đ Nintendo's big change for Mario games
đ Nintendo's big change for Mario games
Plus, an exhibit you shouldn't miss if you're in the Bay Are this season.
It's good to be back. I took a few days off to squeeze in a trip to the Illinois State Fair, where remarkably little has changed over the past few decades â though at some point they started selling boba. Do with this information what you will.
Charles Martinet, the voice of Mario, to end new contributions
In the early days of Nintendoâs Mario games, after they debuted on the Nintendo Entertainment System, the main characterâs voice wasnât necessarily part of the experience. Though voice clips entered games in limited ways on the Super Nintendo, it wasnât until the Nintendo 64 that console players heard the voice they now associate with the iconic red-and-blue-outfitted plumber. (Iâm consciously distinguishing from PC games such as "Mario Teaches Typing" and "Marioâs Game Gallery" here.)
That voice in "Super Mario 64" came from actor Charles Martinet, who will end his three-decade run recording new Mario-isms, according to an announcement on Monday from Nintendo.
"Charles is moving into the brand-new role of Mario Ambassador," Nintendo indicated in a social media post. âWith this transition, he will be stepping back from recording character voices for our games, but he'll continue to travel the world sharing the joy of Mario and interacting with you all!â
Martinetâs respect from Nintendo â and fans â has been earned many times over, as evidenced by the franchiseâs success during his tenure. Of the 16 top-selling Mario games globally Martinet has been a part of 12 of them, including eight of the top 10.
Yes, there have been other voices along the way. Lou Albano (RIP) from "The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!" comes to mind. Chris Pratt, of course, stepped on for better or worse in 2023âs "The Super Mario Bros. Movie." In the realm of games, however, Martinet has been the anchor for Mario lines across the Kart, Party, and traditional titles.
His departure leaves open questions about how Nintendo will handle Mario going forward, though. Chiefly, will they cast a new mainstay, or will they leverage what theyâve got to keep Martinetâs sound intact with new scripts using AI? Voice actors doing interactive/game work arenât subject to the same SAG/AFTRA contract that is currently at the heart of the Hollywood actorsâ strike. Martinet estimated in 2021 that he had recorded more than 5 million audio files for Nintendo, which sounds like a repository that is plenty large enough for the company to attempt such a thing.
Regardless, Martinet has already made his mark on Mario for multiple generations of gamers. His continued presence as an ambassador will undoubtedly be appreciated.
Side work
On my blog: What District Judge Beryl A. Howellâs new decision means for copyrighting AI-created works
So close to dropping a big link here any day now on something I canât talk about yet
Recent side reads and watches
"Kehinde Wiley: An Archaeology of Silence" being exhibited at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, one of the heaviest and most unforgettable explorations of art, history, and life I have ever seen in a museum (on display for another two months)
"Monsters: A Fanâs Dilemma" by Claire Dederer, who avoids being predictable and fairly deals with necessarily uncomfortable questions about audiences, works judged separately from their authors, and artwork as commercial products
"X-Men: Hellfire Gala 2023â No. 1, which bookended the most-read era for me across X-titles in at least a decade with a greater density of large-scale changes-per-page-turn than I can recall encountering in a single issue