he second you hear Mario's voice, you know who's on screen.  (Click here to download MP3)  Last week we got the opportunity to speak with Charles Martinet, the actual voice of Mario, Luigi, and many other characters from the Mario universe.  Find out how how he got the job, how the voice over business works, and what it's like to be the voice behind Mario and friends.

Game Informer:  So, do you actually have an official title at Nintendo?

Charles Martinet:  No, I’m the guy that does Mario.  (laughs)

GI:  What are all the voices you do?  I know you do more than Mario.

CM:  I do Mario, Wario, Luigi, Waluigi, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, and the occasional sort of person like the tour guide in Mario Sunshine, and the little native guys.

GI:  So how’d you actually get the job – to get the original job to be the voice of Mario?

CM:  I actually crashed the audition.  A friend of mine said, “Hey, listen, they’re doing a trade show and they’re auditioning for this plumber, and you should go audition for it.”  And I thought, oh that would be interesting.  I had never crashed an audition in my life, and I walk in and the guy is putting the camera away – it was Ralph Miller by the way – was putting away the camera in the box, and I said, “excuse me, can I please audition for this?”  He looks at me, pauses, looks at me, and then looks at his watch, and looks back and goes, “OK.  Listen, it’s a trade show, you’re a plumber from Brooklyn and you’ll be talking to kids all day, so I’ll start the camera and you just make up a video game or talk about anything you want, and you’re going to talk all day so just talk, and then whenever you’re finished, stop.”  And I’m sitting there thinking, now what does a plumber from Brooklyn sound like?  Obviously (deep voice) “Hey howya doin?”  And he’s got the butt-crack and all that.  And I thought, well that just doesn’t seem right, and it should be more fun and entertaining.  This is what was for the MIRT as it’s called – Mario In Real Time system (Click here to download MP3) , which is what they use at trade shows.

GI:  This is like what you have at E3?

CM:  Those days it was surgical points that were glued to my face and the way I would move my face when I talked would make Mario in the same time with a slight sort of delay with all the sound stuff.  And I’m sitting there thinking to myself, Plumber – Brooklyn, what does it sound like?  That seems harsh and gruff, and I think with children you want to be fun, playful, and more joyful, and all of a sudden I hear, “Action!”  And what came out of my mouth was, “Hello, it’s-a-me, Mario!  Woohoo!  Okey-dokey, letsa make-a-pizza-pie, you go get some linguini sausage, I’m a gonna get some spaghetti meata-balls, and we’ll put it on the a-pizza-pie.”  And I sat there making up this video game about making this pizza pie, with everything including the kitchen sink in it, and I didn’t stop talking until the tape ran out.  (Click here to download MP3) That was the only tape that Ralph Miller sent up to Don James at Nintendo.  He said, “I found our Mario.”

GI:  This is before Mario 64, right?

CM:  Yeah, that was several years before Mario 64.  I guess if Mario 64 was in ’96, that’s nine years ago, it was another four years before that.  It’s amazing, what a great run!  It’s been so much fun!

GI:  So is that the favorite part of your job?

CM:  Oh, totally.  I love Mario.  I love the response of Mario.  I love the playfulness, the joyfulness of it.  Doing it in a real-time environment is super fun, as well as doing the games, of course.  The guy that invented the technology, Mike Fusco of Sim Graphics Engineering in Pasedena, created it now so I can do it from my house in Sausalito via the Internet to anywhere in the world that has a cable modem.  So we’re at the Toys R’ Us in Manhattan all through Christmas season and all through the new year and I’m sitting there in my office in the morning, seven days a week, just sitting there looking at one monitor, and one computer screen, and I’m seeing everybody in New York, and the other computer screen I’m seeing Mario, and I got my game controller in my hand, and I’m running the animatic of it.  “Hello, it’s-a-me, Mario!  Oh, I like your pinka hat!  I like my red hat too!  Ooh! Mama Mia!”  And these children in New York are responding.  The most beautiful thing is, is Mr. Miyamoto is such a genius.  Because he created this character that some how it’s on a genetic level that people identify with him – on a DNA sort of level.  Little children look at it and smile.  They look at Mario and smile, and point.  (In Mario voice) “Hello little baby, Mama Mia!  You’re so beautiful!”  You know, it’s so fun. All the people from all different ages just laugh and have a great time, it’s incredibly fulfilling and fun work. (Click here to download MP3)

GI:  So you can see the reaction while you’re at home, and obviously respond in real time back to that.  Kind of like what you do at E3.

CM:  There are certain ages of people that are so sweet, and there’s no disbelief to suspend.  They see you, and play as you as a videogame character,  and they walk up and start talking to you as though as they’d talked to you every day of their lives and, (in child voice) “Oh Mario, I went to a birthday party today, do you want to see what I got at the birthday party?”  And they pull it out something and (in Mario voice) “Oh look you got a little band for the wrist”  (child voice) “It’s a wrist band”.  (Mario Voice) “That’s really nice, what else did you get?”  “Well I got a rock, do you want to see the rock?”  “Oh yeah, show me the rock.”  “Wow, that’s a nice rock!”  It’s so sweet, the suspension of all possible belief.  Complete joy in life.  It’s fun to be able to play with that.  (Click here to download MP3)

GI:  So for the job of voice work, so back in the day with Mario 64, did you go to Nintendo to record your voices?  Was it all taped?

