Headscratchers / Luigi's Mansion 3

• Why is this game called Luigi's Mansion 3 if it's set in a Hotel? Wouldn't it be called Luigi's Haunted Hotel instead?
  • Because brand recognition. Besides, the previous game was called Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon even though none of the mansions that Luigi had to explore in that game belonged to him.
  • Even then, only the first and last mansions were actually mansions. The other three were a hotel, an abandoned clockworks, and an abandoned mine.
  • Also, hotels and Mario don’t have a positive connotation.
  • Maybe the hotel used to be a mansion.
• Speaking of the Last Resort, was it an actual luxury hotel before the events of the game? It's established to have been used as a trap for Luigi but was it a functioning hotel before?
  • Maybe. The intro shows the bright colors of the hotel slowly fading, transforming the hotel into a dark and sinister one. Then again, that could just be part of the trap.
  • Hellen Gravely seems to consider the ghosts as part of her staff and the ghosts do react with sadness when it’s destroyed at the end, so it means more to them than the fake mansion of the original game did. It probably was a functional hotel for ghosts before Hellen decided to disguise it and use it as a trap for Luigi and Co. For all we know, it was a normal hotel that they lived or worked In while they were alive that they decided to haunt in death.
  • I picture the hotel as being something akin to Hotel Transylvania, with Hellen Graveley as a Dracula analogue. She clearly doesn’t hold much love for Luigi and E. Gadd, so she could run the hotel as a getaway and a sanctuary for fellow ghosts, where they can take refuge from any ghost hunters who might be trying to capture them.
  • Plus, if the hotel had only been created to lure Luigi and his friends there and then capture them straightaway, there wouldn't have been any need for any of the floors besides the first and fifth one. That they're all completely furnished even though it didn't aid Hellen's initial plan lends itself to the notion that it was a real hotel before the events of the game.
• What happened to Polterpup's eyes? In Dark Moon it had blank white eyes like all the other ghosts due to King Boo destroying the Dark Moon, but when the Dark Moon was restored, all the ghosts regain their pupils. Here its eyes are blank again.
  • Out of universe, because people mostly preferred how the Polterpup looked without pupils, as after so much time seeing it ingame it suddenly having pupils felt like Unintentional Uncanny Valley. In-universe, it could be that he's far enough away from the Dark Moon now that it's no longer affecting him, but it likes Luigi anyway (and the Polterpup wasn't really evil in Dark Moon anyway, just annoying due to his playful nature; he even revives Luigi if you have a gold bone).
    • And even without the Dark Moon, it was said that the behavior of the ghosts in the second game was exacerbated by King Boo’s powers. If the Polterpup was also subject to this, it could explain why he’s still helpful to Luigi in this game even without the Dark Moon nearby, just so long as King Boo isn’t actively affecting him.
    • Also, considering that Luigi doesn't freak out in the bus upon seeing him without pupils, we can assume that it's not the first time it happened. He either took him on other trips outside the Dark Moon's range or the magic already wore off at home after a while.
• E. Gadd mentions he was also given a fake invitation and he brought along his ghost collection only to be tricked and have his ghosts released. He even tells Luigi all the ghosts he captured from previous games are gone. So where are they? Surely they wouldn't hesitate for to challenge Luigi again for revenge.
  • The ones from Dark Moon would probably try to return home and the Dark Moon would calm them. The ones from the original were pretty chill; E. Gadd even states that he had caught them all before then they were released, yet we see them mostly just lounging around instead of going after E. Gadd. They probably just want to be left alone.
  • Alternatively, it's an early-game Sequel Hook.
  • E. Gadd says in Dark Moon that he sold King Boo’s portrait from the first game at a garage sale, so he might’ve done so with the rest of the portrait ghosts Luigi captured, which is why they’re not around. And he released all of the non-Boo ghosts that were captured at the end of the second game, didn’t he? Since they’re harmless now that the Dark Moon is back in place. If that’s true, then the only ghosts he’d still have contained are the regular enemy ones from the first game and the Boos from both the first and second games.
