I heard a theory with Kit and Krysta that made sense to me: Kevin Afghani has been with Nintendo for a long time working under a trusted VA corporation that Nintendo likes to hire, mostly because it’s cheaper to hire voice actors that way and because the face of the person doesn’t look bigger than the character itself. Most likely Charles was a bit more expensive to work with plus he is as famous as Mario sometimes and Nintendo wanted to separate the actor from the character while saving money and having more control over their IP which is what they love.
The idea that Charles Martinet is "bigger than Mario" is completely absurd, I'm sorry. I'd be willing to bet that the overwhelming majority of people who know who Mario is (at least 90%) do not know who Charles Martinet is. You're being hysterical. Mario is a household name. Charles Martinet is not.
@@firstnamelastnamesb You’re right, he isn’t, I was thinking that line will get too much attention as I was writing it but I left it in anyways because the point still is he is pretty known in the Nintendo community nonetheless, and Nintendo wants us to focus on the IPs not the actors.
This is exactly what I was thinking. They probably just wanted to keep costs low. Perhaps Charles demanded too much pay; Nintendo can easily find an imitator who will accomplish a similar performance for less money.
i'd be surprised by this because of how much the JP voice acting industry keeps all related VAs in contact for future projects because they somehow always will have the OG VAs reprising roles for stuff no matter what, UNLESS the actor has passed on of course. OR if they find out that an actor EVER did drugs in their entire history of living, they are replaced quite quickly. they take that shit EXCEEDINGLY seriously for some reason. BUT this is a unique situation since Charles isnt part of the JP voice acting industry, which means the same rules probably do not apply for efforts to keep him as the voice until he passes on.
I really don't like how folks try to bring up Charles' age and act as if he HAD to retire. Plenty of voice actors are older than him and still play their iconic roles to this day. Peter Cullen is 83 and still voices Optimus Prime even now.
I totally agree as Cullen has been playing Prime since the 80's and that's who most people see as Optimus Prime just like John Erwin who was Adam/He - Man in the Filmation cartoon is who you associate with that role, you could go on forever with the many characters and the VA's associated with their roles
dude going to eventually pass on with age that just how life is, most people need to take off rose tinted glasses and realize everything is not meant to last forever but the memories will live on
Yeah. The constant "Let him retire" thing I kept seeing from people in his "defense" almost felt like it'd be unintentionally insulting for Charles, like...did he say he wanted to retire? Because if yes then okay, but if he hasn't shown that he even wanted to do that yet then it's not doing him any service to say that, and if anything could be unintentionally insulting his capabilities, or even depending on what actually happened behind the scenes could be going directly against his wishes, as we simply don't have enough info to rule that possibility out. That could very well be, in a sense, people "forcing" retirement onto him when he doesn't actually want or have to, for all we know (which is very little one way or the other).
I met him at a collect a con last year at the very end of the very very long day and he talked with 3 of us for awhile and took the time to have a conversation and answer questions I asked. Super nice guy and seemed genuinely interested in talking to fans.
Fr, for me it's a huge red flag if someone actually hate him, there's is absolutely nothing not to love about that guy and personally, he really is my hero with or without his cap!
This is very on brand with how Japanese corporate culture works. It's actually very difficult to get fired. In most cases, you just suddenly find that your duties are changed to something less desirable, but either way, you'll no longer be doing the job you started with. We saw this with Hideo Kojima; when he ended up on Konami's shit-list, instead of firing him, they simply put him a tiny office, took away his internet access and forbade him to attend the game awards for his own game. Understandably, he quit not long after, and Konami got to save face.
I wonder what it would be like if they tried that with a Japanese man with the mentality of a boisterous man from a western country. It would be hilarious to see the culture shock of a Japanese man just saying “I’m staying where I am and you can shut the **** up and get over it.”
Yeah, shows like Aggrestuko made a clear example of, "I want to get rid of this old individual in the company, but he's still competent and still wants to keep his job. So, we just put him into an office where he does very little. We pay him the same. But his old ego/honor will be insulted in due time and just leave on his own." It's very scummy. But we establish that Nintendo operates differently from most companies, so technically, you're not wrong, but we'll have to see if that's really the case with any future development happens. At the same time, Nintendo is allowed to not hire him for whatever reason they feel like as long as it doesn't sound like it's based on any discriminating reasons. What I'm assuming and this is just me. Since He knows how to make a peak Mario voice, they're using his expertise to basically set auditions to anyone who can pull it off the same way as he can. With his approval, they don't have to do it themselves.
I'd be careful about bringing Kojima up in this context given that he is just as if not more guilty of replacing popular and legacied voice actors for literally no good reason. Kojima actually did David Hayter even dirtier than Nintendo did Charles Martinet, pretty much just because Kojima has a fixation on Hollywood and likes to find reasons to network with celebrities.
@@CrypticMantisTX55Kojima didn’t picked or replaced any voice actor personally, he’s in the Japan side of things, not America. This is a dumb, fan knee jerk reaction that completely ignores he doesn’t take care of the localization, that’s Kris Zimmer. She’s the one that has taken care of the voice cast since MGS1 for the English versions (of a Japanese game, mind you). For MGSV Kojima for the first time got directly involved with the casting due to it using Hollywood actors for the first time as well. David Hayter isn’t comparable with Charles Martinet, who was Mario’s voice all over the world.
I truely believe this is Nintendo being their conservative selves. Since they can't guarantee he can fill the role for the next 30 years, they needed to switch.
@@Sir_Psych it just comes off as strange to me because that's so counter Japanese. They really respect the roles of voice actors and normally never change them until the voice actor is physically unable to perform the role. Furthermore when this does happen they would even go so far and make the character they voiced mute and without a voice if they can help it. This whole situation is just unprecedented to me.
@@blues4509While it might be nothing even close to this... I just imagined these japanese dudes trying to "do it the way americans are used to", set up a years long timer for Charles' career, then bam
i actually met him (for a second time) September 2023 and got to talk to him for a bit at his booth to get a selfie with him. i told him i was sad to see him go as the voice of mario, because nobody could replace his talented work. and his response was a lot more candid in tone and while he didnt outright say any answers to what actually happened, it was abundantly clear to me that he was disheartened himself that he wouldnt be reprising the role anymore. it was in the tone and look he had when he replied "yeah... thank you.. its just how it is sometimes... but at least i still get to meet the fans!" a lot of what you proposed feels plausible. and i can certainly agree that it wasn't his choice. before this video i only thought maybe nintendo was looking at how much they were paying charles for each game and figured they could get somebody to do it cheaper. but the theory you proposed feels stronger.
If you ask me, I always saw the "Mario Ambassador" title as something of a badge of honor for Charles. Like "Thank you for your service, you played a huge part in bringing Mario to life", and also tangentially had the added perk of having Nintendo's blessing of attending cons and meeting fans and stuff like that whenever there's Mario-related activities going around (such as game announcements and the like).
@@codahighland My best guess is Nintendo wants to take Mario in a pretty different direction (probably what their next mainline Mario game is gonna be), and they no longer saw Charles to fit what their vision was. But who knows for sure.
I doubt there was any severance pay beyond paying Charles to show up in that hostage video and pretend everything was okay. The title itself is just a nothingburger. If anything, it was a veiled threat. "Do things our way, or we might sue you for doing something you don't need our permission for in the first place!" Nintendo really is disgusting.
Charles was absolutely treated that way. Nintendo simply wanted to save money by not paying him anymore. Even Charles doesn't know what 'Mario Ambassador' even means. Are we even sure he gets paid at all anymore? Or does 'Mario Ambassador' simply mean Charles has the permission of Nintendo to do his voice impressions in public without being sued?
@@N.i.E.M.O That is such a foolish thing to say with zero evidence. Charles didn't know what Mario Ambassador meant at the time when he was asked what it was, not anymore. If Nintendo simply wanted to save money and not pay Charles anymore they would've just quietly replaced him. You do realize as Mario Ambassador Nintendo pays for his travels yes? They're literally still paying him, he still works there so how is it that they just don't want to pay him anymore? Mario Ambassador let's Charles still be the face of the Mario brand and get paid to attend conventions and do the voices if he does. It's not just some thing so that they can't sue him if he wasn't in that position, they just gave what he already did an actual job position at Nintendo. Along with the celebration they had for him, that's extremely ignorant of you to just say "they absolutely treated Charles that way." Grow up
The same thing’s happening in the animation industry. Look at the new ATLA movie coming out. They threw out the OG cast like they were yesterday’s garbage, forgetting that it is the voice which provides the heart and soul to these beloved characters. Jeremy irons said he would’ve loved to return as scar in live action; in the upcoming SpongeBob film, Nickelodeon is pissing away money to have Mark Hamill voice the Flying Dutchman despite his current voice being perfect. Voice actors are simply not respected anymore, and it’s because industries are always looking for star power. It’s exactly what the late and great Robin Williams feared when he agreed to play the genie in Disney’s Aladdin, that traditional voice acting would be overshadowed by the film industry’s biggest stars.
@@cmguiyyt816 Did you even watch the video? Nintendo clearly soft-fired him. Charles is sad he doesn’t get to do the voice anymore, and was vocal as to how he wanted to keep going. Nintendo absolutely threw him under the bus. Reading your comments made me want to vomit, they’re so defensive of nintendo. Stop going to bat for them when all they show is contempt for you.
If anyone doesn't care about the age of an actor as long as they can perform, it's the Japanese, many child and teenage characters are voiced by pretty old people, which makes it even weirder that Nintendo would just leave Charles like that out of the blue...
My theory is that Nintendo doesn't want the character of Mario to die with Charles. I also wish they didn't let him go, but now that they have, I only wish the best for the new VA.
Sure, I wish the best for him but he's just not as good as Charles at those voices and I don't think he can become as good. This is resulting in a degraded product which is very unfortunate.
They could've also just kept Charles Martinet for as long as possible and then have Kevin Afghani be trained by Martinet in the meantime so that Afghani can take up the voice of Mario once Martinet is gone. That's what Disney did with the voice of Donald Duck going from Clarence Nash to Tony Anselmo, and if one of the most iconic voices in cartoon history can get this kind of treatment, then so should the most iconic voice in video game history
There was no reason not to let Charles continue and then just replace him when he passed away. The voice change then would’ve been no more jarring than having the voice change now instead.
he even dubbed his Mario movie lines in multiple languages. I was super surprised when watching it in german and at first thought they got a super accurate sound-alike... but nope, he absolutely nailed it in german too. so not only can he do the voice, he can even do it accurately and energetic in foreign languages. he even dubbed Mario's dad in german, not only Giuseppe. not sure if he did that in all languages, but damn, even there he did a banger job
@@niceoftheprincess3197 he dubbed Guiseppe (the one that talks like classic videogame mario) in most versions of the movie. and in a few of them he also dubbed Mario's father. in the german dub for example he dubbed both. in French as well I think
I'm glad you made this video. I knew Charles Martinet didn't voluntarily retire. It's a shame Nintendo let him go. He is always passionate about Mario and the others. People always made it sound like because of his age he needs to quit when in fact his voice acting is just fine.
Na. I'm sorry, but in 2013 onwards, his voice was dead. It got tiring to hear Charles, I was begging for a new actor for years. When I heard Mario's voice for Wonder, I was hyped as shit, cause it sounded like he gained his enthusiasm back. So yeah. It was time anyway. Wether he wanted to quit or not, I'm sorry but there is quite the bit of us that would have hated hearing it now
@@90sNathI'm honestly stunned that someone can have the opinion that you have. The new VA sounds far more one-note than Charles. He simply does not have the same depth.
@@emiliofahr504 This is a giant lie, the new VA sounds just as good as Charles. Their voices for these characters are nearly identical and you have the audacity to say Kevin is somehow "far more one note" and "simply doesn't have the same depth?" Take your bias glasses off and learn to respect people, you can miss Charles and not rack on the new guy for no reason.
