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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.
It's-a-me, Martinet! Signing your DS!
DSes with signatures of Nintendo luminaries come up now and then, but a system with a moustachioed smiley face on it signed by a secondary figure like the voice of Mario is a rarity. eBay seller mus_ne is auctioning off this white DS Lite autographed and WooHoo!!!-graphed by Charles Martinet, for, well, rather a lot of money. It does come with screen protectors and a "DS Lite Cotton Sock," which ... still doesn't make the thing worth $400.Just think: with this DS, you can be reminded of how Martinet totally ruined the Super Mario Advance games even when you're not playing the Super Mario Advance games.[Via GameSniped]
Martinet: SMB3 to hit Virtual Console tomorrow
While we usually have to wait until Monday to find out the week's new Virtual Console releases, the folks over at GoNintendo got a special late night news tip treat from none other than Charles "voice of Mario" Martinet. In a voice mail, Martinet confirms that Super Mario Bros. 3 will be available on the Virtual Console tomorrow, along with the Genesis' Alien Soldier and the TurboGrafx-16's Power Golf (a.k.a. two filler games that no one cares about when placed next to freakin' Mario 3).One of the best-selling and best-received games of all time, the Virtual Console release marks the fourth official version of the game, including 1993's Super Mario All-Stars and 2003's Super Mario Advance 4 (and don't forget the awesomely unofficial hack, Mario Adventure). Will you be buying yet another copy, or just using this excuse to crack out a classic version?
eBay alert: DS Phat signed all over
Up for grabs on eBay is a DS Fanboy's dream: a DS signed by not only Shigeru Miyamoto, but also Satoru Iwata and the voice of Mario, Charles Martinet. Why would anyone want to get rid of such a priceless beauty? Turns out, school loans. But all of the money won't be going to school loans, as the seller will be setting aside 25% of the profit to go to Child's Play. At the time we were writing this piece up, the current bid was $330.00. We have a feeling that'll be going much higher before the end of the auction on the 19th.