    • Speaking of the regular enemy ghosts in the first game, we don’t really know if and for how long they were still around after being captured, since they aren’t shown being put through the Portrificationizer and we don’t see them contained anywhere else in E. Gadd’s lab. Considering they were said to be artistic creations of Vincent Van Gore, maybe they weren’t really stable enough to survive being vacuumed up by Luigi, or they just phased out of existence after Van Gore was defeated. So the Boos mentioned below could be the only ghosts E. Gadd had by the time of this game.
  • There are at least two Boos in Luigi’s Mansion 3 who have the same names as Boos that were captured in the first game — Kung Boo and GumBoo. They, at least, could be the same ghosts making a reappearance.
    • Make that four Boos. There’s also Boogie and Booigi making a comeback from the first game.
  • Considering a remaster of Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon is being developed for Switch, it's possible that ties could be included to explain this, the same way Gooigi was inserted into the 3DS remaster of the original Luigi's Mansion.
• The Boo names for the Great Stage and the Dance Hall are Boogie and Boosician. Given the stages' themes, shouldn't it be the other way around? It's been consistent for all of the other stages, but these ones seem like they were somehow reversed.
  • A GameFAQs user suggested that maybe the floors themselves are the things that got swapped, basing this on the fact that Wolfgeist is allegedly a more complicated boss fight that would be better suited to the higher floors of the hotel where the dance club is. I reckon it's possible that the locations of the Great Stage and the dance club were swapped for some reason during development, but then they forgot to swap the Boos along with them.
• Most of the floors make some lick of sense but why is a castle inside the hotel? There are plenty of implications that this is a functioning hotel for ghosts so why a castle?
  • It's probably a reference to theme attractions, like the Medieval Times franchise of restaurants that put guests in a castle environment with jousting shows accompanied by a meal. The fight against the king tales place in front of a kitschy cardboard audience, suggesting it's just an elaborate tourist experience.
  • Consider also, that there is a real-life hotel in Las Vegas that has a small but fully functioning circus in one of its floors, and there is another one that actually is medieval themed. A fancy hotel with a hokey tourist attraction taking up a full floor isn't exactly unheard of.
• How did the disguised ghosts appear opaque at the beginning of the game?
  • They're wearing clothing and face masks, so they aren't really "opaque" so much as they are "covered." Hellen, meanwhile, puts on a copious amount of powder in front of Luigi's face, which implies that her skin (and the other ghosts' skins) is similarly "covered" by a thick layer of makeup. You can find their costumes around the hidden areas of the first few floors, implying the costumes to be separate from their ghostly appearance.
• I always wondered why King Boo doesn't just follow Luigi down the laundry shaft in the beginning of the game. He's a ghost and could've easily followed Luigi down the shaft just simply phasing through it. This is a guy who is hell bent on trapping Luigi in a painting after having his plans foiled by him in the first two games.
  • Likely because Hellen Gravely convinces him to let her capture Luigi for him and show how useful she and her staff could be to him. During the Final Battle, King Boo mentions how pissed he is that his minions were incompetent and he had to do everything himself. And considering how easily he recaptures everybody (except Luigi, of course) he can afford a few Bond Villain Stupidity moments.
  • I suspect that King Boo was also scared of confronting Luigi on some level, which is why he waited until the last possible moment before deciding he had to. If he could always have captured him as easily as he almost does in the ending, then it doesn't make sense why he would leave it up to Hellen Gravely and her staff for so long, since after a certain point, it becomes pretty obvious that he could've done it faster himself. I don't buy him doing it only to let them prove themselves to him, is what I'm saying.
• Most of the boss ghosts can be classed as hotel staff or hired entertainers and are pretty neatly justified. But where does that leave Ug, Serpci, and Johnny Deepend? Are the latter two guests of some kind being commanded by Hellen? How did Ug get there and under her thumb? The floors fit the hotel okay, but those ghosts don't.
  • Assuming the hotel is an actual hotel (for ghosts, of course), and not just an elaborate trap, Johnny Deepend could be a guest who frequents the gym. Perhaps he was offered an unlimited gym membership if he kept the button safe.
  • Considering Ug is fought in the museum(there actually are hotels with museums) and first appears possessing one of the exhibits, it's possible he was just stuck in those bones for some time until Luigi inadvertently freed the caveman.
