After being left thoroughly impressed by Luigi’s Mansion 3’s E3 2019 demo, I got to chat with the game’s two leading developers: director Yoshihito Ikebata, and Nintendo’s legendary Kensuke Tanabe who is overseeing the project (and others).
In a wide-ranging chat on the game and their work at Nintendo, I got to ask about features left on the cutting room floor, the possibility of Labo support, and how online play will work (following confusion over Nintendo’s offering for Super Mario Maker 2).
But my favourite parts of the interview were where things got, undeniably, a little silly. Prompted by a much-reported E3 remark from Nintendo of America’s Bill Trinen, I asked the pair why they thought Luigi was so popular with a female audience. I also pressed Tanabe on the current status of a character he was involved in the creation of – Birdo – and another upcoming Nintendo sequel he happens to be looking after – Metroid Prime 4.
What did you want to change from Luigi’s Mansion 2 for this sequel?
Tanabe: I wanted to change the setting. And, for me personally, I was not a huge fan of the boss battles in Luigi’s Mansion 2. I want people to feel excited fighting them, that’s something I was focused on.
Ikebata: We were really fortunate to have so many people play Luigi’s Mansion 2, so making the third version – it had to be different. This is why we added the new action elements like the Slam and Burst. In addition, we have new hardware from the 3DS, and I wanted to take advantage of being able to hand a Joy-Con to someone else.
And why a hotel, not another mansion?
Tanabe: With the overall hotel structure and different floors, we wanted players to be able to visualise how the hotel was set up. So, for example, if there’s water dripping through the ceiling, maybe there’s a bathtub upstairs and you should look up there. Having that kind of three-dimensional exploration is something we put a lot of focus on.