Phones may have had better specs but they didnt have great developers and thats why 3DS games in general looked better for most of its life span.

[@FlareOfLegacy]

Would've been nice if for Gamecube to 3DS ports, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door had been brought over years ago (obviously now it's too late, and nearly everyone would prefer it on Switch instead).

[@SuspiciousScout]

Man I would kill for a re-release or remake of Thousand Year Door on Switch or 3DS. That's one of my favorite games of all time, and imagining it remade in the style of Color Splash with much higher textures would be a sight to behold.

[@hiyall15]

@Suspicious Scout hell yeah. thousand year door is my favorite Nintendo title. beat that game so many times. its amazing and has a great story. i would love for a remake of it in the graphical style of color splash. i read that the director of intelligent systems said that (i cant remember word for word but its basically this) "if we are given the chance to make another paper mario, we will stray away from what we have been doing with the last previous games." this was after a discussion of them talking about why they made the last 2 paper marios the way they were. he simply said that they wanted to honor the creator of mario and allow him to make the game his way. all in all, this means if they get another chance to make a paper mario, we will get the classic style back

[@Marcuscaravan]

It appears your wish has been granted

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

And it was the better choice in the end.

[@NintendoFan]

The fact that even the geometry pops up at the exact same time as the GC version, makes me believe that this is really just a port of the original game's code. Just slightly modified with different graphics and some adjustments for the game to run smoothly on the 3DS. The Zelda "remakes" (they weren't actually REMADE) made by Grezzo were the same thing. Dataminers even found that several unused assets from the N64 games still were present in the 3DS games. Yes, Majora's Mask had some big changes, but I believe all the changes were made after copy/pasting the original game and THEN modifying it. I'm pretty sure that's the case with LM too. I'm not an expert, so I might be wrong. But everything looks and feels like an exact conversion of the original game, but with different models, textures and lighting effects. If it was a full remake, or used the Dark Moon engine, it would obviously not be this accurate to the original game. Now if this is an "enhanced" port, it depends on the person. Because the lack of some lighting and transparency effects are pretty notorious when compared to the original. Now that I think about it, Nintendo doesn't usually make full remakes. The only ones that came to mind are Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land, Kirby Super Star Ultra, Diddy Kong Racing DS and the 3DS version of Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga.

[@superstarxalien169]

all of the remakes you listed were made by subsidiaries so far, you're missing super mario 64 ds, the oot and majora's mask remakes, and star fox 64 3d

[@Objectorbit]

Uh, he already talked about the OoT and MM ports.

[@NintendoFan]

Bombchu Yeah. You're absolutely right. There's a reason so much unused stuff from the original games is found in these "enhanced ports". Also, while SMW used SMB3 as a base, I'm pretty sure the game was done in a new engine made specifically for the SNES. But I could be wrong. I'm not so sure if SMB3 was made using the SMB/SMBTLL engine either. It always seemed that it was made from scratch to me.

[@winner3887]

@@superstarxalien169 HAL Laboratory, Rare, and AlphaDream aren't Nintendo subsidiaries though.

[@NintendoFan]

Super Mario World was heavily inspired by SMB3 on the start of it's development. Plenty of graphics of the first builds of the game were very reminiscent of it. Miyamoto said on a interview that the game started development on exclusively on the SNES so that the console could have a Mario game for it's launch. It was made from scratch, precisely to test the power and new features that the SNES could offer. The SMB3 style was used at first, but it was mostly a placeholder to test the game before adding it's new ideas and power-ups. The SMAS games really were ported from the NES, however. They didn't even bothered to remove the unused levels from SMB3 from the game's code. It's a direct port with enhanced graphics and sounds. (and some specific minor changes here and there.) Some sound effects on SMAS are from SMW, but I'm 99% sure that the SMW runs on a completely different engine from SMAS. I mean, there was SMAS+SMW later, but that shouldn't be hard to implement. The SNES (and even the NES) can handle multiple engines and completely different codes on the same cartridge. That's why multipacks exist, after all.

[@blankpage9277]

I find the stylistic changes especially interesting. GameCube Luigi was very cartoony in his expressions and proportions while 3ds Luigi doesn't squash and stretch.