    • He was given an elevator button, though, so must have been in on the villains' plans.
    • It was actually Toad who had the elevator button, implying it was hidden in the painting with him rather than given to Ug to guard it.
    • Even with that, though, Ug still knew enough to have the T-Rex skeleton devour Toad's painting when Luigi came for it, implying he was aware of the plan, if not explicitly involved in it. And it would've been rather odd for Hellen to give Luigi an elevator button with no strings attached. Most likely, Ug is primarily there to add a bit of authenticity to the museum exhibits, and is only violent and unruly because we only see him from the P.O.V. of a ghost catcher.
  • As for Serpci, she could be an important guest as well.
  • I picture the hotel as being something akin to Hotel Transylvania, with Hellen Graveley as a Dracula analogue. She clearly doesn’t hold much love for Luigi and E. Gadd, so she could run the hotel as a getaway and a sanctuary for fellow ghosts, where they can take refuge from any ghost hunters who might be trying to capture them. Serpci is seems like the kind of Egyptian (-esque) spirit who awakens from her slumber to subject people to the perilous traps of ancient ruins, so she’d probably have real need of a safe haven like the Last Resort, where she can literally rest in peace.
  • If he's not a regular guest, Johnny Deepend could also be some sort of coach or trainer who works at the fitness center.
  • Here's my theory. Johnny Deepend is a coach/trainer (like the person above just said) and Ug could be a tour guide for the museum who dresses up as a caveman in order to make the tour more entertaining. Serpci, I think it depends on the intended function of the Tomb Suites. She could easily be a somebody dressed up to fit the theme of the floor.
  • The long and short of it seems to be that Steward is the bellhop, Chambrea's a housekeeper, Kruller's a security guard, Soulfflé's the chef, Wolfgeist, King MacFrights, Nikki, Lindsey, Ginny, and Phantasmagloria are entertainers, Potter is the gardener, Morty's a film director, and Clem's the mechanic. Johnny Deepend's position isn't crystal-clear, but he's on such a normal floor of the hotel that he could safely be classified as either a coach/trainer or an especially loyal guest. Ug is animalistic and the museum low-maintenance enough that neither would require much in the way of supervision or authority; he's most likely only stationed there because it's his "home turf", so to speak. And given the context of the Tomb Suites, Serpci just seems to be at the hotel as a guest.
  • Steward, Chambrea, Clem, Chef Soulfflé, Kruller, the Polterkitty and Hellen Gravely are from the Last Resort. They work in the hotel (or are owned by someone working in the hotel in the case of Polterkitty). All of the other boss ghosts are “guests”, that were let out of the Ghost Canister with King Boo when E. Gadd was tricked into coming to the hotel. He likely caught them using Gooigi between the events of Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon and him being invited to the Last Resort by Hellen. Many floors seem to have been given makeovers to suit the ghosts residing in them.
  Professor E. Gadd: I got an invitation from someone claiming to own this hotel. They said they had a precious collection of ghosts, gathered from all over the world! No self-respecting ghost researcher would pass up on such an appealing offer, obviously! I accepted their invitation, but when I arrived… The invitation was only a ruse! They captured me and took my precious ghost collection!
  • Except there’s no sign that E. Gadd recognizes any of the ghosts you capture. You can’t conclusively say whether any of them were or weren’t on Hellen’s staff before or how recently the floors were made to line up with them. In particular, it seems unlikely that Hellen and King Boo would capture E. Gadd, then put their plans on hold for several months in order to renovate large parts of the hotel when doing so serves no purpose in capturing Luigi. (Who, if you recall, she didn’t expect would run away once he was cornered.)
• What was going on in the final cutscene? King Boo's been defeated and Luigi is holding his crown (which is a giant jewel). The ghosts escape from their containment cell, and then apparently they want to grab the crown for some reason, and then the crown disappears for some reason, and then...Luigi makes friends with the ghosts? I don't understand. These are the same ghosts who spent the whole game trying to beat up Luigi.
