Slitterhead

A bizarre mix of action and body horror from Keiichiro Toyama, the creator of Silent Hill, Siren, and Gravity Rush, Slitterhead practically screams, “Not for everyone.” As Hyoki, an amnesiac spirit who must slay the Slitterheads, you can take over the bodies of different NPCs and leverage their powers. Combat can be enjoyable, but technical issues, jank, and repetition blemish the experience. It’s an acquired taste, though, and some may enjoy the body-hopping-focused gameplay while basking in the sheer weirdness of it all.

As per Nintendo, Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD, which launched for the Switch at the end of June, has sold 1.57 million units worldwide as of September 30. Previously, it was announced that the remaster had sold 1.19 million units as of the end of the previous quarter (which ended on June 30), which means it sold under 400,000 units over the course of the subsequent three-month period.

In our review of Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD, we awarded it a score of 8/10, saying, “Luigi’s sophomore solo adventure is still an absolute blast, and even though this is a fairly conservative remaster, it makes for a welcome return to the haunts of Evershade Valley.” Read the full review through here.

Alongside Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD, Nintendo has also provided updated sales figures for Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, and the Switch’s current ten best-selling first-party titles. Additionally, the console has sold 146.04 million units worldwide, the company has announced.

The top 10 also feature a couple of new releases. For starters, there’s the Nintendo Switch port of Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, which sold over 14,000 units on debut, slotting in at No. 2 in the charts. Then there’s Bliss Brain’s remastered life sim, Princess Maker 2 Regeneration, which comes in at No. 10 in the charts with only over 3,600 units sold.

Interestingly, every single game in the top 10 is a Switch title- though this hasn’t exactly been an uncommon occurrence in the Japanese charts in recent years.

On the hardware side of things, the Nintendo Switch was once again the best-selling console in Japan last week, having sold an additional 53,000-plus units. The PS5 follows behind in second place by a healthy margin, having sold over 29,000 units over the course of the week.

Software sales (followed by lifetime sales):

1. [NSW] Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD – 16,425 (138,678)
2. [NSW] Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown Deluxe Edition – 14,322 (New)
3. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 8,291 (5,900,715)
4. [NSW] Animal Crossing: New Horizons – 7,948 (7,834,703)
5. [NSW] Minecraft – 5,645 (3,565,290)
6. [NSW] Super Mario Bros. Wonder – 4,314 (1,886,211)
7. [NSW] Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door – 4,258 (202,362)
8. [NSW] Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – 4,161 (5,540,928)
9. [NSW] Splatoon 3 – 3,700 (4,329,481)
10. [NSW] Princess Maker 2 Regeneration – 3,685 (New)

Hardware sales (followed by last week’s sales):

• Nintendo Switch – 53,505 (52,725)
• PS5 – 29,313 (29,724)
• Xbox Series X/S – 760 (1,999)

Luigi is on a quest to hunt down pieces of the Dark Moon in Evershade Valley, but with various haunted mansions to explore, it’s easier said than done. With the Poltergust 5000, players can vacuum up any wayward ghosts, though some need to be stunned first. The latter can come in handy for other enemies like mummies to disorient them.

Some ghosts encase Luigi or shoot puddles to slip him up, while the others scare him senseless. Of course, the Poltergust is also used for puzzle solving like manipulating gears, moving fans or creating balloons to reach higher levels. For those who want a break from the story, there’s the Scarecraper, which supports up to four players and offers unique missions to complete.

Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD launches on June 27th. Stay tuned for updates in the meantime.

Developed by Next Level Games of Luigi’s Mansion 3 fame and based on Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon for the Nintendo 3DS, the remaster sees Luigi battling his nemesis King Boo once more. After the latter breaks the Dark Moon into five pieces, causing the ghosts of Evershade Valley to go berserk, the plumber ventures to different mansions to collect them.

Each mansion offers unique themes, layouts and puzzles to solve. Luigi also has new gadgets like the Dark-Light Device to reveal hidden doors and objects. It also features co-op in the ScareScrapper, with four players working to clear randomly generated floors of ghosts. Stay tuned for more details on the Nintendo Switch version in the coming months.

Are you ready for a spooky summer full of
paranormal puzzles? Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD comes to#NintendoSwitch June 27th!https://t.co/IIsLpCS5Rc pic.twitter.com/o94BIm0sWx

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) March 10, 2024