@@chrange9714 Many people, including myself, could instantly tell that there was something wrong with Mario's voice when the first trailer dropped even before it was revealed that Martinet had been replaced. How is that possible if Afghani's voice is nearly identical? It's not. I've been listening to Martinet's voice since 1996. If a family member sent me a video of themselves and their voice was dubbed over by someone else, I could tell. The best way I can describe it is that Afghani mimicks the higher pitched aspects of Mario's voice well but he does not sound as rich and full as Martinet.
oh yeah, you can tell that the whole "Mario Ambassador" was a last minute move once they realized how much of a PR Fallout would fall on them if they said nothing "is ok guys, Charles is still working with us, just not on the games. Look he can go to Cons now as the Mario Guy, please keep buying our stuff"
That is just it Nintendo is breaking the law it's it's your right to use the voice you create for a character they may own the character I don't know the voice so 0 By firing you that means play violate your rights and they could be sued for that when did they would lose they can't control your voice
My gut feeling is that they let Charles go because they didn't want to pay him more, after the Mario movie I can see the property going up in value, which means his agent probably pushed for more money, Nintendo opted to let Charles go and get a complete voice acting newcomer they'd pay a fraction of what they'd have to pay Charles. It would explain why the replacement they got was someone so fresh who in all honesty doesn't make the best Mario impression, he's not bad but I can see a more experienced (and expensive) VA do a much better job.
i think this is the most plausible theory. Maybe Charles also tried to negotiate royalities because Nintendo likes to resuse a lot of his older voice clips and maybe he isnt getting paid fairly for that, if at all. Nintendo has reused old mario voice clips recorded as far back as the N64 and they probably do that because it would cost them a lot less than it would to get charles to record new lines.
As a voice actor who goes to cons, here’s my 2 pennies. Big draws like Charles make 15-30k on average for one weekend. He goes to a con almost every weekend in dozens of countries yearly. One week of Mario-level-length sessions probably pays 2-10k depending on needs. I may be wrong but I don’t think Charles had recorded Mario for a few years before the “announcement.” For better or worse, the recent director of Mario Wonder kinda rebooted the universe and was likely recorded before the Mario Movie. We actors don’t have a lot of control behind the scenes, but Nintendo being cool with CM bringing loads of Mario-themed schwag and not having to deal with notoriously litigious company is not a terrible deal. He still does loads of official Nintendo events on Nintendo’s dime as well. Charles is making a difficult but wise choice not burning bridges and he’s an amazing human. It’s also SUUUPER HARD being the “new” voice of anything gigantic like Mario, so kudos to Kevin Afghani for taking the heat but still giving an amazing performance.
Nintendo, on the other hand, burned my bridge with what they did. I'll never buy another Mario game because of how they treated Charles. "Play nice and we won't sue you for doing something you don't need our permission to do in the first place." F---- you, Nintendo, you bunch of snakes.
@@user-vi4xy1jw7e I might buy other products that Nintendo hasn't ruined yet, yes, but Mario is dead to me, as it should also be to anyone who appreciates Charles Martinet.
@@Borvoc I don’t know how to articulate my exact words on this, your approach here feels… wrong? Maybe it’s the wanting to have your cake and eat it to-ness or something, idk. It’s just how I feel about this. Still, I am with you that it’s not right what they did to Charles.
This is not something he can even control. Nintendo is going to scrutinize it as much as they can. Though Wario, perhaps because he's lesser of importance, doesn't sound like Wario at all in the new VA's role. Likely, over time, they'll let the new guy have control or some degree of it, because right now they want a smoother transition. After all, Sarah Natochenny, the VA of Ash Ketchum after Veronica Taylor was doing an impression of Veronica when she started. Over time, Sarah made Ash's voice her own and the difference of how they sound is extremely different and unique.
@@ChrisCarlos64 yeah, you do have a point, we should give Kevin some time. He’s got big shoes to fill, and has only been voicing Mario for less than a year. Feels like people are being a bit harsh on his performance, in my view, I feel like we should wait a bit and see what develops.
That's probably it. I was pretty taken aback when Charles had Mario call Bowser a f@gg0t in Mario 64. It was acceptable back in the 90s, but not these days. He clearly got canceled.
I’ve never met Charles but his work means a lot to me personally. My kid is autistic and mostly non verbal. When he was young, some of his first words were “Luigi, wahoo, itsa me” so on and so forth. So in a weird round about way, my kid started talking because of Charles Martinet. Mario is important to me 😢 if I ever meet him at a con, I hope he won’t think my story is too corny
A lot of, if not all the Sparks of Hope voice lines are reused from a myriad of older titles, like NSMB Wii and Galaxy. I think Charles' most recent performances are in Luigi's Mansion 3 - everything else uses recycled voice clips as far as I'm aware. Something does tell me the movie had something to do with the change. And I'm wondering if the new actor is unsure why he's not an ambassador for Mario as well?
@@RosbifChaud actually it was in Mario Kart Tour, where the last alternate costumes of his, (that was added in 2023) use new voice clips. Of course it could be recorded in bulk, but I'm talking release-vise.
So in 18:15 when asking about if Charles Martinet felt upset of not getting the role for the movie. I met him at FanExpo Chicago in August 2023. He said he turned down the role and said to do it for the movie would have been too exhausting for a whole 90 min movie.
Its such an incredibly lazy take to say that Charles wouldn't be able to do the role for the movie b/c acting like he does in the games would be exhaustive. He does plenty of characters in universe, he surely could come up with a middle ground for a casual, fully-sentenced Mario. They didn't go for Chris Pratt b/c of his talent. They went b/c hes a big name. That it. Edit: Grammar
Not saying they didn't go with Pratt for his big name, but to act as though he has no talent or that the sole reason was for his big name is just not true.
@@pokemonduck Did I say that wasn't a reason for him getting picked? No, ofc they picked him in part for his big name. But that was not the sole reason they picked him, dude is talented and a voice actor. Plus he fit the type of character they wanted to portray Mario as in the movie, if they came across him and he wasn't a big name they definitely would've still considered him to voice Mario.
I will always associate Charles as Mario. I think Nintendo wanted to move away from the heavy Italian accent for Pratt’s understated accent 😢, but they better make sure Charles will always be taken care of, he is a legend
Getting old for replacement? No.. that makes no sense for one reason. Goku's Voice Actress still playing Goku and nailing it in Japan. She's pushing 90 and still can do the scream... but you do hear the age a lil. I will say it differently. It's not that he is failing Mario. But if you hear him as Wario, Luigi and Waluigi... that's where he is starting to lack in. This is specially noticable in Wario and Luigi. Their voices have deepend A LOT. Sure in the 64 versions it wasn't Charles who did the voices. But when he took over in the gamecube era you will notice it. Luigi sound very heavy in Luigi's mansion 3. It's like he's pitched down. Wario on the other hand went REALLY in a different direction. Compare Wario from Wario World vs Wario from the last Wario preformance of Charles. I think Nintendo was already looking to find a possible replacement for Mario but didn't want to double dip on actors. I think anything else was just circumenstantial. When Tara made her post. Charles arleady knew Kevin was gonna be the new voice. Or maybe... there is something else going on we don't know yet. I can speculate but it could be health related for Charles that he hasn't said openly. Nintendo wants there to be a trademark mario voice.. but I don't think charles his skill or age are to play. It's either health related, high costs vs low costs (Kevin might be cheaper then Charles, it's another reason a new voice actor gets cast aka Bayonetta 3 debacle) or Nintendo forcing restructuring. Even Miyamoto has been turned into "Creative Fellow" for games. And I think Nintendo wants the old guard on standby but wants to transition to newer cheaper talent or maybe thinking long term in a way that maybe Miyamoto and Charles might have some health risks going on that they don't want Nintendo to keep risking on. And I am using Sakurai's videos as evidence, since Sakurai used to drive to work on bike, but Nintendo INSISTED he go by car with a driver so he wouldn't get hurt. Sakurai hurt his hands and went into the hospital a few times during many Smash developments. And what did Sakurai do? Become his own company loose from Nintendo under "SORA" Nintendo cares a lot about their old talent but I think the big moment for Nintendo's change of attitude might have to do with the death of Iwata. We never knew he had health issues that could kill him remember? But he went to events while fighting cancer like nothing is going on. And what happened during the time he passed away? Wii U launched after his blueprint and it failed hard. Till the Switch turned it around. And this is when Miyamoto became Creative Fellow and Charles became Mario Ambassador. They want them around so their vision of Mario can be carried over to the new generation so no "Wii U" will happen again. You have health issues. You aren't gonna work full time, you are going to cons to keep up appearances and keep people happy. Simple as that. I think this is the true reason. Some MEDICAL ISSUE has Nintendo go into panic mode for both Miyamoto and Charles. Does this make the most sense to you guys?
Honestly, I think you're entirely right on the situation, speculation and all. I can love Nintendo's games and platforms, among other things, and still have many criticisms about their past actions. Based on their previous behaviors with things, I think this is most likely how the situation went down.
Charles is the voice of the main character and flagship for a multi billion dollar international corporation. No one protects their IP's quite like Nintendo. I think the quiet complicitity in his tweets with Tara, his age, the new directions they're going in (movies) it was safest to just let him sail into the sunset. Everything Nintendo does is extremely calculated. It's not about Charles "slipping" it's about letting Mario evolve and Nintendo moving forward.
I feel like Nintendo higher ups are treating the movie like the beginning of a new era for the IP, going by the radical art style choices for new Mario games and the new voice cast It almost feels like the softest reboot that's ever been made
I was hoping they would have done a sound library of his voice so he could be the voice of Mario forever. That way he could keep doing the voice as long as he wanted to and then they could use the voice library.
I think there's a bit of holes in here, I don't necessarily think Sparks of Hope was the best game to use as an example, since iirc, every Mario character is all reused clips from 2007-17. I think the latest major title you could have used was MAYBE Luigi's Mansion 3. When it comes to the October 2022 post, I think the reason Martinet was primarily upset is that it probably WAS the moment in time he got recasted, considering the amount of time it would take to do possibly hundreds of auditions as well as recording the lines for SMBWonder. I can understand why they recasted Martinet, but I remember Martinet awhile back saying that he'd love to mentor the hypothetical next Mario VA, I would have preferred if they did that, but at the same time, he did also say in the past that he'd be ready if "they needed" to replace him.
I still think it's a money issue, I can totally see Charles's agent asking for a bigger pay after the Mario movie made a billion dollars, the value of the brand has been rising since then, I mean Mario is at Universal Studios now, the franchise was not to this level even just a decade ago. Nintendo probably didn't want to pay more so they decided to replace Charles with a newcomer to the VA business who'd charge a fraction of the cost and be happy simply doing a huge role like Mario. It really doesn't take that long for this sort of thing to happen, auditions can take a month tops and actual recordings can take as little as a week if interviews with other VAs are any indication.
"Believe it or not, (...) people get really upset--" Yeah you don't need to finish that sentence. We believe you, no matter what you're gonna say next. 😂😂
Charles Martinet also did not attend the Hollywood premiere in April 2023. Everyone from the director to Pratt and Miyamoto were there, but no Charles.
I always had the feeling Nintendo higher ups cut him after the Tara Strong tweets but someone like Miyamoto vouched for him and he got to keep the ambassador roll.
@@90sNath Flash probably had a huge fit for Mario for no reason. The blood rod would have attacked the crystal Dragon Queen in like five seconds and just probably knocked her out. It also would be so rude to see one of my favorite skylanders insult the king of games himself.
I can tell you straight up ive met the man. I asked him if hes going to play mario and his answer was a simple "if Nintendo asks me then id be happy to"
I think that's what Charles should be doing, looking fans in the eyes and straight up telling them he does want to voice Mario but he's not allowed to anymore. Unless there's no recording device it can't be proven that he told people the truth.
The only theory that still makes any sense to me is the thing with Tara Strong... and even then, if that's true... that feels incredibly petty of a reason to let go of the guy that's arguably been such a positive face for them. The one thing I can't stop thinking about is actually not even Mario... but Luigi and Wario. I remember it being weird that in Warioware Get it Together, the opening cutscene only has Wario giving sounds versus everyone else having full dialogue. Not to mention in Luigi's Mansion 3, Charles seemed slightly strained hitting alot of those scared noises for Luigi. This is all rampant speculation on my part but given how persnickety Nintendo is about most things...they may have been trying to get ahead of the curve? I just don't know and its so bizarre.