  • The jewel from the crown is heavily implied to be a power source like the one from Dark Moon (if not the same one), which among other things controls other ghosts. Exactly why the jewel disappears is unknown, but once it does there is a brief moment of the ghosts kind of shaking themselves awake before becoming friendly. It's harder to tell due to the retcon with their eyes, but outside of Hellen and Polterkitty, it seems they were controlled in a similar manner to the Evershade ghosts, and the removal of the gem snapped them out of it.
    • In regards to the eyes - not a retcon. The Last Resort is located outside the range of the Dark Moon, so the ghosts wouldn’t have pupils whether they were being controlled by King Boo or not. Only ghosts within the Dark Moon’s range gain pupils.
• What happened to the Boss Ghosts in the ending? Other than Hellen and Polterkitty, they're all conspicuously absent during the ending scene and credits montage. It seems a bit weird that they're not acknowledged at all.
  • As far as I've seen, there isn't a concrete answer to this. The only evidence I've found is that one of the images during the ending is of King Boo trapped next to Hellen Gravely in the Vault. In the regular game, that space is usually occupied by DJ Phantasmagloria from the Dance Hall, so one interpretation is that the ghosts were let out and allowed to occupy the new hotel, on the promise that they play nice with Luigi, E. Gadd, and the others. Though it is still odd that no part of the ending includes them.
• So, what was the Polterpup doing when he was not aiding Luigi? Having his own adventure? Still trying to help him off-screen? Or simply screwing around, since the entire hotel has more or less become his playground of a sort? It baffled me somewhat that Luigi woke up in his room alone and investigated on his own immediately with his dog nowhere to be seen.
  • Helpful as he is, he's still a dog and a ghost. He's very easily distracted as a dog in a new place and right at home in the hotel as a ghost. The other ghosts seem to mostly ignore him, so it's not like he's ever in any danger before the end. He's probably just roaming around, enjoying himself and checking in on Luigi every so often in case he needs Polterpup's help or give him attention.
    • That still begs the question why Luigi doesn't tell him to go fetch him important items like keys and new equipment whenever he's around, given that the dog seems smart enough to know that the darklight device is important for instance.
    • For the most part, Luigi doesn't know precisely where keys and important equipment are located, and when he does, it's just about a guarantee that Polterpup isn't with him considering how rarely their paths cross. Also, Polterpup sniffed out the Dark Light device on his own, presumably owing to the fact that he's seen Luigi use it before; there's no indication Luigi telling him, "Go and find me the key to this door" would work.
• How exactly did Toad manage to get a driver's license? The opening cutscene shows he's barely tall enough to look over the steering wheel – and this also raises the question how he copes with the pedals.
  • If you look closely when everyone is getting off the bus, the pedals are indeed raised high enough for Toad to reach them. Of course, whether Toad has a license or not is another question but then these are the same people who have kart races through cities with heavy traffic, often carrying items including Bob-ombs that can send the vehicles blasting upwards.
• Who was the angry golfer staying on the fifth floor?
  • The Toads were also staying on the fifth floor and looking at the colour of the luggage, the keen golfer is possibly Red Toad.
• Why is the bus a model with left-hand drive? Since we know from the Mario Kart-series that the Mushroom Kingdom uses right-hand traffic, shouldn't the bus have the steering on the right? Of course there's no info if the Last Resort is even located there. But if that's the case, then it seems off that the Princess spent the extra money just to import and repaint one bus from around New Donk City. Unless she suddenly decided to change RHT to LHT between games.
  • This is one that's a bit tough to justify in-universe — it's probably a detail that just slipped past developers and thus is best just ignored as a blooper or something similar — but the out of universe reason is that the Mario series is usually Japanese-developed. This one was developed in the West. In both cases the Devs just used the driving orientation that they themselves are familiar with.
  • You can drive a left-hand drive vehicle in a country with right-hand traffic as long as you’ve got proper paperwork for it.
• Why are there so many Strobulb-activated things inside the Last Resort? Hellen doesn’t seem like the type to be a fan of E. Gadd’s work, and ghosts are adverse to the effects of the Strobulb anyway. But her hotel features suitcases, safes, secret rooms, vending machines, popcorn poppers, and probably some other things that seem reliant on the Strobulb in order to function.
