Earlier this year Charles Martinet, who voiced Mario for decades, retired. After weeks of speculation about his replacement, Nintendo revealed the new voice actor with little fanfare. What gives?
(…)
“We want people to enjoy the gameplay experience, and if they enjoyed the voice behind the gameplay experience, that’s what’s most important to us, not necessarily highlighting [Mario’s actor],” Bowser told WIRED last week.
Call me a cynic, but this also greatly reduces the bargaining power of the voice actor. If he’s not THE voice or Mario, it’s far easier to replace him than it was with Martinet.
I think it feels like a more fair approach to the new actor tbh. “Hey everyone here is the new guy replacing the legend you all know and love!” is probably not a better approach than letting the professional’s work speak for itself.
All this concern over the guy who says “wahoo” and “it’s-a-me, Mario” is fascinating. Seriously it’s never been more than a few lines. Why is any of this such a big deal?
Honestly, I think the situation was handled excellently. Feels like a miracle that I’ve not heard any stories about the new guy getting death threats, after the reaction to Charles not voicing Mario in the movie, and the love for him in general.
Mario fans are either kids experiencing the magic for the first time, or 30 year olds holding back a tear because after all those years, Mario still hits that little spark left inside that makes you feel alive with nostalgia. We are too busy smiling to make death threats.
Sonic fans though, get the hex value for the color of his shoes wrong and you’ll wake up with the sounds of 3 and a half people throwing feces at your window.
That Bowser is a foe. He giving interviews to distract from placing the princess in another castle.
I feel like a weirdo for a) not being able to tell it’s not martinet, b) not caring that it’s not martinet, and c) never really liking Mario sounding like Italian Mickey Mouse in the first place