[@BoshBargnani]

One of the few reviewers that still tests the 2ds/3ds. Great man. I appreciate it even if it was a very short section.

[@Xilefian]

Someone actually asked me to write a bit about the 3DS PICA200 GPU versus the GameCube Flipper GPU on a Reddit post of the DF Retro Water Rendering video series. The 3DS graphics hardware is more capable feature-wise than the Flipper or Hollywood GPUs, but the focus is clearly on power saving and low performance. The hardware has the capability to use off-screen rendering, it even has hardware support for what is an equivalent for the TEVs of the GameCube/Wii (which is how many visual effects are achieved on 3DS). The main difference is the hardware vertex and geometry shader on the PICA200, which I believe is done to allow the option to move these kinds of operations off the CPU where they would draw more power. I would say that all these 3DS changes are likely power saving efforts. Keeping another frame-buffer in memory for ghosts is wasteful of memory, especially if you're in stereoscopic 3D (then you've got 2x memory), it makes a bit more sense to just apply transparency with a single blend operation (blending an entire frame buffer would be very performance costly: that's a lot of transparent pixels that are processed, despite not being visible!). There's techniques for doing shadow mapping with texture environment operations, but I don't think they're suitable for stereoscopic 3D. Stencil shadows can be accelerated with geometry shaders, but they're still largely a CPU centric operation - I would imagine stencil volume shadows only applied to opaque character entities actually being better for stereo 3D in a 3rd person game compared to any framebuffer texture environment solution. I expect the shadow solution in this 3DS port was again a memory, energy, performance compromise. I'd like to see how Grezzo handled the shadows. It would give a good indication of where the compromises lie and what their motivation was.

[@saturn6458]

Xilefian Or ya know, budget.

[@Xilefian]

saturn 64 If you are referring to a financial budget, then these effects are all very easy to implement. About a day's work for all of them, including the solution that Grezzo went with, not a big deal and there's no money saved. I doubt a Nintendo financed project has money woes either, especially concerning individual graphical effects. The greater money/time cost would be in the asset production. If you mean technical budget, then that's precisely what I detailed in my comment. I would expect what Grezzo did (because any sane studio would do this) is explore each of their options (so spend the time to implement them all, as I said each one would take about a day to implement for a rookie developer) and then investigate the performance and energy consumption of each one on the 3DS and then go with the option they felt makes the most sense.

[@SteelSkin667]

I don't know much about 3DS development, but I like the use of a baked lightmap for the environment shadows, it's a smart use of the extra memory of the 3DS and would indeed help with reducing CPU time and saving on battery.

[@Xilefian]

SteelSkin667 yes a baked light-map seems like the perfect solution for both the environment shadows and the shadows of the lightning strikes - the small resolution of the 3DS hides a low resolution light-map and it entirely frees up the CPU at the cost of texture memory and a bit of GPU texture reads and blending. I'd like to know how Luigi's shadow is handled as I imagine stencil volumes would be fine for characters when the lightning strikes occur, however pausing at 9:54 this hand cut-scene looks like Luigi does actually have a very low resolution shadow-map (splodgy pixelated shadow moving over the door). I wonder if there is a baked shadow-map for the entire mansion and Luigi's shadow is combined with that? EDIT: Although looking at videos of this game in Citra emulator - these scenes with Luigi that look like shadow-mapping look more like stencil volume shadows - which is the technique I personally would have gone with for the character shadows when lightning strikes. Stencil volume shadows are quite easy to do for a 3rd person game (where the camera is never inside the shadow volume). EDIT2: There are other scenes where Luigi gains a shadow from light sources in rooms - these look very much like stencil volume shadows applied after the world is rendered, but before Luigi is rendered. Actually I'm almost certain his shadow is stencil volume: when he walks around the room in these scenes his shadow always points away from the light source, something that requires quite a bit of extra resolution for a shadow-mapped solution but is trivial to do for stencil shadows.

[@SteelSkin667]

I haven't checked elsewhere but to me the dynamic shadows do have the characteristic sharpness of stencil shadows in most shots, including around the fingers in doorknob scene. The 240p resolution does make everything look a bit splodgy though.

