- “Hmm... You seem to have found something very special there, Luigi! I've heard that your chances of finding one of those is better if you have a lot of treasure. I get the feeling that bone will come in handy when you need it most! But that's just a wild guess. Yep, pure speculation.”
- —Professor Elvin Gadd, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon
Gold Bones are rare items found in Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon and the Nintendo 3DS remake of Luigi's Mansion. They are similar to a 1-Up Mushroom in the Mario franchise. If Luigi loses all his HP and has a Gold Bone, the Polterpup from the main story completely restores all of Luigi's HP at the cost of the Gold Bone. Different from the 1-Up Mushroom, which acts as an extra life to the life counter, the Gold Bone revives Luigi on the spot, allowing the player to continue the mission with the same progress as when Luigi fainted. Gold Bones are only active for the mission attempt they are acquired on. If the player finishes the mission, keeping the Gold Bone, it is removed and added to the total treasure stat for that attempt, increasing it by 200G; the Gold Bone does not carry over to act as a revival in other missions like a 1-Up Mushroom would.
A Gold Bone can be found in any unsearched, empty, and unimportant object when the player has obtained 200G or more. They are found especially in empty drawers, barrels, or other furniture. Only one Gold Bone can be found per mission attempt.
Gold Bones appear in the 3DS remake of Luigi's Mansion by means of the amiibo feature. If the Luigi amiibo is scanned, a Gold Bone icon appears next to his health meter. Like in Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, if Luigi's HP reaches zero while he has a Gold Bone, Polterpup takes the Gold Bone and revives Luigi with full health. Like all amiibo functions, the Gold Bone will disappear if the game is closed, and the Luigi amiibo would need to be rescanned when starting the game back up. Since the Gold Bone is not collected in-game, it does not add to Luigi's gold count even if it goes unused.
Gold Bones reappear in Luigi's Mansion 3, functioning the same way. They can be bought from Professor E. Gadd's Shopping Network for 1000G.
Glitch
Usually, only one Gold Bone can be found per mission attempt; however, in Treacherous Mansion's first mission, Front-Door Key, there is a glitch which allows two Gold Bones to be obtained at once. They will behave as two Gold Bones as well - Luigi will be able to be revived twice, or he can finish the mission with both and receive 200G for each bone (400G). To perform the glitch, the player must inspect the left suit of armor on the ground just before the last fire pit ignites. After the cutscene, the Gold Bone count on the lower left will increase to 2.
Names in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Italian | Osso d'Oro[?] | Bone of Gold | |
| Portuguese | Osso Dourado[?] | Gold Bone | |
| Spanish | Hueso Dorado[?] | Gold Bone |