Mario voice actor Charles Martinet spoke with Games Radar and Retro Gamer magazine about his work as a Mario voice actor throughout the years.
Mr. Martinet initially appeared as Mario in the Nintendo 64 game Super Mario 64, which was the franchise’s first 3D entry. He was questioned about his most memorable recording sessions throughout the wide-ranging discussion. He couldn’t exactly name one, but he did speak about his favorite Mario games and how much fun he had playing them.
Favorite Mario Games
That taught me something, when, ‘Mr Miyamoto would like you to play Mario in a game,’ and Mario 64 came along, I had five years plus of the great invention and what I was going to do in my mind to put into the game. We were like a little intrepid expedition here, {Mario} whoa whoa whoa. Now what happens if you fall on the thing, something like it’s, ah, {Mario falling} Waaaaaaah! That was such a playful, fun exploration. But then each one. Galaxy. {Mario} Yay!
Just the joy, the thrill of that flying, and the fun. And then Odyssey. Oddly enough, it was like a tribute to the past and the future, it was wonderful. And like, Sunshine. Those are my favourite games, times five or so, Super Mario 64 for that first experience of being in there, and Galaxy. Mario Kart was another one. Sunshine, where we were gaining our footing on how to keep that character really going in that exploration and joy. So those two games started it, and Odyssey is such a continuation. The new, the magical, the fun.
About Charles Martinet
Martinet has been voicing Mario since 1990, when he began doing so at video game trade exhibitions where visitors would come up to a TV screen with a 3-D Mario head that moved around and chatted. SimGraphics in Pasadena created the Mario in Real-Time (MIRT) technology. [7] Martinet was able to observe the guests via a covert camera setup, and a face motion capture apparatus captured his mouth motions in order to synchronize Martinet’s mouth movement with Mario’s lip movement on-screen. Martinet’s hilarious act, along with the digital puppetry, was a unique experience at the time.
Martinet got the position when a friend informed him that there would be an audition at a trade exhibition where candidates would “speak to people as a plumber.” He arrived at the audition late, as the casting directors were already packing up their belongings. “Can I please read for this?” Charles Martinet requested as he went in.
“You’re an Italian plumber from Brooklyn,” the filmmakers informed him after allowing him to audition. Martinet had intended to speak in a thick, raspy voice, as if he were a stereotypical Italian American (which is how Mario sounded in the Super Mario Bros. Super Show, The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World cartoons). He then reasoned that it would be too harsh for children to hear, so he softened it and made it more welcoming, resulting in Mario’s current voice.