  • It's possible that Strobulb technology isn't just for ghost related stuff, but could be something E Gadd put out to market as a security system or something along those lines. After all, we do know from the Virtual-Boo joke that he does put inventions out there on the private sector. Maybe Strobulb security has gotten ubiquitous enough that it was needed to sell that the hotel was legit, or maybe as a play on Gadd's pride when they lured him over.
• So, I know things like the museum and the medieval attraction inside the hotel can be justified, and even the Egyptian floor is referred to as a set of suites (although the traps and ruins seem a little out of place)...but is there any precedent for a film studio — not a movie theatre, an entire studio — being inside a hotel?
  • I don't believe so, a least not a permanent one as shown in game (I imagine movie shoots, depending on time and complexity, may take up some temporary space during the duration at times.). That said, if we consider the Hotel a Hotel Transylvania sort of setup as previously theorized, maybe the studio was made specifically for Morty in a similar vein as the Pyramid Suites apparently being made specifically for Scerci. He's a movie director to his very core, so it's likely that the closest thing he can do to resting in peace is continually making movies.
  • In addition, Paranormal Productions is apparently a holdover from when the game was going to take place within a Hollywood-type setting. So there's at least a solid out-of-universe reason why it wouldn't completely mesh with the hotel theme. Plus, Morty being able to make movies within the hotel is worth some entertainment value to the other ghosts — they probably premiere at the Great Stage when he makes them so that everyone has a chance to enjoy them.
• Now that Polterpup is officially Luigi's pet, the inclusion of gold bones seems to make less sense to me. I buy it that in the predecessor (and remake with an amiibo), it essentially helped the ghost to track him down, then eat it, revive him and run away before Luigi has a chance to capture him. The same deal in this game, minus the capture of course, only that Polterpup probably arrives too late without its scent to guide him. But what about the instances where he actively accompanies Luigi, like the second hunt for Polterkitty? Does he just sit there and watch him die if the plumber doesn't have a gold bone with him? Sure, the game would get too easy if he could be revived endlessly with no worse for wear.
  • Maybe Polterpup doesn’t realize that his actions help revive Luigi; he just does it because he likes and is grateful for the bone.
  • Alternatively maybe the bone itself is required for him to be able to revive Luigi, rather than being an incentive or a lure or a calling method or something.
• In another instance of "Why is this hotel like this?", why are the Boilerworks accessible through the same elevator that guests would ordinarily use? It doesn't seem like you'd want your hotel guests to have access to the building's entire boiler and sewer system.
  • The driving force of the game is that the elevator buttons have been removed from the panel; it's possible the B2 button is always like that. Clem keeps with him, installs it whenever he needs to leave the Boilerworks, and then removes it when he returns. Plus, since everyone at the hotel is a ghost, it's not like the presence or absence of the elevator would keep them out of areas they aren't supposed to be in.
  • A lot of real hotels have employee only floors accessible via the elevator, albeit with the need to use a key or scan a card. It could be like that, and because Luigi was supposed to be captured Hellen either forgot or couldn't be bothered to activate the mechanism.
• So the ending implies that King Boo was using the power of his crown to control all the ghosts like he did in the second game. However, doesn't this clash with what we're shown in the rest of the game? We see Hellen shouting orders at a pair of Goobs at least once, and after she's captured, the ghosts continue to do the same mundane hotel things that they've been doing — they'll attack you if you go near them, but they don't seem hardwired to go after you or engage in any sort of destructive behavior. So in what sense was King Boo controlling them, and for how long?
  • Hellen is abnormally powerful for a ghost and unaffected by King Boo's powers, or he's deliberately exempting her so as not to cloud the mind of a useful willing servant. The rest of the ghosts while they're certainly under King Boo's control are less mindless soldiers and more kind of obediently spaced out because of how their will is being overriden. Unlike the ghosts in the first game who were creations designed to be hostile or living obstacles hiding keys needed to progress these ones are just regular if dead people going about their day in a sort of haze due to the mind control. They need specific orders to do much of anything since they're being controlled and while stuff like "protect this" or "attack him" are easy complex search and capture orders are too much.
    • To be clear, the blurb about Hellen was pointing out that the ghosts were still being given orders despite supposedly being mind-controlled, not questioning why Hellen herself was still free-thinking.