[@Megaspartan23]

It would be interesting if Super Mario Sunshine got released on the 3DS or Switch

[@grizzlyhead9812]

If it was on 3DS, It’d probably have to be a new 3DS only game.

[@crestofhonor2349]

They could release it on both. The switch version would improved visuals and 60fps and the 3ds for people who do not own or cannot afford the switch would run at 30fps and have what ever compromises they need

[@Anthestudios]

Honestly, Super Mario Sunshine was so rushed I doubt Nintendo really looks back on it in a good way. The game is good for being a location for racing tracks (see Sunshine Airport), but I don't see it making a return any time soon. In its current form, at least.

[@JT5ingh]

@@Anthestudios so what you're saying is, Sunshine 2?

[@NYCJoeBlack]

otakuman23 - I would love to have Super Mario Sunshine ☀️ on the Nintendo 3DS!!! Reason; portability and 3D effects. Plus, it would be an easy way for Nintendo to make a game in a short amount of time and make money from it as well. Plus, it’ll help keep the Nintendo 3DS alive until Nintendo figures out if they are going to make a successor to the N3DS or not.

[@zachbaggett4962]

I appreciate the tech breakdown by df, and by those in the comments. Might I just emphasize to the naysayers that despite some graphical cutbacks this is a gamecube era game running in STERIOSCOPIC 3D on a portable platform that was released more than seven years ago. That is impressive. I'm looking forward to playing this game in 3D as was originally intended.

[@theobserver4214]

Zach Baggett Eh. Dolphin in 3D works better. You get the original graphics and art style but in 3D.

[@senorsnipey1595]

To be fair there are some cut backs/alterations but there are also things that are better in the 3ds version.

[@senorsnipey1595]

​@@theobserver4214 the art style is actually better in the 3ds version. Just a few features that aren't as good. But idk what DF was talking about when it comes to lighting. Your flash light does project shadows

[@rabiroden]

Luigi's Mansion was one of the first times I was truly wowed by a game's graphics. I saw the game at a demo kiosk and when it showed the closeup of Luigi's hand turning the doorknob I thought "wow... that's a smooth hand." (Also that partially uncropped GameCube logo in the video is upsetting me lol)

[@eddzsii993]

Bruhhh

[@CCharmanderK]

I generally really like the look of the 3DS remake in terms of it being a darker, more atmospheric approach to the game and having more refined texture work on average, but the lack of frame-buffer shadows is probably the big thing I miss from the GameCube version. Very impressive work from Grezzo here on average, however.

[@viewtifuljoe99]

When it comes to handheld ports I always wait for DF's analysis. Glad to say I'll be picking this game up! Really enjoyed captain toad on 3ds recently too

[@nortron_zero8994]

John's videos are always so entertaining, thoughtful and well put together. Cut above the others. No offence, others.

[@EdenianTarkatan]

Something I’ve noticed while playing it on the new 3ds for the first time is when you put it on 3D, the ghosts lose their glow and become transparent like the gamecube version

[@lucaspereirahmj]

I Guess that Luigis Mansion on 3DS uses the Zelda remakes engines from Grezzo, and not the Next Level engine of Dark Moon. I'm loving this technical analysis of the 3DS games, since no one does it, it's just that they're doing it now.

Seriously? f*cking LOVE your videos, so beautifully presented and oh so VERY well researched l!!! - they should have MILLIONS (not thousands) of views!!!

[@VideosbySteve]

"His hoes also behave slightly differently..." -John Lindeman, 2018

[@Rogarcai]

E Gad is a pimp

[@arootube]

@@Rogarcai In Dark Moon he mentions wanting to spend some quality time with the Three Sisters.

[@SladeFFA]

Not gonna lie until you showed the side by side I though "Wow the GameCube version looked pretty rough." Then I realized they were showing the 3DS version.

[@aarongonzalez200]

Yeap , the 3ds is not exactly a powerhouse .

[@COOLMCDEN]

That's because of the 240p screen.

[@aryinc]

agreed. gamecube shows some beutifull graphics on display. i kinda don't understand the 3ds not matching it, 3ds should be more powerfull right??.

