My hypothesis is that the Luigis Mansion series comes at the end of the Mario timeline.
**Exhibit A-**
This line from Madame Clairvoya (45 seconds in)-
[https://youtu.be/iXH-Y-Jltkc](https://youtu.be/iXH-Y-Jltkc)
“Is Bowser somewhere in this mansion? I cannot believe it…I thought that Mario had soundly defeated Bowser! Has King Boo somehow **revived** Bowser?”
She talks as if Mario killed Bowser and its bewildering that he’s still alive.
We of course later find out that King Boo is using a mechanical Bowser suit.
**Exhibit B-**
Bowser is not referenced **at all** in Luigi’s mansion 2 and 3. Bowser is in almost every single game that Mario is in. I’m struggling to think of a Mario game without bowser post the original gameboy era. Even if he’s not a major character, he’s still usually referenced somehow.
**Exhibit C-**
You never see the real mansion Luigi was able to buy with the money from Luigi’s Mansion in any of the other games. Nor do you see Polterpup, who becomes Luigi’s pet dog by the end of 2. He’s a ghost, so its not very likely he’d die in between games or something…You explore Mario & Luigi’s house several times in the Mario RPG’s and never see Polterpup either, and Luigi still lives with Mario at that time and has not moved into his mansion.