Charles Martinet
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The voice of Mario is hanging up his mustache after nearly three decades
After voicing Mario for the past 27 years, Charles Martinet will no longer be voicing the character.
Voice of Mario meets Instagram in funny clips
Charles Martinet, best known as the voice of Mario, has joined Instagram. Of course, there are lots of people on Instagram, possibly even your dear ol' Granny. Of course, Granny probably isn't walking around with a bunch of Mario figurines and making silly videos (more power to her if she is, though). After starting his account in mid-August, Martinet has already filled it with plenty of amusing clips, including Mario educating Luigi on the art of puns, Wario not understanding said puns and the two brothers being juggled by a Chilean street performer. We'd suggest you start with that one and work your way forward. [Image: Charles Martinet]
Runner 2 makes more Good Friends in Dr. Fetus, Josef
Dr. Fetus, the nefarious antagonist of Super Meat Boy, and Machinarium's robot hero, Josef, have both been confirmed for Runner 2's upcoming DLC character pack, Good Friends. Special introductory trailers voiced by Charles Martinet have been issued for both characters. The Good Friends DLC pack is an add-on that increases Runner 2's cast of playable characters by seven, due this Thursday on Steam. An announcement yesterday revealed Raz from Psychonauts and Quote from Cave Story as a pair of Good Friends.
Why Mario's Martinet is Runner 2's narrator
During a recent Nintendo event, Gaijin Games revealed that Mario voice actor Charles Martinet is acting as narrator for Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien. His performance is a break from what we traditionally think of when we think of Martinet, as it's a lot lower-pitched and less accented than the Mario family. But you can definitely tell it's-a him ... because he introduces himself."We wanted to get Charles because obviously he's recognizable," Gaijin Games founder Alex Neuse said in a follow-up interview. "We like him, he's funny, and silly, and great, and awesome. We wanted to have a whimsical character voice that's reminiscent of old cartoons. You remember those old Looney Tunes when they would do 'the car of the future!'" The visual design of the game is meant to recall cartoons, with bright, colorful, rounded visuals and angular, minimal Saul Bass-esque cutscenes.
Charles Martinet narrating Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien
I met with Alex Neuse and Mike Roush last week to demo Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien, the sequel to WiiWare free-runner, Bit.Trip Runner. Upon booting up the game, I noticed a familiar-sounding voice was behind the narration work, none other than the voice of Mario himself, Charles Martinet.I also noticed he introduces himself before the title screen so that also kind of gave it away."For the first time, we're allowing the press to talk about his involvement in the game – if you want to," Gaijin Games' Alex Neuse said at the outset of our time together at a demo event last week. "He does all the narration for all of the cutscenes and the advertisement in the beginning."The advertisement in question was a fake, jaunty little number for tooth barnacle cleaner that was reminiscent of the fake ads found in You Don't Know Jack. In total, there are about 10 different advertisements players will see, all voiced by Martinet.
Adventure Time creator loves games, you guys, and started this Tumblr
Pendleton Ward, the beard behind the cult-cute cartoon series Adventure Time, loves games. He says so right on his new Tumblr called "I Love Games You Guys," which is where Ward plans to "interview people who work on games."Apparently it's also where he plans to post adorable video game gifs, starting with Mario. Ward is gearing up for his first interview with Charles Martinet, who has provided the voice of Mario since 1994. I Love Games You Guys is a community effort, with Ward asking readers if they can help him snag contacts or make connections with interviewees in the industry.Considering there's an Adventure Time game on its way, maybe Ward should interview himself. If you have a helpful connection or just want to watch Mario stick a plunger on his face for a few hours, check out Ward's Tumblr right here.
Rare DS signed by Nintendo vets being auctioned for Japan disaster relief
Kept in a glass case for more than four years, an original model Nintendo DS bearing the autographs of some of Nintendo's key players (and two literal key players) is being auctioned off by its owner to raise money for the Red Cross disaster relief effort in Japan. The red Mario Kart DS promotional system is signed by Mario's creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, along with composer Koji Kondo, Zelda series chief Eiji Aonuma, voice of Mario Charles Martinet and Martin Leung, a pianist who performs with Video Games Live and rose to fame thanks to a YouTube video of him playing the Mario theme blindfolded. Its current owner has vowed to donate 100 percent of their profit from the auction to the Red Cross and provide proof of the donation to the winning bidder. As of this writing, there are six days left to not only get your hands on a rare gaming collectible, but do something good for your fellow man in the process. Visit redcross.org for information on donating directly to the relief effort.
Mario Sports Mix 'press conference' reveals Mario's dreams and aspirations
Mario can be quite the stoic character. So, this 10 minute interview with the Italian plumber to promote Mario Sports Mix is a bit ... jarring. In fact, the iconic Nintendo mascot sometimes comes across as a jerk.