I think if Charles did something bad the Nintendo would drop them completely and not even worried about making him an ambassador or having any ties to him at all
I love Charles Martinet. I google his name every month to see what he’s up to and check he’s doing okay. But, to my ears, his voice was starting to decline. Many people have pointed out Luigi’s Mansion 3, but even Odyssey didn’t quite match up to his previous work, and his ‘wahoo’ in the movie was noticeably crackly. Nintendo were likely aware of this, and with Charles being in his late 60s, they knew they’d need to replace him soon. What better time than after a movie that’ll have acclimatised (some) people to Mario having a different voice, and between console generations? Charles said that he’d hand over the voice of Mario once he couldn’t do it any more, but maybe he didn’t feel he had reached that point yet. Hence he’s evidently sad about the whole situation. This is the option that sits best with me. It sucks that Charles is upset, but at least there’s no bad blood outside of their disagreement regarding his vocal abilities. And as other commenters have said, his movie cameo was respectful, and Charles being able to attend cons and call himself a Mario Ambassador is a pretty sweet deal. Even if it was largely a self-serving PR move on Nintendo’s part, I can just about convince myself that the organisation that made my childhood isn’t completely heartless. That said, I haven’t watched your video yet, so I may change my mind! One thing that doesn’t sit right with me is the new voice. No disrespect to Kevin, who has big shoes to fill, but is that REEALLLY the best voice they could find?? There are impersonators on RUclips that do a better job.
So sad Charles is going to die of old age in one year. I really don't understand why people keep saying that he is too old to voice Mario. Mark Hamill is in his 70s now and he still sounds fine.
@@domcriss9229 I’m with you there. I just listened to some of the voice clips from Jamboree. Wario and Waluigi sound decent, and Luigi sounds the best I’ve heard him yet from Kevin, but Mario is still off. Kevin’s wahoos are great, but anytime Mario says any actual words, not so much.
There's a bit of a difference between a voice actor and a voice impressionist, including a replacement voice actor. It's more than just wanting somebody who can mimic the voice 1:1. Nintendo is an extremely particular company. For reasons we may or may not agree with, or may not know, Nintendo decided that Kevin Afgani was the best actor available, other than Charles, for the role. It's kind of like the new actors in Rick and Morty after Roiland was booted from that show. They don't sound 100% like the title characters either, but that isn't because the producers and casting didn't know what they were doing.
Really, until we get some more information its impossible to know whats actually happened. Though i personally hope it was peaceable on both parts. Im personally hoping the ambassador role turns into a teaching role. Because ultimately he is getting on and it would be better he pass those skills on before they are lost.
I'm of the mindset that Charles was a victim of Japanese corporate culture. They typically don't fire employees unless it's something heinous or illegal, rather affected employees are assigned to less desirable roles with the thought that the employee will eventually walk away on their own due to boredom or depression. I doubt we'll ever get the full story as Charles is most likely gagged via an NDA, although I think the truth will eventually leak out. Charles himself seems very ethical and loyal, so his story is unlikely to be told by him in his own words any time soon.
Is it possible Tara’s tweet was on the day he found out he wouldn’t be playing Mario in the games anymore, rather than just that he wouldn’t be playing him in the movie? When she tweeted that we’d already known about the Mario movie casting for a few weeks, so the timing doesn’t really line up. And he would already have recorded his cameo lines by late 2022 anyways. It also makes more sense that he would’ve been broken up about hearing he was replaced in the games, since the movie was always gonna have a celebrity cast
"mario Ambassador" is more like a prized, special promotional position that says "I'm the guy who comes and talks about anything mario related, interviews, podcasts, ect.". It couldnt be an easier yet more prestigious job to have!
i'm SO glad someone well known in the gaming sphere is talking about this finally. the separation always rubbed me the wrong way and the way tons just accepted "he's old and wanted to retire and chose it" did too. any question about the word "retire" not being used by nintendo themselves was met with floods of hatred from other mario fans for "disrespecting charles" when all people want is closure and truth and only served to silence this issue. no hate to kevin afghani, but he shouldn't be playing mario while charles still walks this earth. what mario is *today* was in large part pioneered by charles, as evidenced by the fact that kevin is merely doing an impression of charles' work. nintendo did charles dirty.
@@N.i.E.M.O He's pretty liberal. I dig him as a person, and he definitely strikes me as someone who'd hold a good and logical dialogue from a political aspect, but the reality is that politics and Mario Bros on the same Twitter account does not go together.
@@ArynBendahnot to mention with all the idiotic chuds and grifters on Twitter, they’d probably use anything Martinet said (even if out of context and misconstrued bc that’s what they do) to start up needless controversy.
One thing that has me thinking neither of these theories are correct is the fact that Daisy's VA, Deanna Mustard, also got replaced in Wonder. I think this has something to do with the actor's strike from a while ago.
Daisy's VA was inactive in the games for a while, she hadn't gotten any new voice clips since 2017. She's also the only human character in Mario Kart Tour to not have any new voice lines at all, so I believe Deanna simply opted to step down from the role and completely retire from voiceover work.
Nintendo is VERY protective of their IP's I hate to say it but having the risk of the VA on Twitter sharing political views is something I imagine Nintendo does not want to risk because if he was to say something that ended up controversial then Nintendo would be scrambling for a replacement but by already having a replacement ready they can retire Charles as a voice for the games while avoiding any controversy regarding politics if Charles was to get in trouble for something controversial then they already have a VA they can fall back on that to my knowledge has no social media
It could be factor but I doubt it. Only a fraction of people who play Mario games know who Charles Martinet is and a way smaller fraction are reading his political tweets. Though I wouldn't be against Nintendo warning him to stop with the political stuff, especially when he uses the same account for Mario related content. People should have the right to voice their beliefs but I feel like celebrities should be encouraged to remain silent on politics.
The dictionary defines an ambassador as: "a person who acts as a representative or promoter of a specified activity." So a Mario ambassador would just be someone who represents and promotes Super Mario products. The job most likely consists of Charles Martinet doing what he's always done at conventions, but now he gets a paycheck from Nintendo to keep him happy. Maybe they'll ask him to show off a new line of toys once in awhile.
I’m glad someone is talking about this. People need to put some respect on Charles . The one and only Mario . Don’t think I can really play the Mario games especially now they decided to make him talk more
Charles shaped so many childhoods, including my own. With all the years of playing Mario games and hearing his iconic voice, it's really hard to imagine ANYONE else playing that role.
When you consider the fact that Masako Nozawa is 87 years old and has been voicing Goku for half of her life, among other older actors portraying iconic characters for decades, it really does make you wonder.
I think it’s also worth noting that SEGA “let go” of Roger Craig Smith as Sonic not too long after he and Mike Pollock made comments (none distasteful imo) about not getting the roles for the films. Of course, the difference being that he was immediately brought back after backlash from fans.
@@elfrangofrito A few months ago he was in some drama about his beliefs about Israel and Palestine. I think you should do your own research though because I'm not very good at explaining. Googling Mike Pollock drama should give some results.
I felt like Nintendo used his cameo in the Mario movie as a way to say goodbye and these two cameos are so fitting: There is Giuseppe with the classic Mario voice, and there is, more importantly, Mario's dad, who allows Martinet to hand the role over to a new generation, and the character is actually representing Charles' evolution of the idea of someone else voicing Mario quite well, starting of sceptical and reprimanding Mario, but in the end he's proud of what Mario did, which could be symbolic for Charles realizing that the character's future in safe hands. I don't know if the filmmakers had all that in mind when making the movie, but it feels fitting to me.
I also think the movie had something to do with the change. Charles must have felt hurt that he wasn't chosen to voice Mario, and he doesn't need to do the same voice as in the games, heck, Charles does the voice of Mario's father in the movie and does it very well, he could have done a different tone for Mario himself. Good video!
I think anyone who has followed Charles’ career knows that he never would have retired from voicing Mario. However, it seems Nintendo across the board has been undergoing a transition internally to train younger talent. Most of the new Switch games coming out have had their usual producers (aonuma, tazuka, etc) in more of a supervisory role. Most recent Sakamoto openly passed on Famicom Detective Club to a new director. As far as Charles goes, I feel like even if it was forced, could Nintendo have handled it any other way? They praised his work, made a whole video including Miyomoto himself, and (even if it’s literally a made up “we won’t sue you” role) gave him the ability to continue to use Mario at cons and meet fans. It’s sad but it’s way more than many other companies do with legacy VAs.
Idk, it was gonna happen at one way or another, and I guess Nintendo decided it would be easier to find a successor for Charles before he passes away, as morbid as that may seem. Also, towards the end of his tenure, there in fact was a notable difference in his performances as a result of him aging. Like if you compare how Luigi sounds in LM3 to how he does in Dark Moon, the voice is noticeably more nasally. I think it simply was time for Charles to pass the torch to a new actor who could inject the same energy into the characters that he once did. And the fact that he was given the "Mario Ambassador" role at all shows that there's no bad blood between him and Nintendo. It indicates that Nintendo respects Charles and his legacy enough to keep him around in some capacity instead of simply tossing him aside and telling him to get lost. And besides...getting paid to travel the world and vibe with fans? I don't think anybody would complain about that deal. I’m just getting tired of people trying so hard to make a scandal out of something that really isn’t the end of the world. What happened happened and it’s time to get over it.
I've been thinking about this, and I don't think it was a firing over a Twitter post. This seems more like one of those "Big Brain" Nintendo moves. I think for whatever reason, they saw it as the best time to replace him while they were ahead. It was always going to be a controversial thing. But in time the mainstream will forget, and Mario will just sound like Mario. Kermit the Frog was voiced by Jim Henson. And all subsequent voice actors voicing Kermit are basically impersonating him. But we all just know it as Kermit at this point. It does make me sad, and feel old though.
15:00 there was also the time Charles was doing video skits with Mario and Luigi figures on social media that he had to be asked to stop it. Though that was a while ago and he stopped immediately. Maybe it wasn't one big fallout but several smaller things throughout the years that made Nintendo reconsider?
That's why Nintendo Japan needs to be sued. So they can learn that you have a right to use your voice for whatever you want . They do not own your voice. They nay own the character but not the voice you pick for it
It's complicated but I think Nintendo had to. Some time back Miyamoto was thought to be retiring and Nintendo stock took a hit. Nintendo has to work to separate the individuals from the company. Of course Martinet is not nearly as interwoven into Nintendo as a whole as Miyamoto, however he is considered very close to the modern character of Mario. Nintendo has to work to pull back Martinet from being so associated with the character of Mario, so that when he does get to a point where he outright can't do it any more people don't associate the downfall of the voice with the downfall of the character. They saw this a bit when they chose Chris Pratt to play him in the movie, a lot of people expressed how they couldn't imagine the character being played by anyone other than Martinet. Of course the movie did well, but it also showed Nintendo that having one mortal person being so associated with the character can have the potential to hinder the character in the future.I'm not doing great with the wording of it, but Nintendo has a lot of work to do in ensuring the company outlives it's superstars.
I mean his role in the Mario Brothers movie was the greatest send-off I could have imagined. I mean assuming Mario is parents make a reappearance in the Maria movie sequel then we'll see more of them. Awesome
Thank you for trying to shed some light on this topic. Even though most of this is just speculation, theories and opinions, we really need some more insights on what Nintendo is really trying to do here with Martinet. The whole 'Mario Ambassador' thing is still a ginormous 'WTF' kind of thing for everyone. Seriously, what does that *really* mean? It can't be only about letting Martinet go to conventions under Nintendo's blessing. Just knowing that this is something Nintendo appointed to Martinet still begs the question whether or not the man is really off the hook from voicing Mario. It's also good to know that he's not generally retiring overall. He may be showing his age, but he's still as jolly & energetic as ever. One day I hope we'll all discover the real reasons as to why Nintendo let Martinet go from the one thing he's known best for. And hopefully those reasons won't be as bleak or tragic to hear from. I love Martinet as much as everyone else does. So to hear something terrible about this man would utterly destroy a part of me deep down if such a case were to show up.
Maybe I'm getting old but since the start of the Switch era Nintendo has done a lot of shitty things very inclined to the corporate side. This is the one conspiracy theory I am 100% on board, it's either the wanted Martinet gone or they just wanted to get a cheaper option. I do not believe there was any "good faith" in anything Nintendo did about it...
I want to believe Nintendo is just future-proofing the brand while Charles Martinet is still alive. He's up there in years and it just makes sense for him to basically coach people to pass the torch to. Especially with thr Mario movie having just come out with a brand new voice cast anyway. After all, he's been Mario for almost 30 years and its much better to find a quality sound-alike while you still have the current actor. I also just really dont want to believe anyone would want to screw over such a kind soul as him. It also especially doesnt make sense that a Japanese company would screw over the OG voice actor of their flagship character, knowing how much they revere voice actors - to the point they often say anime and video game characters die with the voice actor.