CM:  We still, to this day, I fly up to Seattle from San Francisco, and I arrive first thing in the morning, get a taxi, or in the old days I rented a car, and drove to the studio and we’d talk about the script and watch some movies, and these little top-secret tapes and things, and then we’d have sushi lunch and then we’d record.  We’d order sushi, start recording, sushi would come, have lunch, and then continue recording all through out that day, and then next day, as well.

GI:  Do they give you lines or do you improvise?

CM:  Both.  We do a script, and the guys that I work with – the creative team at Nintendo – Bill Trinen, Leslie Swan, and all those great guys, they have so many ideas, I come up with ideas, and of course there’s the script to go off of.  So we go to the script first, and then bounce some ideas and start playing, and they hear me do something and think of something new, and I hear them, and think of something new.  We have this great playtime.  It’s really fun.  (laughs)

GI:  I was telling you earlier, the only time I met you prior to this was at E3 and they were showing Mario Sunshine.  I had just played through the game and you walked up to me and I didn’t look at who you were.  And you asked me, “Hey what did you think of the game?”  I was just focused on the game, because I’m a big Mario dork, and I said,”It was really fun.”  And you said, “Do you think Mario should talk more?”  Because Mario really doesn’t say a whole lot, you know?  And I said,” No, because I know Miyamoto wants you to kind of imagine him in your mind, and have that be the voice.”  And I turned to you to see who you were, and was really embarrassed.  Because I knew you were the voice of Mario.  Now, do you think Mario should talk more?

CM:  I think it’s just right, you know?  Some people think more – some people think less.  I think it’s just right.  It’s just perfect.  It’s just such a great character, and you’re right, there’s so much left to the imagination.    I was just doing my sort of informal, sort of survey on things.  You shouldn’t have been embarrassed! (laughs).  That was such a great game, and I love that game.  We had recorded things, and it’s so funny because I forget that we record everything, and I want to play and to do everything when I’m in the studio.  So I said, can I read the tour guide part, and can I read this guy, and can I read the little native. And you know all the guys, Bill, Nate, and Leslie are like, “Okay, okay, go ahead, one more, or you can’t play all the parts, stop, stop!”  But they let me do the tour guide and I had completely forgotten about it and they’re flying in and (in tour guide voice) “Welcome to the Isle Delfino!”  And I’m like, oh that’s me!  (laughs)  It's hilarious.  (Click here to download MP3)  

GI:  So what are some of the other weird voices that people won’t believe that that’s you?

CM:  Well that’s a weird question, I don’t know.  Baby Mario and Baby Luigi – that’s a stretch.  (laughs) You have to play the games and find out, you know?  (laughs)

GI:  Do you still go up to Seattle or do you record things at home, too?

CM:  I have a studio at my house, and I’ve recorded things, but usually we fly out for games because I watch animation sequences and things like that.  They have to point to me things they want and where and so it’s good to be in the studio. 

GI:  Do you work with Mr. Miyamoto?

CM:  I’ve met Mr. Miyamoto many, many times over the years and he is the nicest most amazing person.  When you think single handedly of any person in the videogame industry of who has had an impact, it’s Mr. Miyamoto.  He’s as kind and considerate and humble a person I’ve ever met in my life.

GI:  How do you come up with the voices?  What do you think of?  Do you just kind of roll with it?

CM:   You know, I always look at the character and what they’ve got in their face and what they have in their eyes, their jaws, their teeth, and things like that.  If they’ve got little beady eyes, they might sound more like that (gruff).  Big throat, they might sound like that (deeper).  There’s just that something, sometimes it’s the color of their clothing.  (Click here to download MP3) To me, I think voicework is all play.  So it’s being playful no matter what you’re doing.

GI:  Voicework wasn’t your main job, originally, was it?

CM:  I used to do a lot more video work, and now I do mostly voice-over work.  In those days I used to do corporate videos and some 600 of those – training films and videos.  I do a lot of voices now with toys, and software, and games.  It was really fun doing the Lord of the Rings series – I did all of those videogames.

GI:  So, outside of Mario and Lord of the Rings, where else could we have heard your voice?

CM:  Leap Frog – the learning pads, you know, “A for Apple”, I did the very first product Leap Frog ever did.  And other different video games around the world, I’ve done over 100 of those.  I did this toy once that ends up in the sort of cheesiest tourist shops in the world – this guys stuck inside a barrel.  You never know where you’re going to hear my voice, and I didn’t know either, and somebody bought this little scratch bear, that you scratch and it goes, “Oooh yeah, scratch me,” and that was me.  (laughs)  Oh, god. (laughs) So yeah, lots of different places.

GI:  What’s your favorite part of being the voice of Mario, and his friends?

CM:  My favorite thing is seeing how people love that character.  I love the way people respond to Mario – in real time and in the game situation.  How people all over the world – we do shows in Mexico, and I’ve worked in England, France, and people love the character so much.  It’s such a profound part of their life.  That to me is such a tremendous honor, to put the voice to that playful, joyful, loving person.  When we do it in real time, and absolutely a rule to me in comedy, is that I never hurt anybody with anything that I say.  Just don’t do it – any character – the good guys or the bad guys.  You just don’t do it because you want to have a good impact.  I think being able to do that is great.

I hope in the future we can work with the Starlight Foundation, which Nintendo brings their consoles and games to hospitals.  Hopefully I can do some of the work with them somehow, and help contribute in getting some more of those fun centers, because those things are really great.