Luigi's Mansion Bootleg Version

Hello there,

How much do you know about the game Luigi's Mansion?

Better question, how much do you THINK you know about it?

Have you ever looked up the beta version of the game?

Well I've always been fascinated with beta games. I know about them all, Super Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, Banjo-Kazooie, and many more. The changes they make from the beta versions to the final versions are quite significant.

So recently after playing Luigi's Mansion I noticed that I had no dirt whatsoever on that game. So I looked up the beta and quickly fell in love with it. I have connections with gaming stuff, my best friend being a rare game collector and my brother owning a game shop. I never actually thought about playing a beta game before till I heard my friend got a copy of the Luigi's Mansion beta.

"No way, this can't be possible" I thought to myself. "What are the odds that he could've gotten the unreleased ideas for the original Luigi's Mansion?"

Of course with him being a collector he focused more about having it in his possession rather than playing it. He knew about my love for the beta game so he let me borrow the copy of it for a little while. It was like a different game, so many things had changed between the beta and final version.

I saw a clock where the Gameboy horror was supposed to be, I knew about that feature & accepted the challenge. Also I saw the overheat meter, so I couldn't use the Poltergust for very long or else it would hurt Luigi. I was intrigued greatly by all these changes. The ghosts were different colours and the music was more 8-bit, I wasn't bothered at all, I loved it. After clearing through the first couple of rooms on the left hallway everything went normally, it played fine. Had a couple of overheating moments here and there but nothing major. I went into Chauncey's room, I sucked up the last ghost but in the process my Poltergust overheated.

"God dammit!" I shouted at the game.

Further examining the situation I noticed Luigi's head was a bit odd. I leaned in forward looking at the back of his injured, pixelated head. There was a fatal looking wound there, it was disgusting. The back of his head was blown completely off. Parts of his brain were visible and each time I walked you could see blood drip from the back of his head. It was like someone took a mace to the back of his head and smashed it violently, he dripped like a sink that was never turned off all the way. It was pretty freaky I have to admit, but he still controlled normal, everything was going along without any sort of change so maybe it was a glitch. I continued on with my journey as the back of Luigi's head dripped small drops of dark red blood; I went into the parlor aiming to clear the rest of the rooms on the second floor. I walked in and a lamp exploded, it made me jump but I was aware of that add on.

The freaky thing was after the lamp exploded; Luigi screamed and covered his face for a brief moment. I spun him around seeing what was wrong and his face was cut. Little spouts of blood trickled down his cheeks yet he didn't seem bothered. It spewed out a little as if someone had turned on a water fountain of pure maroon coloured blood. Now I'm getting creeped out, but still it was very intriguing to me. I walked down the hallway that would be deemed as the beginning of area two. I saw a puff of cloud behind me, and then out shouted a ghost as Luigi was scared off his feet. He began to do a reverse crabwalk across the floor in terror, another concept I knew about so it didn't feel out of place to me. After Luigi arose from his cowarding position, I walked to the basement area. Luigi walked down the first staircase then I tried activating the sliding ability, so he did.

Luigi Slid down the stairs but landed on his feet with his ankles shattered on contact. A thunderous crack was heard; he screamed loudly and grabbed a hold of his leg rocking back and forth. "Odd;" I said to myself rather perplexed at the situation, he stopped holding his leg and a cutscene triggered. The camera was focusing on Luigi with frontal view and the stairs stood behind him. He slowly grabbed the rail and stood up. Then Luigi started mumbling to himself "no, no, NO NOOOOOOO!" the camera panned over to show an armada of ghosts in the corner.

They all fled after turning around to see Luigi screaming in disbelief and horror. From there it unveiled the body of a very dead and rotting Toad. The top of his head looked like a giant had taken a bite out of it; maggots crawled through the freshly opened gap in his head. Half his face was missing, the left side had the flesh ripped off showing just bare bone. His jaw was dislocated and hung askew while his head leaned against the wall unable to support its own weight. Clearly he had been dead for quite some time, but what were the ghosts doing there? Feeding? It bothered me though so I sat there, controller in my hand, with sweaty palms, and panting heavily as if I had undergone a marathon.