[@Nu11nV0iD9]

@@aryinc 3ds isn't more powerful than the gamecube.

[@aryinc]

@@Nu11nV0iD9 hmm i think it is. 3ds certainly more powerfull then psp.

[@hexagonal69]

The strobe flash and amiibo makes the game’s difficulty on par with that of Luigi’s Mansion 3, which I feel is really nice considering the game is older than some Luigi’s Mansion fans, but I feel like OG fans might say that you’re "playing on easy mode" if you use either of these. I’ve beaten the original GameCube game, but it was nice seeing how the strobe light and amiibo makes the game somehow more fun in that it’s not as difficult so it’s easier to enjoy. And someone who entered the series in Luigi’s Mansion 2 or 3, who’s used to the Strobe Light can have a hard time adjusting to the way the light works in the original game, since you have to turn of the light and then turn it back on right in front of the ghost, which is hard to get the timing down on since if you turn the light on when they’re too far away they just disappear instead.

[@t4m642]

GameCube version for the win in my opinion

[@FirlowXD]

"One of the Nicest looking 3DS games" Monster Hunter Stories is arguably the best. It's gorgeous.

[@StandingUpForBetter]

Well done! I am so glad Nintendo did not go lazy with this "port". They actually put some effort into it by providing Greezo the budget and time to put a polished game together. Also nice to finally experience Luigi's Mansion with the stereoscopic 3D it was meant to have. I have the orginal Gamecube version but I will be picking up this 3DS version as well. If they did this with 3D, surely they see the logic and fan interest in bringing Virtual Boy games to the 3DS before they stop developing for the system. At least one could hope. Again, thanks for the well done video!

[@jmbenetti]

Great work as always! I hope we could get more Gamecube games on the 3ds.

[@omgitsbees]

This is an awesome video! I want to see more content like this. Comparisons like this are more interesting then PS4 vs. Xbox vs. PC comparisons where the outcome is always without failing going to be the same results.

[@NintendoMaster709]

I still prefer the original

[@Isaax]

Understandable, have a nice day

[@darkwing5458]

Play the original.

[@crestwood2618]

Amazing video! Thank you very much for your comparison information, very informative... 👌🏻

[@KarimJovian]

6:23 that little detail skull.....why was it missing on 3DS not acceptable

[@senorsnipey1595]

There is good and bad for both but overall I really liked the look of the 3ds version though there are a few small things I preferred from the GC version. The mirror resolution is much better on 3DS

[@ozgurkarter4368]

"It's time to go.. back to the mansion" - reminded me of " day of the tentacle " and "maniac mansion"

[@DigitalFoundry]

So glad you caught that. That was exactly my intention. I even considered sticking a voice clip from Bernard in there.

[@TheSoundofForgetting]

Having the original and now the 3DS .. I have to say it’s very impressive and a good time all over again!

[@agamaz5650]

gamecube looks much better but for the 3ds harware it is insanely impressive, i would barely code tetris on a 3ds

[@2drealms196]

@Agamaz I know you said you could barely do it on 3ds but that is incredibly impressive. You don't give yourself credit, that is actually INSANELY impressive you could code Tetris on 3DS, since you are doing the work of 35 people. If you check the credits 35 devs worked on the tetris for nintendo 3DS, so even anyone who would only have finish coding 25% let alone 50% of the game, let alone barely finish it like YOU are among the best most efficient coders in the world. I think you could replicate the work of 20 devs easily. Games like No Man's Sky only had a dozen developers working on it.

[@Poever]

You haven’t seen Tetris Axis

[@agamaz5650]

I also really loved Resident Evil Revelations that game looks amazing even in hd

[@agamaz5650]

So mindblowing for a 240p handheld

[@cheappyv5156]

18 years have passed and they still had to downgrade it to make it work

[@Tomiply]

Congrats on 650K subscribers!

[@Holammer]

Funny thing about 3DS games is that they obviously look very pixelated at 400x240, but games sometimes have high resolution textures so they scale very well when you try them in emulators. Luigi's Mansion here doesn't really do that, but it still looks great at 1080 or higher with Citra.

