Charles Martinet talks Mario
A chat with the world's most famous plumber
The head, the Mario head...
Oh, now it's full-bodied, too.
It reminds me of the start of Mario 64, when you could pull the ears and the nose and stuff...
Yeah... [chuckles]
I was maybe 11 or 12, but it changed my entire childhood. There was before that point, and after Mario 64. It was phenomenal...
It is remarkable, isn't it? I think that's the great thing about Nintendo - one of the many things that I love so much. I think Mr Miyamoto is such a creative genius, and has so many great people working with him that get into the wavelength of his ideas. Every once in a while something comes along that revolutionises gaming: Mario 64 going into three dimensions, the voice, the playfulness, the different villains - the adventure of it was just so magnificent! And then Super Mario Galaxy completely revolutionised gaming to me, again, and then now with the New Super Mario Bros Wii, I don't know, to me it's like a revolution in gaming because there, you know, you have this co-operative mode. You can play completely co-operatively, [in the Mario voice] "okie dokie, c'mon Luigi, get the Yoshi, here comes the Yoshi!" [in Luigi's voice] "I got the Yoshi" [back in Mario's voice] "Careful, you can't jump across, I'm gonna help you! Here we go!" Or you can play completely competitively, and things just go insane when you do! I love it.
I told my cousin I was coming here today, to speak to you, and he was so upset - he's like 4 or 5 - when he found out he wasn't coming as well. How does it feel knowing the character affects children that much?
I have to say, I think it's such a profound honour - and a joy as well - to be able to play the character, to do what I love to do in life, and to just know that people really enjoy that. What I do is so small compared to the rest of the company! It's remarkable how much work they do, and for me to come in and do the voiceover and get so much recognition for that, it's really very humbling.
I took a peek at your Twitter account and noticed you'd said you were playing Mario Kart. Do you always pick Mario?
You know, it's so funny, I really do! And I don't know why. I love that character so much.
He is a good all-rounder...
Oh, he's the best! But I have to say, remember Mario Kart: Double Dash?
Yeah!
You could pick the two babies, and put them in their crib, and their secret weapon was the chain chomp. That made me laugh so much. I love Mario Kart.
What do you think the Wii has given gamers?
That's a great question. It's given gamers so much because, oh, so many reasons! It's opened gaming to whole worlds of people that were never gamers before - Wii Fit, and different games that are not Mario games. But it's also made the space for Mario games to be even better and, for gamers, you know, think about it, you're really interacting, jumping into the game now like never before. It's fantastic. Everybody wants to emulate it - and why not? It's brilliant. What has the Wii brought the world? A massive number of wonderful, great games. And for people that develop games it's given them an amazingly creative platform to do it on. And there's more to come!
No doubt. Why do you think other developers can't do it? If you look at Microsoft, they make some great games, but they've tried family-friendly and failed.
You know, I don't know anything about that sort of thing. To tell you the truth, I'm a voiceover actor who plays videogames. In my world as an actor there's no competition. I can go to an audition with 100, 200 or 500 people, but if I go there competing with them I'm not going to get the job because I'm going to be looking for what the producers wants, or what the director wants to hear. So I come and I bring myself. The better I express myself, and the joy that's in me, or whatever I see in a character, then I can get the part more readily. I have no idea if that applies to business. What I can say is that Nintendo makes wonderful games - that's their focus.
How do you see the whole family playing New Super Mario Bros. Wii?
Oh, it's going to be so much fun! When Mum and Dad and Daughter and Son are playing the game, you know, [voice of child] "come on Mum, get that Yoshi!" [voice of mother] "I don't know honey, I don't know how to do it!" [voice of Dad] "Let me show you, do it like this." It's gonna be sweet. Crazy fun [laughs].
Finally, any tips for anyone aspiring to get into the games industry?
Do what you love to do. Follow your passion. Find out - explore your world, you know? You can make the map to your own future. If you want to make videogames, you can do it. Find the passion for it, and then pursue it. Once you're actually doing it you leave the self-consciousness behind. Life is short, and it goes by so quickly - you should be having fun.
Our thanks to Charles Martinet, who managed to help us out by taking a backup recording of the interview that proved essential later on. Phew. New Super Mario Bros. Wii is released on 20th November.
