We have a message for fans of the Mushroom Kingdom. Please take a look.
Charles Martinet has been the original voice of Mario in Nintendo games for a long time, as far back as Super Mario 64. 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 to travel the world sharing the joy of Mario and interacting with you all!
It has been an honour working with Charles to help bring Mario to life for so many years and we want to thank and celebrate him. Please keep an eye out for a special video message from Shigeru Miyamoto and Charles himself, which we will post at a future date
This makes me worried, Charles they he wanted to voice Mario until he died. I’m hoping the video clears things up.
Yeah I don’t really want to hear Chris Pratt every time I play a Mario game from now on.
Snap, unless he’s copying Charles’s iconic Mario sounds (ya-hoo), he’s entirely forgettable as a voice actor.
Hell, he’s even forgettable as an actor. Period.
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I like him as Starlord
He was wonderful in Moneyball, but then again so was everybody in that movie
Agreed, he knocked that role out of the park but other than that, he’s very generic. I don’t dislike the guy, all said (his ad-libbed lines in P&R are some of the funniest lines in the show).
Granted, the only Mario games I’ve actually played was SMB on the NES and Odyssey, so I don’t have the same attachment to the character as some, but I still don’t get the hate Chris Pratt got for that role. The movie wasn’t anything really special, the character was fine. But people were freaking furious.
Because Pratt isn’t a good voice actor. Really though, there were few standout performances in that entire movie, so he wasn’t alone in that. It’s almost like they picked the cast based on who can only play themselves, not on who would be a good choice. Princess Peach, Luigi, and Bowser were the only real solid performances in my opinion.
And Luigi barely got screen time!
It had less to do with Pratt and more to do with it being a radical departure from the established character of a very nostalgic and beloved character. It would basically be the same thing if Pratt was chosen to voice Micky Mouse or Bugs Bunny.
It’s also compounded by the fact that the Mario fan base, for good reason, loves Charles Martinet. Just see comments here for evidence. So pulling out a generic sounding Hollywood frontman felt like they were focusing on sales over source material. Which is true, but will always upset longtime fans.
He is 67 now, probably just decided to slide into retirement. Or maybe he’s having a hard time even doing the Mario voice as he ages.