"We love you, Charles. You're the best, Charles. Guess what, Charles. Today you're going to be playing a big new role, Charles. You're our "Mario Ambassador"! You'll be flying everywhere and doing whatever it is you do. You go have fun with that." "I thought I was the voice of Mario." "Get on that plane Charles."
What's also interesting is that he even spoke many of the dubbed versions of the "Arcade guy" and even Marios father in the Mario movie and completely nailed it!!
There are two things about this whole thing that seem true, yet contradictory. 1. Charles did not want to quit playing Mario. 2. Nintendo really has no good reason to "fire" him. (I'm not sure the tweets you mentioned would be enough honestly, even for the Nintendo Ninjas) The one scenario I can think of that still allows both of those points to be true is this: Charles really wanted to play Mario in the movie. And at some point in this process it looked to him like he wasn't going to get the role. So he made a gamble and basically told Nintendo that if he can't play Mario in this movie, he won't continue to play him in games either. A last ditch effort to get him the role, that unfortunately did not work. If this is true, it would still have been Charles's decision to quit playing the character, even though he would love to continue.
And honestly, if he's not playing Mario now in protest of not getting the part in the movie, I support him in this! I think he should have gotten that role.
I always thought similar to your theory regarding the Mario Movie. I remember reading an interview with Charles months before the official voice cast was revealed, in which he said he had yet to be asked by the studio to voice Mario in the film, but was eagerly and optimistically waiting to hear from them. I can only imagine he’d felt crushed when he was set aside for the sake of star power. I could see this creating some rifts between him and the company. And while it’s not like Chris Pratt and Charlie Day didn’t deliver pretty decently in the film, I would’ve much preferred seeing Martinet getting the role he deserved. I hated when people in the internet claimed that his voice “wouldn’t work” and would “get annoying.” He’s a voice actor and can always tone down the thick accent for the sake of the movie-it’s not like charles speaks exactly the same as Mario. Voicing Mario’s father sort of proved to me that he can and should have been the voice of Mario himself. It reminds me of Lucasfilm not casting Ashley Eckstein to play Ashoka. Sure, Rosario Dawson did okay (though I didn’t much care for her portrayal of the character), but when you’re dealing with someone who lives and breathes that character, and would likely have agreed to take on the role if asked, it just seems entirely disrespectful to the voice actor by telling them they’re not good enough for the role they essentially created.
- I feel like the way he said "faithful" and "loyal" sounds like he's being loyal _to nintendo_ by abiding by their wishes - I also think it's possible that Nintendo replaced him PREEMPTIVELY, BEFORE his voice got worse. Let him end on a high note rather than doing damage control.
We also don't know how many takes he is doing to nail his Mario voices. It's possible that Nintendo can see he's having more difficulty getting it perfect than he used to. That's just speculation but even if he sounds great in the latest game, we don't know if he's really still in his prime or not.
I agree that the theories you put forward are most likely. But, one other: Maybe he has a medical condition, and maybe they decided it's best not to draw attention to it, but maybe he won't be around or in good health a super long amount of time going forward, and so they figured it was time to start looking at a replacement already
honestly i feel like its pretty simple Nintendo has changed the other mario characters VA's without issue in the past, Charles just ended up lasting longer than the rest, similar to Mike and Eggman Nintendo wanted to get a new VA to build that next generation of Mario, and honestly thats totally fine, Charles isn't the only (or even the best) Mario Actor we've had Dudes probably getting a good stipend and ability to travel for Nintendo for the rest of his life, thats better than most
I pictured an ambassador role would be Charles’ objective to work one-on-one with Kevin to coach his skills with voice acting. Then from there, they could potentially build a Tom and Jim Hanks relationship (Tom does Woody’s movie voice, and Jim does the merchandise and accurate portrayals) Hoping as Charles ages he continues to be an active part of Nintendo, but Nintendo is only looking out for the future of their IP. Doing away with Charles would be a significant move, since he portrays multiple voices besides Mario’s.
This was really interesting, I wasn't aware he didn't see the Mario movie, and that Chris Pratt taking on the role might have been the reason for him being forced to leave the character. If I want to be charitable and give Nintendo the benefit of the doubt, having Chris Pratt to voice Mario was purely to get a Hollywood actor in the cast, but also so that in the future if Nintendo wanted to make more Mario movies where there was more dialogue, the voice would be consistent for years to come, and not worry about a potentially aging Charles Martinet. This obviously doesn't explain him not continuing with the role in video games. But I think Nintendo keeping him on as an "ambassador" could mainly be a way for them to enforce an NDA on him so that he can't legally talk about why he's no longer the voice for the character in either the games or the movies. I would hope one day we get a memoire or some explanation directly from Charles on the truth about what happened.
Tbh, I’m happy he isn’t voicing Mario anymore. As it allows others to take the role as the red plumber. And his age became more noticeable in his voice over time. With the earliest I can think of, of that is Mario Kart 8 on the Wii U. His voice still sounded good, but it wasn’t the same as the 2000s sometimes. Even then, hearing his voice makes me still wish he still was playing as Mario.
It might have to do with how overprotective is Nintendo with its characters and IPs. Maybe they didn't want a person to BE Mario anymore, they don't want the character to be associated with any real human, he's just a character, an icon, just Mario. Although in that case I don't see why give Charles the ambassador title.
I personally believe that since he has been mario in over 100 projects now that his contract probably required more payment for him each time to return and that they needed a way to nickel and dime to make investors happy
Great video! I think another theory I myself have somewhat adopted is maybe it was a money thing. I imagine his payment has gone up as time has gone on (probably not nearly enough as he deserved), but I wonder if they were being stingy and like, “Hey, we can just hire this other guy who will take a lot less than Charles at this point and we can save a lot in the long-run!”
So you say you can only be convinced by hearing his voice sound like he's getting tired? Well sorry to disappoint you, but it already happened. Go listen to his movie cameo from the french dub. His wahoo right after commenting on doing the accent was really painful to hear. That's when I accepted it was time to let go. Doing the voices for Nintendo is most likely quite intense, and I think the various movie dubs kinda prove he probably can no longer do long sessions of that. So I think it was a necessary sacrifice for him to stop before it completely destroys his voice and forces him into an even worse situation of total retirement from voice acting.😢
I feel like the whole uproar about Charles Martinet not being Mario in the movie kinda upset Nintendo and made them want to distance Martinet from the character. Nintendo didn't like the backlash they got from this decision so they decided to let him go. This way they can get someone else and this time not put a focus on who's voicing the character because they are not important... Mario is.
While I agree that Charles still had it in him to keep going and nailing the role, none of the clips shown in Sparks of Hope come FROM Sparks of Hope. They are all old clips from various Mario games. I'm 99% certain no voice recording was done for any of the Mario cast for that game (which is something Nintendo tends to do nowadays. Not a single new clip was recorded for Mario Strikers Battle League either, for example) The real proof for Charles still having it is indeed the Mario Movie, as that's 100% new recordings and yet he still sounds excellent as Mario.
I feel like your theory reads too far into things but it’s not like I have evidence to the contrary lol. And while I agree that he’s absolutely still a competent actor for the part (much more than examples like Marge Simpson), I think it’s wrong to imply the cracks aren’t starting to show. I’d say Charles’ performance for Mario Party Superstars was a little bit “off.” And personally I think Kevin’s performance in Mario Wonder was only a little “off.” It wouldn’t shock me if Nintendo was of the opinion that Charles is approaching the point where he’s too old (and to the point of other commenters, maybe too expensive!) for the role. I WOULD be surprised if Nintendo was SO petty that they’d stop renewing contracts because someone on twitter implied that Charles was sad he couldn’t voice in an Illumination movie. I’ve seen much more open/blatant complaints from long term VAs that they weren’t invited to / consulted about a feature film, with no repercussions. (Weird example but the LEGO Ninjago Movie also featured celebrity VAs instead of the original actors from the Cartoon Network show, and I recall the CN actors actively complaining in a vlog on RUclips. LEGO is known to be a similar level of petty as Nintendo, but that seemed fine at the time). I think Nintendo, as ever, made a backwards and unhelpful decision but tried to walk it back a bit by showing they want to keep a relationship open with Charles and have him be their “Mario Ambassador,” not that they’ve bothered defining what that means…
I actually was thinking the latter theory may be the case as soon as it was announced he wasn’t going to be the official voice of Mario anymore. Especially since his voice definitely hasn’t degraded to the point where his Mario sounds different, it’s hard to believe Nintendo making the decision because of his age. Especially once I learned he wasn’t retiring. If it was a 100% amicable decision, going based on how Nintendo acts as a company, I’d expect Charles to have been in the Direct with the new VA of Mario, lighting a torch with a Fire Flower, and passing it on to the new person. Maybe not that exact scenario, but I’d definitely have expected some cute little skit showing solidarity. One last thing to note is that as you become older (around your 60s), men’s voices start to become higher pitched again reverting to sounding closer in pitch to how they sounded before puberty. So it’s highly likely that a voice like Mario’s wouldn’t have been as affected by his age as, say his voice as that dragon from Elder Scrolls.
You probably should have shown clips from Futurama of Billy West playing Fry. Man he sounds OLD in the new seasons lol. Fry is supposed to be about 30-something but he definitely sounds 70 lol. No shade of course, he's just getting older, and still does a good job voice acting. But he does sound pretty old nowadays.
What I think happened: Nintendo didn’t want to “play it safe” with Mario, and they wanted to switch it up. They already saw what they could achieve by doing this with Zelda. Breath of the Wild outsold Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, and Skyward Sword combined, and the sequel Tears of the Kingdom sold a LOT of copies as well. Those two games challenged almost every Zelda convention and switched things up. I don’t think there was any ill will, I just think someone at Nintendo thought it’d be a good idea to change things. Mario Wonder came out with a totally different art style from previous Mario games, and to accompany that, they had a new voice actor.
![Gucci Mane & Sexyy Red - You Don't Love Me [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/j7IBqyFKT4c/mqdefault.jpg)
I heard a theory with Kit and Krysta that made sense to me: Kevin Afghani has been with Nintendo for a long time working under a trusted VA corporation that Nintendo likes to hire, mostly because it’s cheaper to hire voice actors that way and because the face of the person doesn’t look bigger than the character itself.
Most likely Charles was a bit more expensive to work with plus he is as famous as Mario sometimes and Nintendo wanted to separate the actor from the character while saving money and having more control over their IP which is what they love.
@@Pheicou If it were actually because of money I feel they would've dropped Charles way earlier
The idea that Charles Martinet is "bigger than Mario" is completely absurd, I'm sorry.
I'd be willing to bet that the overwhelming majority of people who know who Mario is (at least 90%) do not know who Charles Martinet is. You're being hysterical. Mario is a household name. Charles Martinet is not.
@@firstnamelastnamesb You’re right, he isn’t, I was thinking that line will get too much attention as I was writing it but I left it in anyways because the point still is he is pretty known in the Nintendo community nonetheless, and Nintendo wants us to focus on the IPs not the actors.
This is exactly what I was thinking. They probably just wanted to keep costs low. Perhaps Charles demanded too much pay; Nintendo can easily find an imitator who will accomplish a similar performance for less money.
i'd be surprised by this because of how much the JP voice acting industry keeps all related
VAs in contact for future projects because they somehow always will have the OG VAs
reprising roles for stuff no matter what, UNLESS the actor has passed on of course.
OR if they find out that an actor EVER did drugs in their entire history of living, they are replaced
quite quickly. they take that shit EXCEEDINGLY seriously for some reason.
BUT this is a unique situation since Charles isnt part of the JP voice acting industry,
which means the same rules probably do not apply for efforts to keep him as the voice
until he passes on.
I really don't like how folks try to bring up Charles' age and act as if he HAD to retire. Plenty of voice actors are older than him and still play their iconic roles to this day.
Peter Cullen is 83 and still voices Optimus Prime even now.
Peter also voiced Mario for that Saturday Arcade cartoon, not for long tho.
I totally agree as Cullen has been playing Prime since the 80's and that's who most people see as Optimus Prime just like John Erwin who was Adam/He - Man in the Filmation cartoon is who you associate with that role, you could go on forever with the many characters and the VA's associated with their roles
dude going to eventually pass on with age that just how life is, most people need to take off rose tinted glasses and realize everything is not meant to last forever but the memories will live on
@@Yoshizuyuner That's not my point...