[@sonicblast19]

The engine used in this port is the same as in Majora's Mask made by the same people, you can notice that in the texture style.

[@Fendera1]

Well done John, like always.

[@markm3416]

Love your technical descriptions. well done.

[@cgk1276]

Still wish it was on Switch. Of all the games people say should be on Switch this is actually one of them.

[@AgsmaJustAgsma]

Luigi's model in the 3DS version looks far less expressive than the original GameCube model, and that ruins a bit of the game's personality.

[@warpio]

What about them lighting effects though. Atmosphere is a huge part of Luigi's Mansion, and the 3DS version's improvements to lighting making the game way darker and more atmospheric makes it a no-brainer that the 3DS version is better IMO.

[@warpio]

What are you talking about? The 3DS version clearly added a whole new lighting system and everything just looks darker and more atmospheric on the 3DS version. Look at 5:50 for example.

[@AgsmaJustAgsma]

Improved lighting doesn't instantly make the 3DS version the better game, but okay.

[@warpio]

Well it's a much more drastic improvement than the model downgrades you're talking about which honestly I can hardly notice at all.

[@looklook876]

The walking animation looks really weird imo

[@ejkk9513]

Wow! Someone in 2018 who loves the Gamecube as much as I do! I loved the Gamecube design and people seem to forget how many masterpieces were released on the Gamecube. They had a couple of masterpieces every year on the Gamecube and loads of really great games, with a few stinkers. Gamecube was my preferred console in the 6th generation and is still my favorite console.

[@Vvonter]

I still think the main issue with the game it's the length considering it has a retail price. I wonder what game they'll remake next after their work in Link's Awakening. Maybe the Oracle games. I do wish they could remake a different series. Like maybe a retextured F-Zero GX with a new lighting engine.

[@SP8inc]

There are still some "dynamic shadows" in the game, just seen very occasionally. If you point your light to the front of a couple of chairs in one of the rooms, shadows appear for them, but they kind of suddenly appear, instead of form. Also many people have said that the dust that appeared in the cone of light is gone in the remake. It is NOT gone, simply it is harder to see. But if you point your light at 3/4 ways to the camera, you'll start seeing tiny dots slowly fall in the light. The game looks amazing! I love how much depth the 3D adds, and how beautiful some of the texture work is. The lightning is quite good as well, and it all adds up to probably one of the better looking games on the 3ds.

[@julianx2rl]

9:16 - The GameCube's cutscene is probably pre-rendered, while the 3DS's its in-game, so you can adjust the 3D slider during these.

[@InvidiousIgnoramus]

Luigi's Mansion deserved to be remastered on Switch, IMO. Seeing the game running at a full 60fps with bumped visuals would have been great.

[@gabrieleriva651]

These kinds of "sidegrades" remember me of the Snes/Mega Drive times.

[@SteelSkin667]

Yes! N64/Playstation conversions also often ended up with very different-looking games.

[@AL2009man]

does Tearaway: Unfolded counts as a "sidegrade"?

[@carlosdelarochahdz.532]

Nice! Good explanation, very deep!

[@FLYNN_TAGGART]

It's impressive that they got it to look so good on 3DS. The textures are much nicer on 3DS imo - it's a bit harder to tell at the lower rendering resolution, but in emulator you'll notice that they're great. I think the "ideal" version would be the GC version with the 3DS textures, that way we have the best of both worlds. I'm sure it would be easier to make an HD texture pack of the 3DS textures for GC rather than implement the lighting techniques into the 3DS version, so maybe someone will create that so we can have the best experience in Dolphin. Or better yet, make that version for Switch someday! Overall, the minor "issues" with the 3DS version are so negligible that you'd never notice when playing on a real 3DS. I'll buy it.

[@ryanrdlps]

Fun fact. The mirrors are not rendering the scene twice (ray-tracing) It's a separate build of Luigi's model (exact duplicate) and the interior of the room the mirror is in. Since the mirrors are all static, as is the camera, it's simple to have a small area that seems to be a reflection!

[@RandomRandy]

How have you guys not hit a million subs yet?