  • Another explanation is that King Boo only took control of the ghosts after Hellen was captured by Luigi, since that was when he needed to step in and take charge. Or the gem just has a very powerful aggressive effect on all nearby ghosts when it's not being channeled by King Boo's crown, hence why the ghosts all try to make a grab for it once he's gone.
  • After watching the intro to the game, I noticed that her necklace seems to have a glowing gem on it - one that looks similar to the one on King Boo's crown. Perhaps King Boo gave her that gem in order to allow her to control the lesser ghosts?
• This is probably a stupid question but it just annoys me. During the boss fight with Clem, if your raft pops, Luigi has to blow up another one. As in, he puts the mouthpiece to his lips and inflates it using air from his lungs. This wouldn't annoy me that much, but in the Great Stage, Luigi has to use the Poltergust to blow into a tuba to acquire the Purple Gem. Why doesn't Luigi use the Poltergust to blow up the raft?
  • Maybe the Poltergust is just too powerful to properly inflate a regular pool floatie. It could end up popping it if Luigi were to try.
  • It's also probably easier to force some air from a vacuum into a tuba's mouthpiece than into the comparatively small inflaty-hole thingy of a pool floaties.
  • I think Luigi might not have realised of doing that
• If Hellen wanted to kill Luigi so badly, why didn't she just have someone cut the elevator cables while he was inside it and send him plummeting down to the bottom of the shaft?
  • King Boo wants him alive, just imprisoned, not dead so doing as you suggest would upset King Boo. The only reason Hellen is doing any of this is for King Boo's approval.
  • The elevator crash wouldn't be enough to kill him if it were to fall from one of the lower floors, though, which are all Luigi has access to starting out.
  • Disabling the elevator as a means of capturing Luigi is something King Boo could do on his own, and with hardly any effort. If that's the best example Hellen can fathom to show how useful she and her staff can be, all it proves is that they aren't worth relying on. It's like an exterminator trapping a mouse in a cage that was all set up, with the mouse inside, before they even got there, and then expecting a reward for that.
• Why would E. Gadd send a single Toad out into hotel to look for the Super Suction part? He knows the Toads have all been captured already, there is no part of the hotel that's ever completely safe from ghosts, Toad has no way of defending himself, there are areas that can only be navigated safely by Luigi and Gooigi, E. Gadd needs the Poltergust at the lab anyway in order to install the new part, and he sends Toad to look for it at a point where Luigi has hit a roadblock and requires the new part in order to proceed — so it's not as if he had something more important to be doing. Why didn't E. Gadd send Luigi instead of Toad? And for that matter, why would Toad have agreed to go?
  • Toads in this series seem to be servants to their core. They work for humans, driving the bus, carrying luggage, etc. E. Gadd probably told him to get the part, and he tried without question. Why E. Gadd told him to is less clear, but might have something to do with his... eccentric nature. He dosen’t seem quite sane.
  • Maybe he assumed there would be no more ghosts in there since Luigi already cleared it, B1, and 11 other floors making him too far ahead for ghosts to try anything there.
    • This seems especially likely considering we’re talking about the boilerworks. Most of the ghosts in previous areas are just minding their own business enjoying the hotel’s amenities, not actively hunting for Luigi. And who in their right mind would spend their leisure time in the hotel’s trash-filled underground sewer system? Of note is that Toad appeared to find the part he needed without incident and was almost back to the elevator when he ran into trouble.
  • In addition, Toad was already captured once before, and the worst thing King Boo did was stick him in a painting for Luigi to find. And the hotel staff (and King Boo especially) have bigger fish to fry than some random Toad down in the boilerworks. As for sending Toad before asking Luigi, we don’t know exactly when Gadd sent him out. It’s very possible Luigi was fighting a boss or doing some other important thing at the time. Best case scenario: Toad makes himself useful and saves Luigi a trip to a previous area. Worst case scenario: Luigi would’ve had to go to that area to get the part whether Toad was in trouble or not.
• How can Johnny get stuck in the pool drain? Can't he just phase out?
  • Maybe he's connected to the water and can't pull away from the drain since that's where the water is.

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