Yeah. The constant "Let him retire" thing I kept seeing from people in his "defense" almost felt like it'd be unintentionally insulting for Charles, like...did he say he wanted to retire? Because if yes then okay, but if he hasn't shown that he even wanted to do that yet then it's not doing him any service to say that, and if anything could be unintentionally insulting his capabilities, or even depending on what actually happened behind the scenes could be going directly against his wishes, as we simply don't have enough info to rule that possibility out. That could very well be, in a sense, people "forcing" retirement onto him when he doesn't actually want or have to, for all we know (which is very little one way or the other).
Charles Martinet is one of a few people that nobody hates and everybody loves.
Wish I can be like that someday
I met him at a collect a con last year at the very end of the very very long day and he talked with 3 of us for awhile and took the time to have a conversation and answer questions I asked. Super nice guy and seemed genuinely interested in talking to fans.
Exept Miyamoto.
Because he is such a sweetheart and makes this world a little better!
Fr, for me it's a huge red flag if someone actually hate him, there's is absolutely nothing not to love about that guy and personally, he really is my hero with or without his cap!
This is very on brand with how Japanese corporate culture works. It's actually very difficult to get fired. In most cases, you just suddenly find that your duties are changed to something less desirable, but either way, you'll no longer be doing the job you started with. We saw this with Hideo Kojima; when he ended up on Konami's shit-list, instead of firing him, they simply put him a tiny office, took away his internet access and forbade him to attend the game awards for his own game. Understandably, he quit not long after, and Konami got to save face.
Sounds about right for shitty Japanese corporate culture
I wonder what it would be like if they tried that with a Japanese man with the mentality of a boisterous man from a western country. It would be hilarious to see the culture shock of a Japanese man just saying “I’m staying where I am and you can shut the **** up and get over it.”
Yeah, shows like Aggrestuko made a clear example of, "I want to get rid of this old individual in the company, but he's still competent and still wants to keep his job. So, we just put him into an office where he does very little. We pay him the same. But his old ego/honor will be insulted in due time and just leave on his own."
It's very scummy. But we establish that Nintendo operates differently from most companies, so technically, you're not wrong, but we'll have to see if that's really the case with any future development happens.
At the same time, Nintendo is allowed to not hire him for whatever reason they feel like as long as it doesn't sound like it's based on any discriminating reasons. What I'm assuming and this is just me. Since He knows how to make a peak Mario voice, they're using his expertise to basically set auditions to anyone who can pull it off the same way as he can. With his approval, they don't have to do it themselves.
I'd be careful about bringing Kojima up in this context given that he is just as if not more guilty of replacing popular and legacied voice actors for literally no good reason. Kojima actually did David Hayter even dirtier than Nintendo did Charles Martinet, pretty much just because Kojima has a fixation on Hollywood and likes to find reasons to network with celebrities.
@@CrypticMantisTX55Kojima didn’t picked or replaced any voice actor personally, he’s in the Japan side of things, not America. This is a dumb, fan knee jerk reaction that completely ignores he doesn’t take care of the localization, that’s Kris Zimmer. She’s the one that has taken care of the voice cast since MGS1 for the English versions (of a Japanese game, mind you). For MGSV Kojima for the first time got directly involved with the casting due to it using Hollywood actors for the first time as well.
David Hayter isn’t comparable with Charles Martinet, who was Mario’s voice all over the world.
The passionate way Charles talks about Mairo (and Luigi) in these clips really does make it sound like Nintendo prompted the VA change
I truely believe this is Nintendo being their conservative selves. Since they can't guarantee he can fill the role for the next 30 years, they needed to switch.
@@Sir_Psych it just comes off as strange to me because that's so counter Japanese. They really respect the roles of voice actors and normally never change them until the voice actor is physically unable to perform the role. Furthermore when this does happen they would even go so far and make the character they voiced mute and without a voice if they can help it. This whole situation is just unprecedented to me.
@@blues4509While it might be nothing even close to this... I just imagined these japanese dudes trying to "do it the way americans are used to", set up a years long timer for Charles' career, then bam
*Mario* not Mairo please
@@MarcoCesar20 love mayro so sad he dead
i actually met him (for a second time) September 2023 and got to talk to him for a bit at his booth to get a selfie with him.
i told him i was sad to see him go as the voice of mario, because nobody could replace his talented work. and his response was a lot more candid in tone and while he didnt outright say any answers to what actually happened, it was abundantly clear to me that he was disheartened himself that he wouldnt be reprising the role anymore. it was in the tone and look he had when he replied "yeah... thank you.. its just how it is sometimes... but at least i still get to meet the fans!"
a lot of what you proposed feels plausible. and i can certainly agree that it wasn't his choice. before this video i only thought maybe nintendo was looking at how much they were paying charles for each game and figured they could get somebody to do it cheaper. but the theory you proposed feels stronger.
If you ask me, I always saw the "Mario Ambassador" title as something of a badge of honor for Charles. Like "Thank you for your service, you played a huge part in bringing Mario to life", and also tangentially had the added perk of having Nintendo's blessing of attending cons and meeting fans and stuff like that whenever there's Mario-related activities going around (such as game announcements and the like).
Yep, that was also my interpretation.
Of course it is. There's no other interpretation. The question is more, why now, and why ONLY that?
@@codahighland My best guess is Nintendo wants to take Mario in a pretty different direction (probably what their next mainline Mario game is gonna be), and they no longer saw Charles to fit what their vision was. But who knows for sure.
Maybe there was more, like a severance pay, but Nintendo doesn't want to talk about it.
I doubt there was any severance pay beyond paying Charles to show up in that hostage video and pretend everything was okay. The title itself is just a nothingburger. If anything, it was a veiled threat. "Do things our way, or we might sue you for doing something you don't need our permission for in the first place!" Nintendo really is disgusting.
The way voice actors get tossed away at the drop of a hat is one of my most hated things about the games industry.
But Charles wasn't treated that way
Charles was absolutely treated that way. Nintendo simply wanted to save money by not paying him anymore.
Even Charles doesn't know what 'Mario Ambassador' even means. Are we even sure he gets paid at all anymore? Or does 'Mario Ambassador' simply mean Charles has the permission of Nintendo to do his voice impressions in public without being sued?
@@N.i.E.M.O That is such a foolish thing to say with zero evidence. Charles didn't know what Mario Ambassador meant at the time when he was asked what it was, not anymore. If Nintendo simply wanted to save money and not pay Charles anymore they would've just quietly replaced him. You do realize as Mario Ambassador Nintendo pays for his travels yes? They're literally still paying him, he still works there so how is it that they just don't want to pay him anymore? Mario Ambassador let's Charles still be the face of the Mario brand and get paid to attend conventions and do the voices if he does. It's not just some thing so that they can't sue him if he wasn't in that position, they just gave what he already did an actual job position at Nintendo. Along with the celebration they had for him, that's extremely ignorant of you to just say "they absolutely treated Charles that way." Grow up
The same thing’s happening in the animation industry. Look at the new ATLA movie coming out. They threw out the OG cast like they were yesterday’s garbage, forgetting that it is the voice which provides the heart and soul to these beloved characters. Jeremy irons said he would’ve loved to return as scar in live action; in the upcoming SpongeBob film, Nickelodeon is pissing away money to have Mark Hamill voice the Flying Dutchman despite his current voice being perfect. Voice actors are simply not respected anymore, and it’s because industries are always looking for star power. It’s exactly what the late and great Robin Williams feared when he agreed to play the genie in Disney’s Aladdin, that traditional voice acting would be overshadowed by the film industry’s biggest stars.
@@cmguiyyt816
Did you even watch the video? Nintendo clearly soft-fired him.
Charles is sad he doesn’t get to do the voice anymore, and was vocal as to how he wanted to keep going.
Nintendo absolutely threw him under the bus. Reading your comments made me want to vomit, they’re so defensive of nintendo.
Stop going to bat for them when all they show is contempt for you.
If anyone doesn't care about the age of an actor as long as they can perform, it's the Japanese, many child and teenage characters are voiced by pretty old people, which makes it even weirder that Nintendo would just leave Charles like that out of the blue...
Probably because Charles isn't Japanese.
@@N.i.E.M.Otrue but Nintendo is a Japanese company
@@FreshFalconokay… reread the comments and try again you missed the point…
@@GreenEyedDazzler I think the bigger issue isn't the Japanese, it's Nintendo being a generally shady evil business
My theory is that Nintendo doesn't want the character of Mario to die with Charles. I also wish they didn't let him go, but now that they have, I only wish the best for the new VA.
Sure, I wish the best for him but he's just not as good as Charles at those voices and I don't think he can become as good. This is resulting in a degraded product which is very unfortunate.
@@emiliofahr504only AI or a very talented voice actor can even get close. Just like Rick from Rick and morty
They could've also just kept Charles Martinet for as long as possible and then have Kevin Afghani be trained by Martinet in the meantime so that Afghani can take up the voice of Mario once Martinet is gone.
That's what Disney did with the voice of Donald Duck going from Clarence Nash to Tony Anselmo, and if one of the most iconic voices in cartoon history can get this kind of treatment, then so should the most iconic voice in video game history
@@HMMadsen Exactly. That could've been a great way to go about it.
There was no reason not to let Charles continue and then just replace him when he passed away. The voice change then would’ve been no more jarring than having the voice change now instead.
he even dubbed his Mario movie lines in multiple languages. I was super surprised when watching it in german and at first thought they got a super accurate sound-alike... but nope, he absolutely nailed it in german too.
so not only can he do the voice, he can even do it accurately and energetic in foreign languages.
he even dubbed Mario's dad in german, not only Giuseppe. not sure if he did that in all languages, but damn, even there he did a banger job
So wait that French dub comparison from when the movie came out was really him?
@@niceoftheprincess3197 he dubbed Guiseppe (the one that talks like classic videogame mario) in most versions of the movie. and in a few of them he also dubbed Mario's father. in the german dub for example he dubbed both. in French as well I think
I'm glad you made this video. I knew Charles Martinet didn't voluntarily retire. It's a shame Nintendo let him go. He is always passionate about Mario and the others. People always made it sound like because of his age he needs to quit when in fact his voice acting is just fine.
Na. I'm sorry, but in 2013 onwards, his voice was dead. It got tiring to hear Charles, I was begging for a new actor for years. When I heard Mario's voice for Wonder, I was hyped as shit, cause it sounded like he gained his enthusiasm back. So yeah. It was time anyway. Wether he wanted to quit or not, I'm sorry but there is quite the bit of us that would have hated hearing it now
@@90sNathI'm honestly stunned that someone can have the opinion that you have. The new VA sounds far more one-note than Charles. He simply does not have the same depth.
@@90sNathI don't think the voice sounds much different tbh.
@@emiliofahr504 This is a giant lie, the new VA sounds just as good as Charles. Their voices for these characters are nearly identical and you have the audacity to say Kevin is somehow "far more one note" and "simply doesn't have the same depth?" Take your bias glasses off and learn to respect people, you can miss Charles and not rack on the new guy for no reason.
@@chrange9714 Many people, including myself, could instantly tell that there was something wrong with Mario's voice when the first trailer dropped even before it was revealed that Martinet had been replaced. How is that possible if Afghani's voice is nearly identical? It's not. I've been listening to Martinet's voice since 1996. If a family member sent me a video of themselves and their voice was dubbed over by someone else, I could tell. The best way I can describe it is that Afghani mimicks the higher pitched aspects of Mario's voice well but he does not sound as rich and full as Martinet.
oh yeah, you can tell that the whole "Mario Ambassador" was a last minute move once they realized how much of a PR Fallout would fall on them if they said nothing
"is ok guys, Charles is still working with us, just not on the games. Look he can go to Cons now as the Mario Guy, please keep buying our stuff"
That is just it Nintendo is breaking the law it's it's your right to use the voice you create for a character they may own the character I don't know the voice so 0
By firing you that means play violate your rights and they could be sued for that when did they would lose they can't control your voice
@@leosnyder5264 yeah, no. that's not at all how reality works, Child
@@leosnyder5264 You pulled this out of your ass?
My gut feeling is that they let Charles go because they didn't want to pay him more, after the Mario movie I can see the property going up in value, which means his agent probably pushed for more money, Nintendo opted to let Charles go and get a complete voice acting newcomer they'd pay a fraction of what they'd have to pay Charles.
It would explain why the replacement they got was someone so fresh who in all honesty doesn't make the best Mario impression, he's not bad but I can see a more experienced (and expensive) VA do a much better job.
Nintendo will do anything to save a couple bucks.
Most likely
Bingo. That's why all of their voice actors are non-union.