[@charliegaudino]

You guys always do a fantastic job! It's a bit strange to me how some things on the GameCube version still hold up better today than a newer hardware that is inside the 3ds. Not sure what that speaks for though. I missed the original on GameCube because when it came out I though it was dumb. But I recently played dark Moon and fell in love with it. So I am excited for this. I thought dark moon looked fantastic and I can't help but wonder if it's because the team that made it started from scratch and was able to use the hardware better than trying to manipulate certain effects to match a look. Either way, I sure when you actually play LM on 3ds and you forget about all the technical stuff, it's still a great time. It's just really nice to know what is going on in the background!

[@Falkenschwinge]

I think i stay with the GC Version.

[@metroidfan220]

I think less transparency, in addition to helping performance, is also a reasonable choice for a handheld game as opposed to on a home console where lighting conditions should be more ideal. Of course, that flies in the face of the decisions they made for 3DS for "darker, moodier tone".

[@dondon-vd2sy]

I rem being blown away by this on my GC back in da day. The 3ds xl version is spot on & imo looks a little bit more sharp & refined. 1 of the best games ever on GC highly rec 2 everyone after a fun ghost busting game. Another superb tech vid from my guy at DF. X

[@paytonhaywood5913]

I never got to try this game on the game cube like ive always wanted to, so im glad they decided to remake it for 3ds out of the blue it was way better than what I expected and i liked it more than the newer luigis mansion today

[@Jabutimado]

Same

[@TheChessGuy.]

the 3ds versions art was more creepy then the smooth and bright also the sound too and the ui is all better than the original. for me at least i know im bias a bit but still i would call it remake

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

​@@TheChessGuy. Dark Moon mostly didn't try to make the ghosts semi-scary. Not helping is how none of them are inherently evil, only corrupted. Also I don't think the game has an equivalent of the Telephone Room or Blackout sequence.

[@bilditup1]

...so are you playing the Japanese version of the game because you imported a JP ‘cube back in the day at launch, or because you’re a nerd like us

[@wile123456]

Daily reminder to cover the master chief collection Xbox one x patch

[@wile123456]

@vishaal sharma well the master chief patch is not new anymore and they were busy when it came out but I still hope they cover it eventually. Also your statement is not true, they litterally cover every major new game that comes out

[@FantasyNero]

Luigi's Mansion on 3DS is a Demastered a Downgrade graphics from GameCube Port

[@ShadowEl]

9:26 I thought it was common knowledge that the door opening sequences in Luigi's Mansion were a Resident Evil reference?

[@Zinkolo]

5:00 yeah I found the game to look extremely different and very plastic like with other 3ds games. I'm not a hater but I prefer the GC version for its more darker and sinister look versus the extremely plastic look..

[@StarlinkNova]

Ah, Luigi's Mansion. A game I never thought I'd enjoy when I first got my Gamecube. Boy was I wrong.

[@Dhlamedia]

John Linnenman has no shortage of imports in his library.

[@nykraftlemagnifique]

OH !!!! A Yellow Cube !!!!!!! So cute ^^ I love this console ! For me the Cube was one of the best console made by Nintendo with ... with their others consoles except the N64 I'ved never like for many reasons. Good video about this great game ! But it's very annoying to see Nintendo resell again and again their old games at a standard price (on Switch, you can be happy if you never haved a Wii U but in this case, you play at nothing ... or you have the same multiplatform games on others consoles in superior version for less money (like DooM for example etc etc). But this game is really great ! I'm happy to see it again on 3DS, it will be a pleasure to play it for those who never do it in the past ! Sorry for my bad english !

[@michaeltherapid7994]

I can't believe it Comes out Today!

