In 2013, Luigi’s castle fans rejoiced when the sequel to the 2001 GameCube classic finally launched on the Nintendo 3DS. Now, thanks to a new video from Did you know how to playnow we know that Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon it was heavily inspired by no less than the iconic British sitcom Mr. Bean.
According to the video, developer Next Level Games experimented extensively with the sequel’s format during early pre-production – including trying out a detective format and flipping the top-down hack ‘n’ slash Glove – but it was Shigeru Miyamoto who encouraged them to keep the spirit of the original title intact, albeit with a more episodic format.
As such, the team spent a lot of time watching Mr. Bean and ended up shaping most of Dark Moon’s humor around the sitcom’s central character. Luigi would actually take on the role of the ‘hapless fool’ who would later become a rather reluctant hero. Honestly, now that we know this information, the similarities between these two characters are incredibly obvious.
Watch the full video above for more facts about the Luigi’s Mansion franchise. Meanwhile, Dark Moon itself is getting a remaster in 2024 for the Nintendo Switch, simply called Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD. Not much is known beyond its initial announcement and a rather vague ‘Summer 2024’ release window, but we’re looking forward to learning more.