We delved through Charles Martinet’s prodigious voice work over the past 25 years and picked some of our favorite Super Mario voice lines
Shouting, grunting, and yahoo-ing may sound easy at first glance, but Super Mario voice actor Charles Martinet not only came up with a dozen or more different ways to make the same sound. He also imbued each falling yell, burned overalls, and triumphant leap with an enduring sense of joy that became as much a part of the Mario series as the Koopa King and platforming action. With the news that Martinet is leaving his role as Nintendo’s iconic plumber, we delved through his prodigious voice work over the past 25 years and picked out some of our favorite Super Mario voice lines.
Charles Martinet, who’s voiced Mario in every Super Mario game since Super Mario 64, is retiring from his role
Charles Martinet, who’s voiced Mario in every Super Mario game since Super Mario 64, is retiring from his role, but not from Mario. Nintendo of America made the announcement on Twitter and said that Martinet will continue as a Mario Ambassador around the world.
Martinet also voiced Luigi, Wario, and several other characters in the Mario universe.
“Charles Martinet has been the original voice of Mario in Nintendo games for a long time,” Nintendo said in the announcement. “Charles is now moving into the brand-new role of Mario Ambassador. With this transition, he will be stepping back from recording character voices for our games, but he’ll continue traveling the world and sharing the joy of Mario with you all!”
A Nintendo representative told GameSpot that Martinet did not provide the voice of Mario for the upcoming Super Mario Bros. Wonder, which confirmed what some fans had speculated since the trailer first debuted in the June Nintendo Direct.
Prior to the Super Mario Bros movie’s release, Martinet responded to rumors about him stepping down by saying he never wanted to stop.
“I want to voice Mario until I drop dead,” Martinet said at the time. “If someday I think I am no longer capable of doing it, I will tell Nintendo to look into finding someone else.”
Nintendo didn’t say whether Martinet’s retirement is tied to his health. The Big N also didn’t say what the newly-created role of Mario Ambassador actually entails, though since Martinet regularly appeared at conventions and other celebrations to represent Mario, it’ll likely involve much of the same thing.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder and its fabulous cover art launch for Nintendo Switch on Oct. 20, 2023.
Amazon Prime Day 2023 Nintendo sales include a broad range of the best Switch games, and we’ve rounded them up in our Switch sale list
Amazon Prime Day 2023 Nintendo sales include a broad range of the best Switch games from Nintendo themselves, indie publishers, and well-known third-party games. Whether you’re after Fire Emblem, Super Mario, Pokemon, or some of the Switch’s meatier RPGs, there’s almost certainly something for you in the sale – unless you’re after hardware. Nintendo isn’t offering any discounts on the Switch itself.
These deals last until Amazon Prime Day 2023 ends – July 12, 2023 – or until supply runs out.
The June 2023 Nintendo Direct shed plenty of light on the Big N’s plans for the rest of 2023, including a new Mario game and more
The June 2023 Nintendo Direct shed plenty of light on the Big N’s plans for the Switch in the rest of 2023. Headline acts include a brand-new 2D Mario game and a Super Mario RPG remake launching just months apart. Square Enix is remaking Star Ocean, WarioWare is back in town, and there’s even a new Dragon Quest Monsters in the works.
Nintendo also teased a few new Mario projects for 2024, including a Princess Peach game and a Switch remake of a 3DS classic.
There’s a lot to see, and our June Nintendo Direct recap lists it all out for you.
Nintendo announced a Super Mario RPG remake during the June Nintendo Direct, an updated version of the SNES classic that Square Enix made
Nintendo announced a Super Mario RPG remake during the June Nintendo Direct, an updated version of the SNES classic that Square Enix first made. The Super Mario RPG remake launches on Nov. 17, 2023, for Nintendo Switch.
Super Mario RPG is often regarded as the precursor to Alpha Dream’s Mario & Luigi series, with its quirky sense of humor, colorful characters, and interactive turn-based battles. An evil blacksmith invades the Mushroom Kingdom and sets his sights on Star Road, and Mario teams up with Peach, Bowser, and new characters Mallow the cloud prince and Geno the living doll to take back their home.
And no, that doesn’t mean we’ll finally see Geno in Super Smash Bros.
It’s an offbeat adventure that takes the crew to a vibrant and unfamiliar version of the Mushroom Kingdom and its surrounding locales. You’ll visit an unorthodox version of Yoshi’s Island, see Birdo make a strong cameo, and even spot some familiar Nintendo icons scattered around, including Samus Aran from Metroid. Battles are turn-based, though like with Mario & Luigi, you can deal extra damage or activate bonus effects by pressing the right button at the right time.
While the official product page only says the game’s graphics are updated, the soundtrack is apparently getting an overhaul as well. Iconic composer Yoko Shimomura, known for her work on Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy XV, and Live A Live, is handling the remake’s soundtrack.
Elsewhere in Mario news, Nintendo announced a brand-new 2D Mario game: Super Mario Wonder, set to launch later in 2023.
Nintendo announced a new 2D Mario game during the June Nintendo Direct, a surreal adventure aptly named Super Mario Bros Wonder
Nintendo announced a new 2D Mario game during the June Nintendo Direct, a surreal adventure aptly named Super Mario Bros Wonder. Super Mario Bros Wonder launches for the Nintendo Switch on Oct. 20, 2023, and is the first brand-new 2D Mario game in over 10 years.
The last 2D Mario game on the Switch was New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe, a repackaging of the Wii U launch game with a few extra features.
Mario Wonder introduces Wonder Flowers and Wonder Seeds, which Mario can interact with and drastically change the environment around him.
“When you touch a Wonder Flower in the game, the wonders of the world unlock – pipes could come alive, hordes of enemies may appear, characters might change their looks, for example – transforming the gameplay in unpredictable ways. Excitement and different surprises await in each course,” Nintendo said in a press release.