[@gammaphonic]

I’m really impressed with how it looks. I can’t wait to play it :)

[@granvillimus]

The environmental stencil shadows were constantly seen throughout the original game and heavily contributed to the great atmosphere. The new textures and other alterations to the 3DS port (while an artistic improvement IMO) do not compensate for the removal of the shadow effects for me. The 3DS IS capable of doing these effects, Dark Moon still had them in rooms where the lights were off (and they still react and warp when the flashlight hits them). In addition, even the immensely less powerful PSP could pull off comparable shadow effects. In the PSP versions of Silent Hill Origins and Shattered Memories, environmental objects in dark rooms cast realistic shadows that react and warp around in real time as light casts over them. You also neglected to notice the particle effects missing in the 3DS port. On GC, tons of dust was constantly being kicked up as Luigi walks through the mansion and interacts with objects. Your movement could also interact with this dust somewhat and by vacuuming. You could even see dust floating through the beam of Luigi's flashlight. On 3DS, the dust effects are mostly gone. Only very small and non-interactive puffs appear when Luigi walks. I also noticed that textures in the 3DS port are more dithered in some cases compared to the GC original. Color gradients seem to be of lower quality and are less smooth. You can notice this even on basic elements such as the flashlight beam, vacuum stream and textboxes. It looks like a lot of elements are rendered at a very low color depth. For an easy to spot example of this in this video, check out the sky around 5:32. In my opinion, Capcom or VDDev are still the unrivaled kings of pushing the original 3DS hardware in terms of visuals. Resident Evil Revelations, the Monster Hunter series, Ironfall Invasion etc.

[@dark1x]

granvillimus The shadows aren’t exactly amazing in the GC version. Silent Hill 2 from this same year is a big step up. I agree that their absence sucks, though. Also, I disagree about the dithering. YT hides it well but 480p on GC exhibits severe dithering on everything. A lot of GC games are limited to 16-bit color due to lack of framebuffer memory. It’s a much more dithered experience on GC.

[@cscjb]

When I saw trailers of this originally I was super worried there was gonna be crap that Dark Moon had in it and that it played the same way. God when I started playing this though it's been nothing but incredible like I hoped it'd be. The Goo luigi shit is a co-op function and isn't some forced new thing. So far the game is just great in my opinion and I've been having fun with it, really makes me happy to get to play this game on a portable system now considering I got the gamecube at release with this it just brings so much nostalgia back and seeing that it was actually properly remade makes me incredibly happy.

[@GlassICE]

You have Official Nintendo Component Cables ? You must be filthy rich sir

[@bilditup1]

You know I think there’s a chance that he might have bought them back in the day for retail price. If not there are many alternatives to the official cables now (Carby and similar) that are arguably better since there is no analog conversion prior to capture

[@steelseth5774]

Last time i was this early the switch was still the nx

[@PasscodeAdvance]

Ye

[@aiden395]

One of the greatest games all time

[@retropolis1]

I love that Day of the Tentacle reference :) ... Back... to the Mansion!

[@videogameobsession]

Video footage from the GameCube w/ YPbPr cables looks excellent here. I figured it was from the Dolphin emulator.

[@nitrax8629]

The only thing that annoys me about the 3DS version is how hard you need to push the c-stick to rotate Luigi, especially up and down. Such a shame when Xenoblade and Majora's Mask handled c-stick input on N3DS much better.

[@TylerMBuller12]

Im really surprised they have not dropped support for 3ds. I guess maybe it's due to the larger install base but I never see or hear about people playing 3ds for years.

[@ElizaArtz]

3ds is still getting sales in consoles and games, so it won't be killed off anytime soon.

[@ElizaArtz]

@Walther Penne So? The Wii U is actually dead, the console isn't getting anymore restocks or being produced anymore, while the 3ds is.

[@pnwfool6043]

The question is, does Luigi's shadow still hang itself?

[@NightParadox]

Nope

[@ElizaArtz]

Different shadow engine fixes it.

[@FantasyNero]

1:04 Holy New Low Quality on the Left

[@5persondude]

Even though the Switch is getting Luigis Mansion 3, I really wish they'd put both of the previous games on Switch. Haven't played either except for the first game, but that was a rental of a scratched copy years ago. Doesn't help that the scratched copy I tried was really fucked up; in the room where you meet Egad, it never played the cutscene with him saving Luigi, it'd just play a different one where some painting would talk to each other about killing Luigi, and without the vacuum, I'd just be stuck in there until I died... thanks Blockbuster

[@cosmosarts8709]

A little change I kinda miss from the original is during the intro of the Chauncey fight. Luigi looks around scared, but as soon as Chauncey cries, Luigi momentarily looks up before screaming in fear, a very realistic delay to his reaction. In the 3ds, he just screams without turning his head before hand. A small change that is not in my favor, but doesn't get in the way of me enjoying the game.

