Luigi’s Mansion should be gamified the same way and anyone who’s played the arcade game will agree with me on this. Reuse the tech from Mario Kart for AR ghosts but everything else is sets and animatronics.
I disagree with elements of this. We are in total agreement that the Luigi's Mansion arcade game, with its' unique controller and immersive haptic feedback when sucking in coins and ghosts is literally perfect for a theme park attraction and should be brought over 1 to 1.
However, that game itself already exists, and can be played for like, $5 at an arcade? I don't want to see digital versions of these characters in a Luigi's Mansion E-ticket Universal ride. Give me some practical effects, some well put-together vignettes and show scenes, an animatronic Luigi.
The
absolute least I can hope for is a significantly improved version of the Mario Kart AR that isn't constantly extremely blurry and jittery; in addition to being a ride that feels full and complete even with the AR goggles removed.
I always see people say "Just take off the AR goggles and Mario Kart is a great dark ride!", and I just can't understand that at all. Mario Kart without AR is the blank canvas of a great dark ride. It feels like
the background art of a Lego box without the actual Lego pieces or piece counts included to actually bring the space to life and fill everything out. There's maybe one or two big immersive effects per room, but the ride moves so slowly to facilitate the game that those effects really do not end up being enough. It feels scarily reminiscent of Navi River Journey for me in that way.
MiB: Alien Attack shows perfectly how expansive, kinetic, and complete an E-ticket shooting gallery can look. The action of sucking in a ghost is significantly tougher to emulate properly in a practical way. Though, I'd argue far from impossible. A little wiggling animation, some unique up-lighting, and good sound-design could emulate that run-away struggle while you point at them, before dimming the nearby lights and lowering the animatronic slowly for a moment would sell it imo.
If they don't go that direction, I don't think it's too much to ask that the sets feel alive and full without the AR goggles. Throw in some interactable physical props. Make a side table rumble slightly if you point at it for a few seconds. A floating plate that spins faster if you try to suck it in. The absolute minimum is making it feel at least as engaging as the Cat in the Hat dark ride, which currently I don't think Mario Kart without gameplay / AR actually ends up that much better than.