(which is why the voice acting in their games isn't very good)
@@thecianinator I didn't even know their VAs were non-union, now I'm even more convinced this is what happened.
i think this is the most plausible theory. Maybe Charles also tried to negotiate royalities because Nintendo likes to resuse a lot of his older voice clips and maybe he isnt getting paid fairly for that, if at all. Nintendo has reused old mario voice clips recorded as far back as the N64 and they probably do that because it would cost them a lot less than it would to get charles to record new lines.
As a voice actor who goes to cons, here’s my 2 pennies. Big draws like Charles make 15-30k on average for one weekend. He goes to a con almost every weekend in dozens of countries yearly.
One week of Mario-level-length sessions probably pays 2-10k depending on needs. I may be wrong but I don’t think Charles had recorded Mario for a few years before the “announcement.”
For better or worse, the recent director of Mario Wonder kinda rebooted the universe and was likely recorded before the Mario Movie.
We actors don’t have a lot of control behind the scenes, but Nintendo being cool with CM bringing loads of Mario-themed schwag and not having to deal with notoriously litigious company is not a terrible deal. He still does loads of official Nintendo events on Nintendo’s dime as well. Charles is making a difficult but wise choice not burning bridges and he’s an amazing human.
It’s also SUUUPER HARD being the “new” voice of anything gigantic like Mario, so kudos to Kevin Afghani for taking the heat but still giving an amazing performance.
Nintendo, on the other hand, burned my bridge with what they did. I'll never buy another Mario game because of how they treated Charles. "Play nice and we won't sue you for doing something you don't need our permission to do in the first place." F---- you, Nintendo, you bunch of snakes.
@@BorvocYou'll buy other Nintendo games though? Lol
@@user-vi4xy1jw7e I might buy other products that Nintendo hasn't ruined yet, yes, but Mario is dead to me, as it should also be to anyone who appreciates Charles Martinet.
@@Borvoc I don’t know how to articulate my exact words on this, your approach here feels… wrong? Maybe it’s the wanting to have your cake and eat it to-ness or something, idk. It’s just how I feel about this.
Still, I am with you that it’s not right what they did to Charles.
@@heihogreenzx4704 What’s the point in having a cake if you can’t eat it?
14:14 it sucks cos it's clearly someone trying to do an impression *of charles*, rather than their own take on mario
Not that I disagree, but what would someone's original take on Mario sound like if not just a Charle's impression?
This is not something he can even control. Nintendo is going to scrutinize it as much as they can. Though Wario, perhaps because he's lesser of importance, doesn't sound like Wario at all in the new VA's role. Likely, over time, they'll let the new guy have control or some degree of it, because right now they want a smoother transition. After all, Sarah Natochenny, the VA of Ash Ketchum after Veronica Taylor was doing an impression of Veronica when she started. Over time, Sarah made Ash's voice her own and the difference of how they sound is extremely different and unique.
Yeah, that clip isn't great, but that's really the only slip-up we've heard so far. He was excellent in Mario Wonder!
@@ChrisCarlos64 yeah, you do have a point, we should give Kevin some time. He’s got big shoes to fill, and has only been voicing Mario for less than a year. Feels like people are being a bit harsh on his performance, in my view, I feel like we should wait a bit and see what develops.
@@Speejays2the literal cartoons have their own voice before Charles became Mario as we knew him today.
My uncle works at Charles Martinet and he says it's because Charles kept making mario say fuck
That's probably it. I was pretty taken aback when Charles had Mario call Bowser a f@gg0t in Mario 64. It was acceptable back in the 90s, but not these days. He clearly got canceled.
This lines up with the leaked audition takes for the Mario Movie
I worked with Charles as well and I heard him swear in character a few times. It was quite a hilarious experience.
@@N.i.E.M.OCalling someone the f word was always frowned upon. Do you mean g@y?
"Hello! It's a fuckin' me, fuckin' Mario! Fuck you!"
I’ve never met Charles but his work means a lot to me personally. My kid is autistic and mostly non verbal. When he was young, some of his first words were “Luigi, wahoo, itsa me” so on and so forth.
So in a weird round about way, my kid started talking because of Charles Martinet. Mario is important to me 😢 if I ever meet him at a con, I hope he won’t think my story is too corny
A whole video about Mario but no respect for how they handled Luigi's voice actor? Favoritism man.
Mario and Luigi were both voiced by Charles Martinet
@@MarioKartGamerDude...
@@MarioKartGamerDude Yep, that's the joke!
@@MarioKartGamerDuder/whoooosh
Why does nobody pay attention to WEEGIE!!??
A lot of, if not all the Sparks of Hope voice lines are reused from a myriad of older titles, like NSMB Wii and Galaxy. I think Charles' most recent performances are in Luigi's Mansion 3 - everything else uses recycled voice clips as far as I'm aware.
Something does tell me the movie had something to do with the change. And I'm wondering if the new actor is unsure why he's not an ambassador for Mario as well?
He has some non-Mario roles in the movie
I think the last game with original voice lines is WarioWare: Get It Together
@@RosbifChaud actually it was in Mario Kart Tour, where the last alternate costumes of his, (that was added in 2023) use new voice clips. Of course it could be recorded in bulk, but I'm talking release-vise.
So in 18:15 when asking about if Charles Martinet felt upset of not getting the role for the movie. I met him at FanExpo Chicago in August 2023. He said he turned down the role and said to do it for the movie would have been too exhausting for a whole 90 min movie.
Wait, really? Does that mean he was considered for the role?
@Dubonus I'm not sure, it could mean he's lying and he is harboring resentment or avoiding saying the wrong thing to displease nintendo further.
I’m looking forward to Charles Martinet becoming known for a role besides Mario. He has fantastic range.
We certainly now of Paarthurnax
@mr.awesome6011 OMG, I didn't know until now. But that is awesome to hear.
Its such an incredibly lazy take to say that Charles wouldn't be able to do the role for the movie b/c acting like he does in the games would be exhaustive. He does plenty of characters in universe, he surely could come up with a middle ground for a casual, fully-sentenced Mario.
They didn't go for Chris Pratt b/c of his talent. They went b/c hes a big name. That it.
Edit: Grammar
Not saying they didn't go with Pratt for his big name, but to act as though he has no talent or that the sole reason was for his big name is just not true.
@@chrange9714 if he wasn't a big name he wouldn't have been picked
@@pokemonduck Did I say that wasn't a reason for him getting picked? No, ofc they picked him in part for his big name. But that was not the sole reason they picked him, dude is talented and a voice actor. Plus he fit the type of character they wanted to portray Mario as in the movie, if they came across him and he wasn't a big name they definitely would've still considered him to voice Mario.
He's so cool...
So many people forget the Mario 3DS video where Mario is speaking in a ton of fully fledged sentences and it just sounds natural
Did you know that Charles had to voice the father and the jump man cameo character in multiple languages? Even German.
Yess, him dubbing in italian was just perfect!
funny you say "even German" as Charles mentioned that's where Wario's accent come from
"Had to"?
I will always associate Charles as Mario. I think Nintendo wanted to move away from the heavy Italian accent for Pratt’s understated accent 😢, but they better make sure Charles will always be taken care of, he is a legend
Getting old for replacement? No.. that makes no sense for one reason.
Goku's Voice Actress still playing Goku and nailing it in Japan. She's pushing 90 and still can do the scream... but you do hear the age a lil.
I will say it differently. It's not that he is failing Mario. But if you hear him as Wario, Luigi and Waluigi... that's where he is starting to lack in.
This is specially noticable in Wario and Luigi. Their voices have deepend A LOT. Sure in the 64 versions it wasn't Charles who did the voices.
But when he took over in the gamecube era you will notice it. Luigi sound very heavy in Luigi's mansion 3. It's like he's pitched down.
Wario on the other hand went REALLY in a different direction.
Compare Wario from Wario World vs Wario from the last Wario preformance of Charles.
I think Nintendo was already looking to find a possible replacement for Mario but didn't want to double dip on actors.
I think anything else was just circumenstantial. When Tara made her post. Charles arleady knew Kevin was gonna be the new voice.
Or maybe... there is something else going on we don't know yet. I can speculate but it could be health related for Charles that he hasn't said openly.
Nintendo wants there to be a trademark mario voice.. but I don't think charles his skill or age are to play.
It's either health related, high costs vs low costs (Kevin might be cheaper then Charles, it's another reason a new voice actor gets cast aka Bayonetta 3 debacle) or Nintendo forcing restructuring.
Even Miyamoto has been turned into "Creative Fellow" for games. And I think Nintendo wants the old guard on standby but wants to transition to newer cheaper talent or maybe thinking long term in a way that maybe Miyamoto and Charles might have some health risks going on that they don't want Nintendo to keep risking on.
And I am using Sakurai's videos as evidence, since Sakurai used to drive to work on bike, but Nintendo INSISTED he go by car with a driver so he wouldn't get hurt.
Sakurai hurt his hands and went into the hospital a few times during many Smash developments. And what did Sakurai do? Become his own company loose from Nintendo under "SORA"
Nintendo cares a lot about their old talent but I think the big moment for Nintendo's change of attitude might have to do with the death of Iwata. We never knew he had health issues that could kill him remember? But he went to events while fighting cancer like nothing is going on.
And what happened during the time he passed away? Wii U launched after his blueprint and it failed hard. Till the Switch turned it around.
And this is when Miyamoto became Creative Fellow and Charles became Mario Ambassador.
They want them around so their vision of Mario can be carried over to the new generation so no "Wii U" will happen again.
You have health issues. You aren't gonna work full time, you are going to cons to keep up appearances and keep people happy. Simple as that.
I think this is the true reason. Some MEDICAL ISSUE has Nintendo go into panic mode for both Miyamoto and Charles. Does this make the most sense to you guys?
He still does Luigi well. It's Mario he can't do well anymore
@@90sNath No Kevin does Luigi too. As well as Wario..no sign of Waluigi yet.
Honestly, I think you're entirely right on the situation, speculation and all. I can love Nintendo's games and platforms, among other things, and still have many criticisms about their past actions. Based on their previous behaviors with things, I think this is most likely how the situation went down.
Thank you for doing a video on this, I've been thinking there's more to this story for a long time.
Charles is the voice of the main character and flagship for a multi billion dollar international corporation. No one protects their IP's quite like Nintendo. I think the quiet complicitity in his tweets with Tara, his age, the new directions they're going in (movies) it was safest to just let him sail into the sunset. Everything Nintendo does is extremely calculated. It's not about Charles "slipping" it's about letting Mario evolve and Nintendo moving forward.
Exactly this.
Real talk they just wanna keep themselves safe and not let the image of their company rest with a man in his 70's. It's really that simple bro.
I feel like Nintendo higher ups are treating the movie like the beginning of a new era for the IP, going by the radical art style choices for new Mario games and the new voice cast
It almost feels like the softest reboot that's ever been made
If by 'calculated' you mean Nintendo trying to save more money by not having to pay him then yes.
@@N.i.E.M.OShut up man
I was hoping they would have done a sound library of his voice so he could be the voice of Mario forever. That way he could keep doing the voice as long as he wanted to and then they could use the voice library.
They likely do have a sound library but they’d still have to keep paying him.
I think there's a bit of holes in here, I don't necessarily think Sparks of Hope was the best game to use as an example, since iirc, every Mario character is all reused clips from 2007-17. I think the latest major title you could have used was MAYBE Luigi's Mansion 3.
When it comes to the October 2022 post, I think the reason Martinet was primarily upset is that it probably WAS the moment in time he got recasted, considering the amount of time it would take to do possibly hundreds of auditions as well as recording the lines for SMBWonder.
I can understand why they recasted Martinet, but I remember Martinet awhile back saying that he'd love to mentor the hypothetical next Mario VA, I would have preferred if they did that, but at the same time, he did also say in the past that he'd be ready if "they needed" to replace him.
I still think it's a money issue, I can totally see Charles's agent asking for a bigger pay after the Mario movie made a billion dollars, the value of the brand has been rising since then, I mean Mario is at Universal Studios now, the franchise was not to this level even just a decade ago.
Nintendo probably didn't want to pay more so they decided to replace Charles with a newcomer to the VA business who'd charge a fraction of the cost and be happy simply doing a huge role like Mario.
It really doesn't take that long for this sort of thing to happen, auditions can take a month tops and actual recordings can take as little as a week if interviews with other VAs are any indication.