[@Edexote]

John, you should do a Quake 3 analysis for consoles in DF Retro.

[@ErikSWE]

Video starts at 5:30

[@Jonen560ti]

8:37 i wonder if those shadows are precomputed and simply faded into the scene when a lightning flash occurs

[@HouseMD93]

I thought John was gonna say "Back to the past" instead of "Back to the mansion". Samurai John.

[@greendaydisease6931]

During the graphics comparisons I was watching the GameCube thinking it was the 3DS it still looks amazing

[@TheMarioManiac]

It’s a shame we will never see the Luigi’s mansion 1 style ever again. As seen in the LM3 trailer it’s taking a dark moon style approach ;-;

[@ElizaArtz]

Yea, but we can hope it takes after at least a little from the first game.

[@ElizaArtz]

@Walther Penne Everyone knows way, it's not just you, I highly doubt you were the first to find out.

[@sonichuizcool7445]

@2:08 how do you get a picture so crisp and smooth? This is the quality picture ive been searching to achieve forever yet not matter what i do i just cant get it. Back in 2007 a friend bought a plasma tv and it literally looked like looking through a window. Everything was ultra smooth and clear. It ruined special effects because the image was so smooth and crisp. Can someone please enlighten me?

[@grizzlyhead9812]

I’m surprised you guys haven’t done an in depth Switch game analysis in a few months (other than MM11) especially with releases like VC4, the W2 patch, and Warriors Oucchi 4 that could be interesting material.

[@XXtheJUMPoffXX]

An HD Switch remake would've been amazing

[@vaugna1620]

I definitely prefer the look of the original, but the 3ds version is pretty impressive in its own right.

[@alexatkin]

The lighting is way better on 3DS but otherwise yeah. It's impressive the 3DS version looks as good as it does though.

[@newtfigton8795]

Here’s the thing about this game’s fans: the same people complaining that it’s on the 3ds and about the changes made to the game would STILL complain about every little thing that Nintendo changed about it even if it was released on the switch. I’m glad it’s on the 3ds. Gives its owners something awesome to play! Besides, the switch crowd is getting LM3 so they should be grateful.

[@ElizaArtz]

Doesn't apply to all of us, I'm a huge fan of Luigi's Mansion, it's my favorite GC game, and I'm happy it's on 3ds, and I love it just as much as the original. People who complain that it's not on Switch are annoying, because as you pointed out, they have LM3 coming.

[@battyflaps5410]

I really liked luigis mansion its so unique in its style of gameplay and the way its put together..

[@DominicSnyder]

The game looks vastly better on the Gamecube.

[@LohTec]

Would have liked to see both games in emulators to upscale the games and showcase the differences, but good video.

[@MedIevalCyrax]

Would've been better on Switch full 1080p with 60fps

[@samuskayharding]

I think it made sense for it to be on the 3ds. dark moon was already there. if we had the port on the switch then everyone would want a dark moon port. still wouldve been nice to give the game the better hardware and wouldve given it more of a chance to succeed.

[@nameless-user]

Eh, we're getting 3 for the Switch next year anyway.

[@samuskayharding]

exactly :)

[@ethaan3164]

MedIevalCyrax But hey, it's on the 3ds, so quit whining and just accept it.

[@slainredd4339]

Ethaan The Person can’t blame him for wanting the original to look better

[@eternity9099]

I honestly prefer the original GameCube version to the new 3DS remake. I didn’t realize it until I saw them side by side. It’s crazy how powerful the GameCube was for it’s time. Holds up pretty well even today. Great game no matter what system you play it on.

[@OmegaChase1002]

luigi doesnt even look down at e gadd in that first cutscene on 3ds.

[@diegomireles]

I'll will buy that game second hand in the GC, it looks so much better in the GC I'm a little bit dissapointed by the port.

[@VideosbySteve]

John as a huge MK fan i think it would be cool if you did a DF Retro on all the versions of the original Mortal Kombat. And another video for MKII, UMK3, etc.