Should I go on or should I just leave it alone? Sitting there watching the cutscene that took only a couple minutes felt like hours. Just contemplating on what to do next felt like a psychotic idea, but I may not ever have a chance at this again so I kept going. There was only one other place I could think off that I hadn't been too yet: outside. Luigi was a mess, the bleeding had slowed down as did his movements. The blood had only dripped every few seconds rather than with each step. His foot was sideways yet he walked normally but slower as if experiencing that thing we define as pain. Filled with curiosity I figured that it was one of those times where it's better not to ask questions.

As I made it back to the Foyer, I stared at Luigi, again his eyes sunk. His face looked as if it were melting plastic. I grabbed open the door to explore the outside world and look at what else was out there. Unfortunately, I couldn't get to walk more than three steps outside before a cutscene triggered. My fears had risen as I placed the controller in my lap and covered my mouth with my hands. My heart sped up and I didn't know what to expect next, I knew the beta was scarier than the original but I never dreamt it would be this much more adrenaline filled.

Luigi opened his mouth in shock, the camera turned from a frontal view of Luigi over to Bowser standing in front of a tree. Bowser had his back turned then looked over his shoulder. He stood out of the way of the tree as it showed Mario torn to shreds hung on the tree like a sick holiday decoration. An arm stuck through a branch, his torso sliced in half with all his organs swept out lying on the floor, his head lay on the top like a star to a Christmas tree. The lightning flashed as it showed a more detailed image of Mario's face. His eyes were rolled in the back of his head, his mouth drenched with blood, his moustache had been ripped off like a band-aid, his skin hanging in pieces as if someone had dragged a cheese grater slowly across his face. That was it though, the cut scene ended.

Next thing I know Luigi is standing back where I left him, his hands grasping his head whilst looking down at the ground. If he squeezed any tighter it looked as if it could pop. I glanced over at the Gameboy horror, noticing the timer was speeding up drastically and suddenly my 24 hours were up. After the timer was up, the game over cut scene started, showing Luigi's lifeless face. The very same face that stays in your mind and haunts your dreams each night. The lightning flashed again showing his dismantled face with a gash diagonally from his right eye to the left side of his mouth.

It continued to play but this time showing things from Luigi's point of view. Luigi looked down at his hands as they started to slowly go transparent and fade away. He grabbed the Poltergust and thrust it off his body and placed it on the ground in front of him. A small tear rolled down Luigi's cheek as he held the nozzle directly at his face and hesitantly turned the Poltergust on. He screamed loudly and my speakers began to fill with static, he was slowly spiralling into the very device he fought the ghosts with. The Poltergust rocked back and forth sucking in what was once its master until he was completely engulfed inside the machine. The camera zoomed in on the device for a brief moment then a hand reached out and grabbed it. It was a frail old hand by none other than our friend Professor E. Gadd. He grinned violently with his baby tooth looking almost sharp enough to cut through flesh. He walked off with his creation and all its captives.

The screen went black and the sound went quiet. As the fading transition desisted it showed a painting on the gallery wall, but a painting of none other than Luigi. Luigi was standing there holding his head down with his face looking half melted and blood stained. Behind him was a crowd of ghosts reaching for him ready to get there revenge for now and the rest of eternity. I sat still too scared to move when suddenly I noticed something.

A cloud of smoke was ascending from my Gamecube, I panicked stood up and backed away. Within seconds it burst into flames. I darted out of my seat and filled a glass with water to douse the burning hardware. The fire was extinguished and the smoke filled my room. I walked over to open the windows and air the place out then sat back in my chair. I leaned in to grab the Gamecube, I yanked it violently out of its place so the cords split. Not like it mattered anyway it was broken, but when I opened the disc slot to search for the beta disc it was vacant. I looked at the wreckage from what was once my Gamecube and it was completely empty, I peered in closely and saw the words "Luigi's Mansion" was burned into the disc slot.

The next day I met back up with my friend the collector, I asked him where he got the beta for Luigi's Mansion but all he did was look at me puzzled and said "What beta?" I spent countless hours trying to tell him what happened but he didn't believe me. I tried showing him the words etched inside my Gamecube but I couldn't find them. The Gamecube was still a wreck of course, but it was nothing more than an overheated, worn out ruins of an old Nintendo product.

Well I guess the old saying is true. "Curiosity killed the cat" or in this case, my Gamecube.

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