Charles Martinet explains the evolution of Mario's voice
Charles Martinet may have the happiest job in the world: being the voice of Nintendo icon Mario. How did the actor find his voice, though? Asylum chatted with Martinet and discovered the surprisingly gruff origins behind the voice.
Shock! Nintendo developing another 'new Mario game' says Martinet [update]
Ahh, the world of social networking services, where everyone from Joystiq to Charles Martinet (the voice of Mario and many other Nintendo characters) can coyly hint at things of interest to the world. Why just yesterday morning, Martinet dropped hints at an "Awesome new Mario game." Normally such a statement would provide us little in the way of excitement, except it came paired with "And it's not NSMB [New Super Mario Bros.] Wii, and it's not Galaxy 2," as well as assuring us "it's going to be crazy fun!" Considering the recent release of Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story and the two he mentioned in his Tweet, we're fairly sure Mr. "It's a me, Mario!" is dropping his dulcet tones into an unannounced "new Mario game." We've shot Nintendo a note for some clarification and will update this post as soon as we know more. Update: Unfortunately, The Big N hasn't offered us much in the way of information, saying, "We're always working on new games and experiences, but we have nothing to announce at this time." [Via GamingTarget]
Seen@E3: Martinet works hard for the Mario voice money
The man who gives voice to Mario, Sir Charles Martinet (not actually knighted - nor a sir), was on the E3 show floor early yesterday and doing his thing. Speaking of his thing, we wanted to know if after bringing the unmistakable sound to Mario's virtual cords for the last decade if he still gets work at the Big N. Martinet told us he just recently did voice work for five games (not Super Mario Galaxy 2, yet) and flew out to Kyoto for three and two in Tokyo. He enthusiastically expressed that although the publisher sometimes reuses some of the voice, "most of the time it's usually a new recording." We asked if he has to do different voices for Mario in a tennis game compared to something like Galaxy. He told us, "It's always the same. It's always just right in there. They show me some actions and I go, 'OK.'"He tells us that most of the time he goes to Nintendo's headquarters in Redmond to do his recordings and sometimes he does it from his studio at home. All in all, over the last decade plus, he's only gone between four and six months without recording the latest "Woo-hooooo" or "It's a me." Check out Martinet's name badge after the break.
E308: WiiSpeak with Mario
Nintendo's WiiSpeak demo was one of the freakiest things that happened during E3. Basically, Nintendo had an Animal Crossing demo running in their conference room, with a WiiSpeak mic connected. In an undisclosed location somewhere else in the convention center, Charles Martinet was also playing City Folk, with a Mario-style avatar, and riffing in the Mario voice with whoever happened to wander by.Mostly, this entailed yelling at other players for messing with his flowers, and complaining about the lack of bugs nearby. I tried to interact with Mr. Martinet, but the WiiSpeak couldn't pick up my normal speaking voice (which is admittedly mousy and whisper-quiet). As I was walking away, Mario started smacking the other players with his axe.%Gallery-27704%
Voice of Mario to write autobiography
Charles Martinet, whom you may know as the voice of Mario, has decided to write an autobiography that he hopes to finish sometime next year. The book will go into detail about what it's like to be the voice of an icon and work for Nintendo.Martinet has been working for Nintendo since 1990, so he probably has quite a bit of insight when it comes to the video games industry. We're sure the book will also be filled with some profound points regarding violence in video games, like when he states, "It's up to parents and family members to know what their children are doing and how much time they spend doing it and the impact those things have on them. People playing Mario games don't make them like pasta any more."While we agree with the sentiment, using pasta as his comparison point probably hurts the argument more than it helps it. Either way, gems like that may make this book an interesting read.
Super Mario Bros. 3, Alien Soldier, and some other game to appear on VC tomorrow
Heralding the release of Super Mario Galaxy this November 12th, Nintendo plans to deliver Super Mario Bros. 3, a title which many feel to be the NES's finest product, with this week's Virtual Console update. We've already pulled 500 Wii points out of our wallet, just waiting to hand the cash over to anyone who'll give us the game in return. We'll sleep tonight with the bills gripped tightly in our fists, smiling as we dream about spending the entirety of tomorrow ensconced in a giant green boot.Treasure's classic run-and-gun boss-travaganza for the Sega Genesis, Alien Soldier, will also be available for download tomorrow, having previously appeared in North America only through the ill-fated Sega Channel. Hardcore gamers won't regret spending 900 Wii points on this one. And if they do, that speaks more to their character than Alien Soldier's qualities.On the TurboGrafx-16 side, we'll have the option of buying Power Golf for 600 Wii points. Unfortunately for Power Golf, we've already resigned ourselves to only purchasing games which feature either a Tanooki Suit or a Seven Force robot this week. Sucks to be Power Golf.