One flower turns Mario into an elephant, another makes Princess Daisy playable, and a different Wonder Flower makes the stage come alive, complete with moving pipes and other surreal effects.
There’s a sizeable playable cast as well, including Mario, Luigi, Toad, Yoshi, Daisy, and Peach. Nintendo didn’t outright say whether that means it’ll include multiplayer functions like most modern 2D Mario games, but it looks probable, given the footage.
Nintendo didn’t give too much additional information aside from that, but did promise more details to come before the game’s October 2023 launch.
Shigeru Miyamoto didn’t think the film would do as well as it has.
Shigeru Miyamoto, the legendary mind behind nearly every iconic Nintendo franchise, is apparently quite happy with the Super Mario Bros. Movie‘s success thus far.
During an interview with Japanese outlet Nintendo Dream Web (translated by VGC), Miyamoto talked about how he thought the film would do well – but it’s going over better than expected.
“I did have a level of expectations that this movie would also do well [like the Super Nintendo World theme park], but I was very surprised that it went beyond what I could have imagined when it finally came out,” Miyamoto said. “You need some luck to achieve this level of success for a film.”
Super Mario Bros. is well on its way to making over a billion at the global box office and is already the highest-grossing video game movie ever. Despite the film’s financial success, critics didn’t love it – as evident in its 59 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Incredibly, Miyamoto thinks the negative attention actually helped.
“While many foreign critics have given the movie relatively low ratings, I think that also contributed to the movie’s notoriety and buzz,” Miyamoto explains. “I’d be happy if viewers could say that the definition of what a movie is has changed because of this film. That just shows how lucky we were.”
The Super Mario Bros. Movie came out on April 5, 2023, and is still tearing up the domestic and international box office every weekend.
The Super Mario Bros. theme is the first video game song inducted into the Library of Congress National Recording Registry
The Super Mario Bros. theme is the first video game song inducted into the Library of Congress National Recording Registry (thanks, The Guardian). The Library of Congress, an official extension of the United States government’s legislative branch, announced the classic NES game theme and 24 other songs, albums, and musical tidbits as part of “the defining sounds of the nation’s history and culture,” alongside Mariah Carey’s single “All I Want for Christmas Is You” (1994) and Madonna’s 1984 album Like A Virgin.
The Library called the Super Mario Bros. “Ground Theme,” which plays while Mario is aboveground in the original NES game, “the most recognizable video game theme in history.” The news comes a week after Nintendo and Illumination released the Super Mario Bros. Movie in theaters, which quickly shattered box office records and had the best opening five days of any animated movie, knocking Frozen 2 off its throne.
Not that the iconic theme had much to do with that success. While Koji Kondo composed the original Mario Bros. theme, much of his music and tracks from the Mario game series didn’t make their way to the film.
Other notables in this round of inductions include Queen Latifah, who became the first female rapper to have a recording admitted to the Library of Congress with her 1989 album All Hail the Queen and a set of commentaries and analysis from NBC reporter Dorothy Thompson on the state of Europe in 1939 leading up to World War II.
Universal Pictures and Nintendo are moving the premiere date ahead by two days.
If you’re eagerly awaiting the Super Mario Bros. Movie, there’s good news – it’s premiering two days before the original premiere date.
On Tuesday, Universal Pictures and Nintendo announced that the Super Mario Bros. Movie will release in theaters on April 5, 2023, domestically and in more than “60 markets” worldwide, including Mexico, France, Germany, China, and the UK. Meanwhile, it’ll release in Japan on April 28, 2023. As of this posting, there wasn’t a reason for the shift in dates.
Well ahead of Super Mario Bros. Movie’s premiere, there’ll be a special Nintendo Direct in March that will be all about the movie. Specifically, the final trailer will be shown off – so it’ll be a can’t-miss for diehard fans.
Wahoo! The #SuperMarioMovie is moving from April 7 to April 5 in the US and in more than 60 markets around the world. The movie hits theaters in additional markets in April and May, with Japan opening April 28. pic.twitter.com/CjlikfC3cu
There’s been a lot of promotional material for the Super Mario Bros. Movie recently. The first trailer highlighted Chris Pratt, or rather his take on Mario. Then the second teaser gave us a better look at Anya Taylor-Joy and Seth Rogan as Princess Peach and Donkey Kong, respectively – someone did a particularly clever N64 spin on that trailer too.
During Super Bowl 57, there was a creative teaser for the upcoming movie.
Ahead of the Super Mario Bros. Movie’s release, we got an old-school spoof advertisement for Mario and Luigi’s (totally not real) plumbing business.
During Super Bowl 57 on Sunday, Universal Pictures released a plumbing advertisement for the upcoming Super Mario Bros. Movie. Unlike the film’s first or second teasers, this one has a mockumentary vibe. It’s basically like a local business advertisement circa the 1980s – complete with a totally hip jingle.
Check out the teaser for yourself below. If you’re wondering why it’s sort of grainy – that’s apparently a filter meant to look like scanlines you’d see on old CRT televisions. The commitment to authenticity is something else!
Cute note: you can actually visit the website shown off at the end! SMB Plumbing’s page (found here) is “now serving Brooklyn and Queens,” – so if you’re in the New York area and need a pipe cleaned, book them.
“Welcome to Super Mario Bros. Plumbing! We are brothers and yes, we are super,” reads the about us page. “My little (but taller) brother, Luigi, and I were tired of dealing with spiky bosses, so we jumped at the opportunity to take on Brooklyn’s plumbing problems all by ourselves.”
TheSuper Mario Bros. Movie releases in theaters on April 7, 2023. Excitement for this film is almost palpable, with some fans even creating a trailer with N64 graphics.