Shesez recited all thist to me at a Texmex restaurant and convinced me. We gotta get more texmex
Ok I'm adding this to the top of my priority list 🔥
"Believe it or not, (...) people get really upset--"
Yeah you don't need to finish that sentence. We believe you, no matter what you're gonna say next. 😂😂
Charles Martinet also did not attend the Hollywood premiere in April 2023. Everyone from the director to Pratt and Miyamoto were there, but no Charles.
I always had the feeling Nintendo higher ups cut him after the Tara Strong tweets but someone like Miyamoto vouched for him and he got to keep the ambassador roll.
Wait, wtf did she say?
@@90sNath Flash probably had a huge fit for Mario for no reason. The blood rod would have attacked the crystal Dragon Queen in like five seconds and just probably knocked her out. It also would be so rude to see one of my favorite skylanders insult the king of games himself.
Maybe Miyamoto did help him, that'd be nice.
I can tell you straight up ive met the man. I asked him if hes going to play mario and his answer was a simple "if Nintendo asks me then id be happy to"
I think that's what Charles should be doing, looking fans in the eyes and straight up telling them he does want to voice Mario but he's not allowed to anymore. Unless there's no recording device it can't be proven that he told people the truth.
The only theory that still makes any sense to me is the thing with Tara Strong... and even then, if that's true... that feels incredibly petty of a reason to let go of the guy that's arguably been such a positive face for them.
The one thing I can't stop thinking about is actually not even Mario... but Luigi and Wario. I remember it being weird that in Warioware Get it Together, the opening cutscene only has Wario giving sounds versus everyone else having full dialogue. Not to mention in Luigi's Mansion 3, Charles seemed slightly strained hitting alot of those scared noises for Luigi. This is all rampant speculation on my part but given how persnickety Nintendo is about most things...they may have been trying to get ahead of the curve? I just don't know and its so bizarre.
I think if Charles did something bad the Nintendo would drop them completely and not even worried about making him an ambassador or having any ties to him at all
I love Charles. He's so nice. I feel like he'll always find work.
I love Charles Martinet. I google his name every month to see what he’s up to and check he’s doing okay. But, to my ears, his voice was starting to decline.
Many people have pointed out Luigi’s Mansion 3, but even Odyssey didn’t quite match up to his previous work, and his ‘wahoo’ in the movie was noticeably crackly.
Nintendo were likely aware of this, and with Charles being in his late 60s, they knew they’d need to replace him soon. What better time than after a movie that’ll have acclimatised (some) people to Mario having a different voice, and between console generations?
Charles said that he’d hand over the voice of Mario once he couldn’t do it any more, but maybe he didn’t feel he had reached that point yet. Hence he’s evidently sad about the whole situation.
This is the option that sits best with me. It sucks that Charles is upset, but at least there’s no bad blood outside of their disagreement regarding his vocal abilities. And as other commenters have said, his movie cameo was respectful, and Charles being able to attend cons and call himself a Mario Ambassador is a pretty sweet deal. Even if it was largely a self-serving PR move on Nintendo’s part, I can just about convince myself that the organisation that made my childhood isn’t completely heartless. That said, I haven’t watched your video yet, so I may change my mind!
One thing that doesn’t sit right with me is the new voice. No disrespect to Kevin, who has big shoes to fill, but is that REEALLLY the best voice they could find?? There are impersonators on RUclips that do a better job.
I think Kevin did a great job lol
So sad Charles is going to die of old age in one year.
I really don't understand why people keep saying that he is too old to voice Mario. Mark Hamill is in his 70s now and he still sounds fine.
I think Kévin nailed Luigi. But Mario? I'm not sure. .
@@domcriss9229 I’m with you there. I just listened to some of the voice clips from Jamboree. Wario and Waluigi sound decent, and Luigi sounds the best I’ve heard him yet from Kevin, but Mario is still off. Kevin’s wahoos are great, but anytime Mario says any actual words, not so much.
There's a bit of a difference between a voice actor and a voice impressionist, including a replacement voice actor. It's more than just wanting somebody who can mimic the voice 1:1.
Nintendo is an extremely particular company. For reasons we may or may not agree with, or may not know, Nintendo decided that Kevin Afgani was the best actor available, other than Charles, for the role.
It's kind of like the new actors in Rick and Morty after Roiland was booted from that show. They don't sound 100% like the title characters either, but that isn't because the producers and casting didn't know what they were doing.
Really, until we get some more information its impossible to know whats actually happened. Though i personally hope it was peaceable on both parts. Im personally hoping the ambassador role turns into a teaching role. Because ultimately he is getting on and it would be better he pass those skills on before they are lost.
Nintendo really should have let Martinet train Afghani like how Disney had Clarence Nash train Tony Anselmo for the voice of Donald Duck
I think they just wanted to get ahead of the curve and replace Charles before he passes away.
him being an ambassador keeps him on the pay role. this avoids a unlawful termination case
I'm of the mindset that Charles was a victim of Japanese corporate culture. They typically don't fire employees unless it's something heinous or illegal, rather affected employees are assigned to less desirable roles with the thought that the employee will eventually walk away on their own due to boredom or depression. I doubt we'll ever get the full story as Charles is most likely gagged via an NDA, although I think the truth will eventually leak out. Charles himself seems very ethical and loyal, so his story is unlikely to be told by him in his own words any time soon.
Is it possible Tara’s tweet was on the day he found out he wouldn’t be playing Mario in the games anymore, rather than just that he wouldn’t be playing him in the movie? When she tweeted that we’d already known about the Mario movie casting for a few weeks, so the timing doesn’t really line up. And he would already have recorded his cameo lines by late 2022 anyways. It also makes more sense that he would’ve been broken up about hearing he was replaced in the games, since the movie was always gonna have a celebrity cast
Excellent video, it’s so touchy to talk about, but I’m happy to not be the only one with this sentiment.
"mario Ambassador" is more like a prized, special promotional position that says "I'm the guy who comes and talks about anything mario related, interviews, podcasts, ect.". It couldnt be an easier yet more prestigious job to have!
i'm SO glad someone well known in the gaming sphere is talking about this finally. the separation always rubbed me the wrong way and the way tons just accepted "he's old and wanted to retire and chose it" did too. any question about the word "retire" not being used by nintendo themselves was met with floods of hatred from other mario fans for "disrespecting charles" when all people want is closure and truth and only served to silence this issue.
no hate to kevin afghani, but he shouldn't be playing mario while charles still walks this earth. what mario is *today* was in large part pioneered by charles, as evidenced by the fact that kevin is merely doing an impression of charles' work. nintendo did charles dirty.
My working theory is still that they didn't like Charles expressing his political believes on social media.
He’s been doing it for years before this.
What are his political beliefs anyway?
@@N.i.E.M.O He's pretty liberal. I dig him as a person, and he definitely strikes me as someone who'd hold a good and logical dialogue from a political aspect, but the reality is that politics and Mario Bros on the same Twitter account does not go together.
@@ArynBendahnot to mention with all the idiotic chuds and grifters on Twitter, they’d probably use anything Martinet said (even if out of context and misconstrued bc that’s what they do) to start up needless controversy.
One thing that has me thinking neither of these theories are correct is the fact that Daisy's VA, Deanna Mustard, also got replaced in Wonder. I think this has something to do with the actor's strike from a while ago.
That would just now affect Nintendo? I don’t even know if video games were affected by said strike
@@lennydickson8845 voice actors apparently got involved with the strike, it's possible that that affected anyone who would want to hire a VA.
Daisy's VA was inactive in the games for a while, she hadn't gotten any new voice clips since 2017. She's also the only human character in Mario Kart Tour to not have any new voice lines at all, so I believe Deanna simply opted to step down from the role and completely retire from voiceover work.
Charles was getting very political online, and it could have been another turn off to Nintendo.
Well that's true
Nintendo is VERY protective of their IP's I hate to say it but having the risk of the VA on Twitter sharing political views is something I imagine Nintendo does not want to risk because if he was to say something that ended up controversial then Nintendo would be scrambling for a replacement but by already having a replacement ready they can retire Charles as a voice for the games while avoiding any controversy regarding politics if Charles was to get in trouble for something controversial then they already have a VA they can fall back on that to my knowledge has no social media
It could be factor but I doubt it. Only a fraction of people who play Mario games know who Charles Martinet is and a way smaller fraction are reading his political tweets. Though I wouldn't be against Nintendo warning him to stop with the political stuff, especially when he uses the same account for Mario related content. People should have the right to voice their beliefs but I feel like celebrities should be encouraged to remain silent on politics.
Not only Charles, but also the voice of Princess Daisy for 20 years Deanna Mustard? Why did she quit?
The dictionary defines an ambassador as: "a person who acts as a representative or promoter of a specified activity." So a Mario ambassador would just be someone who represents and promotes Super Mario products. The job most likely consists of Charles Martinet doing what he's always done at conventions, but now he gets a paycheck from Nintendo to keep him happy. Maybe they'll ask him to show off a new line of toys once in awhile.
I’m glad someone is talking about this. People need to put some respect on Charles . The one and only Mario . Don’t think I can really play the Mario games especially now they decided to make him talk more
You forget also Nintendo reuses voice clips for 99% of thier Mario games
Yeah, the Rabbids thing wasn't a great example.
Charles shaped so many childhoods, including my own. With all the years of playing Mario games and hearing his iconic voice, it's really hard to imagine ANYONE else playing that role.
When you consider the fact that Masako Nozawa is 87 years old and has been voicing Goku for half of her life, among other older actors portraying iconic characters for decades, it really does make you wonder.
I think it’s also worth noting that SEGA “let go” of Roger Craig Smith as Sonic not too long after he and Mike Pollock made comments (none distasteful imo) about not getting the roles for the films. Of course, the difference being that he was immediately brought back after backlash from fans.
I mean, I personally am more than ready to see someone else voice Sonic lol
Not Eggman though, love Mike's work
@@elfrangofrito Surprisingly, Mike has been the most controversial Sonic VA this year.
@@noahbanana7526 How so?
@@elfrangofrito A few months ago he was in some drama about his beliefs about Israel and Palestine.
I think you should do your own research though because I'm not very good at explaining. Googling Mike Pollock drama should give some results.
My Sonic voice is going to always be Jaleel White from the original Sonic cartoon.
I felt like Nintendo used his cameo in the Mario movie as a way to say goodbye and these two cameos are so fitting: There is Giuseppe with the classic Mario voice, and there is, more importantly, Mario's dad, who allows Martinet to hand the role over to a new generation, and the character is actually representing Charles' evolution of the idea of someone else voicing Mario quite well, starting of sceptical and reprimanding Mario, but in the end he's proud of what Mario did, which could be symbolic for Charles realizing that the character's future in safe hands.
I don't know if the filmmakers had all that in mind when making the movie, but it feels fitting to me.
Lmao at the thought of him being fired, Super Mario on a bridge with Charles Martinet's face in the corner:
I also think the movie had something to do with the change.
Charles must have felt hurt that he wasn't chosen to voice Mario, and he doesn't need to do the same voice as in the games, heck, Charles does the voice of Mario's father in the movie and does it very well, he could have done a different tone for Mario himself.
Good video!
I think anyone who has followed Charles’ career knows that he never would have retired from voicing Mario. However, it seems Nintendo across the board has been undergoing a transition internally to train younger talent. Most of the new Switch games coming out have had their usual producers (aonuma, tazuka, etc) in more of a supervisory role. Most recent Sakamoto openly passed on Famicom Detective Club to a new director. As far as Charles goes, I feel like even if it was forced, could Nintendo have handled it any other way? They praised his work, made a whole video including Miyomoto himself, and (even if it’s literally a made up “we won’t sue you” role) gave him the ability to continue to use Mario at cons and meet fans. It’s sad but it’s way more than many other companies do with legacy VAs.
Idk, it was gonna happen at one way or another, and I guess Nintendo decided it would be easier to find a successor for Charles before he passes away, as morbid as that may seem. Also, towards the end of his tenure, there in fact was a notable difference in his performances as a result of him aging. Like if you compare how Luigi sounds in LM3 to how he does in Dark Moon, the voice is noticeably more nasally. I think it simply was time for Charles to pass the torch to a new actor who could inject the same energy into the characters that he once did. And the fact that he was given the "Mario Ambassador" role at all shows that there's no bad blood between him and Nintendo. It indicates that Nintendo respects Charles and his legacy enough to keep him around in some capacity instead of simply tossing him aside and telling him to get lost. And besides...getting paid to travel the world and vibe with fans? I don't think anybody would complain about that deal. I’m just getting tired of people trying so hard to make a scandal out of something that really isn’t the end of the world. What happened happened and it’s time to get over it.
I've been thinking about this, and I don't think it was a firing over a Twitter post. This seems more like one of those "Big Brain" Nintendo moves. I think for whatever reason, they saw it as the best time to replace him while they were ahead. It was always going to be a controversial thing. But in time the mainstream will forget, and Mario will just sound like Mario.
Kermit the Frog was voiced by Jim Henson. And all subsequent voice actors voicing Kermit are basically impersonating him. But we all just know it as Kermit at this point.
It does make me sad, and feel old though.
Eh some of them are better then others * cough cough * constentine's actor
15:00 there was also the time Charles was doing video skits with Mario and Luigi figures on social media that he had to be asked to stop it.
Though that was a while ago and he stopped immediately.
Maybe it wasn't one big fallout but several smaller things throughout the years that made Nintendo reconsider?
That's why Nintendo Japan needs to be sued. So they can learn that you have a right to use your voice for whatever you want . They do not own your voice. They nay own the character but not the voice you pick for it
It's complicated but I think Nintendo had to. Some time back Miyamoto was thought to be retiring and Nintendo stock took a hit. Nintendo has to work to separate the individuals from the company. Of course Martinet is not nearly as interwoven into Nintendo as a whole as Miyamoto, however he is considered very close to the modern character of Mario. Nintendo has to work to pull back Martinet from being so associated with the character of Mario, so that when he does get to a point where he outright can't do it any more people don't associate the downfall of the voice with the downfall of the character. They saw this a bit when they chose Chris Pratt to play him in the movie, a lot of people expressed how they couldn't imagine the character being played by anyone other than Martinet. Of course the movie did well, but it also showed Nintendo that having one mortal person being so associated with the character can have the potential to hinder the character in the future.I'm not doing great with the wording of it, but Nintendo has a lot of work to do in ensuring the company outlives it's superstars.
I mean his role in the Mario Brothers movie was the greatest send-off I could have imagined. I mean assuming Mario is parents make a reappearance in the Maria movie sequel then we'll see more of them. Awesome
Thank you for trying to shed some light on this topic.
Even though most of this is just speculation, theories and opinions, we really need some more insights on what Nintendo is really trying to do here with Martinet.
The whole 'Mario Ambassador' thing is still a ginormous 'WTF' kind of thing for everyone.
Seriously, what does that *really* mean? It can't be only about letting Martinet go to conventions under Nintendo's blessing.
Just knowing that this is something Nintendo appointed to Martinet still begs the question whether or not the man is really off the hook from voicing Mario.
It's also good to know that he's not generally retiring overall.
He may be showing his age, but he's still as jolly & energetic as ever.
One day I hope we'll all discover the real reasons as to why Nintendo let Martinet go from the one thing he's known best for.
And hopefully those reasons won't be as bleak or tragic to hear from.
I love Martinet as much as everyone else does.
So to hear something terrible about this man would utterly destroy a part of me deep down if such a case were to show up.
Maybe I'm getting old but since the start of the Switch era Nintendo has done a lot of shitty things very inclined to the corporate side. This is the one conspiracy theory I am 100% on board, it's either the wanted Martinet gone or they just wanted to get a cheaper option. I do not believe there was any "good faith" in anything Nintendo did about it...
I want to believe Nintendo is just future-proofing the brand while Charles Martinet is still alive. He's up there in years and it just makes sense for him to basically coach people to pass the torch to. Especially with thr Mario movie having just come out with a brand new voice cast anyway. After all, he's been Mario for almost 30 years and its much better to find a quality sound-alike while you still have the current actor. I also just really dont want to believe anyone would want to screw over such a kind soul as him. It also especially doesnt make sense that a Japanese company would screw over the OG voice actor of their flagship character, knowing how much they revere voice actors - to the point they often say anime and video game characters die with the voice actor.
Poor Charles 😢
If any of these theories are true, shame on Nintendo.
"We love you, Charles. You're the best, Charles. Guess what, Charles. Today you're going to be playing a big new role, Charles. You're our "Mario Ambassador"! You'll be flying everywhere and doing whatever it is you do. You go have fun with that." "I thought I was the voice of Mario." "Get on that plane Charles."
Very nice video. All the details nicely set out and good opinions. Thanks a lot!
What's also interesting is that he even spoke many of the dubbed versions of the "Arcade guy" and even Marios father in the Mario movie and completely nailed it!!
There are two things about this whole thing that seem true, yet contradictory. 1. Charles did not want to quit playing Mario. 2. Nintendo really has no good reason to "fire" him. (I'm not sure the tweets you mentioned would be enough honestly, even for the Nintendo Ninjas) The one scenario I can think of that still allows both of those points to be true is this: Charles really wanted to play Mario in the movie. And at some point in this process it looked to him like he wasn't going to get the role. So he made a gamble and basically told Nintendo that if he can't play Mario in this movie, he won't continue to play him in games either. A last ditch effort to get him the role, that unfortunately did not work. If this is true, it would still have been Charles's decision to quit playing the character, even though he would love to continue.
And honestly, if he's not playing Mario now in protest of not getting the part in the movie, I support him in this! I think he should have gotten that role.
I always thought similar to your theory regarding the Mario Movie. I remember reading an interview with Charles months before the official voice cast was revealed, in which he said he had yet to be asked by the studio to voice Mario in the film, but was eagerly and optimistically waiting to hear from them. I can only imagine he’d felt crushed when he was set aside for the sake of star power. I could see this creating some rifts between him and the company. And while it’s not like Chris Pratt and Charlie Day didn’t deliver pretty decently in the film, I would’ve much preferred seeing Martinet getting the role he deserved. I hated when people in the internet claimed that his voice “wouldn’t work” and would “get annoying.” He’s a voice actor and can always tone down the thick accent for the sake of the movie-it’s not like charles speaks exactly the same as Mario. Voicing Mario’s father sort of proved to me that he can and should have been the voice of Mario himself. It reminds me of Lucasfilm not casting Ashley Eckstein to play Ashoka. Sure, Rosario Dawson did okay (though I didn’t much care for her portrayal of the character), but when you’re dealing with someone who lives and breathes that character, and would likely have agreed to take on the role if asked, it just seems entirely disrespectful to the voice actor by telling them they’re not good enough for the role they essentially created.
- I feel like the way he said "faithful" and "loyal" sounds like he's being loyal _to nintendo_ by abiding by their wishes
- I also think it's possible that Nintendo replaced him PREEMPTIVELY, BEFORE his voice got worse. Let him end on a high note rather than doing damage control.
We also don't know how many takes he is doing to nail his Mario voices. It's possible that Nintendo can see he's having more difficulty getting it perfect than he used to.
That's just speculation but even if he sounds great in the latest game, we don't know if he's really still in his prime or not.
the clips in sparks of hope are reused, charles isn't even credited in the game
I agree that the theories you put forward are most likely. But, one other: Maybe he has a medical condition, and maybe they decided it's best not to draw attention to it, but maybe he won't be around or in good health a super long amount of time going forward, and so they figured it was time to start looking at a replacement already
honestly i feel like its pretty simple
Nintendo has changed the other mario characters VA's without issue in the past, Charles just ended up lasting longer than the rest, similar to Mike and Eggman
Nintendo wanted to get a new VA to build that next generation of Mario, and honestly thats totally fine, Charles isn't the only (or even the best) Mario Actor we've had
Dudes probably getting a good stipend and ability to travel for Nintendo for the rest of his life, thats better than most
The craziest thing about all this to me is the simple fact that he’s full of energy and can still do the voice perfectly
I pictured an ambassador role would be Charles’ objective to work one-on-one with Kevin to coach his skills with voice acting. Then from there, they could potentially build a Tom and Jim Hanks relationship (Tom does Woody’s movie voice, and Jim does the merchandise and accurate portrayals) Hoping as Charles ages he continues to be an active part of Nintendo, but Nintendo is only looking out for the future of their IP. Doing away with Charles would be a significant move, since he portrays multiple voices besides Mario’s.
You really said everything i was thinking! Good job for your video!
Thank you!
This was really interesting, I wasn't aware he didn't see the Mario movie, and that Chris Pratt taking on the role might have been the reason for him being forced to leave the character. If I want to be charitable and give Nintendo the benefit of the doubt, having Chris Pratt to voice Mario was purely to get a Hollywood actor in the cast, but also so that in the future if Nintendo wanted to make more Mario movies where there was more dialogue, the voice would be consistent for years to come, and not worry about a potentially aging Charles Martinet. This obviously doesn't explain him not continuing with the role in video games. But I think Nintendo keeping him on as an "ambassador" could mainly be a way for them to enforce an NDA on him so that he can't legally talk about why he's no longer the voice for the character in either the games or the movies. I would hope one day we get a memoire or some explanation directly from Charles on the truth about what happened.
Tbh, I’m happy he isn’t voicing Mario anymore.
As it allows others to take the role as the red plumber. And his age became more noticeable in his voice over time. With the earliest I can think of, of that is Mario Kart 8 on the Wii U. His voice still sounded good, but it wasn’t the same as the 2000s sometimes.
Even then, hearing his voice makes me still wish he still was playing as Mario.
"I want to voice mario until I drop dead"
- Charles martinet
Can I say he ascends to a new existence? I respected him this much
23:25 imagine this is how a kid learns that Santa isnt real 😭😭
It might have to do with how overprotective is Nintendo with its characters and IPs. Maybe they didn't want a person to BE Mario anymore, they don't want the character to be associated with any real human, he's just a character, an icon, just Mario. Although in that case I don't see why give Charles the ambassador title.
I personally believe that since he has been mario in over 100 projects now that his contract probably required more payment for him each time to return and that they needed a way to nickel and dime to make investors happy
Great video! I think another theory I myself have somewhat adopted is maybe it was a money thing. I imagine his payment has gone up as time has gone on (probably not nearly enough as he deserved), but I wonder if they were being stingy and like, “Hey, we can just hire this other guy who will take a lot less than Charles at this point and we can save a lot in the long-run!”
Here's your awnser 0:03
So you say you can only be convinced by hearing his voice sound like he's getting tired? Well sorry to disappoint you, but it already happened. Go listen to his movie cameo from the french dub. His wahoo right after commenting on doing the accent was really painful to hear. That's when I accepted it was time to let go. Doing the voices for Nintendo is most likely quite intense, and I think the various movie dubs kinda prove he probably can no longer do long sessions of that. So I think it was a necessary sacrifice for him to stop before it completely destroys his voice and forces him into an even worse situation of total retirement from voice acting.😢
I feel like the whole uproar about Charles Martinet not being Mario in the movie kinda upset Nintendo and made them want to distance Martinet from the character. Nintendo didn't like the backlash they got from this decision so they decided to let him go. This way they can get someone else and this time not put a focus on who's voicing the character because they are not important... Mario is.
While I agree that Charles still had it in him to keep going and nailing the role, none of the clips shown in Sparks of Hope come FROM Sparks of Hope. They are all old clips from various Mario games. I'm 99% certain no voice recording was done for any of the Mario cast for that game (which is something Nintendo tends to do nowadays. Not a single new clip was recorded for Mario Strikers Battle League either, for example)
The real proof for Charles still having it is indeed the Mario Movie, as that's 100% new recordings and yet he still sounds excellent as Mario.
I feel like your theory reads too far into things but it’s not like I have evidence to the contrary lol. And while I agree that he’s absolutely still a competent actor for the part (much more than examples like Marge Simpson), I think it’s wrong to imply the cracks aren’t starting to show. I’d say Charles’ performance for Mario Party Superstars was a little bit “off.” And personally I think Kevin’s performance in Mario Wonder was only a little “off.” It wouldn’t shock me if Nintendo was of the opinion that Charles is approaching the point where he’s too old (and to the point of other commenters, maybe too expensive!) for the role.
I WOULD be surprised if Nintendo was SO petty that they’d stop renewing contracts because someone on twitter implied that Charles was sad he couldn’t voice in an Illumination movie. I’ve seen much more open/blatant complaints from long term VAs that they weren’t invited to / consulted about a feature film, with no repercussions. (Weird example but the LEGO Ninjago Movie also featured celebrity VAs instead of the original actors from the Cartoon Network show, and I recall the CN actors actively complaining in a vlog on RUclips. LEGO is known to be a similar level of petty as Nintendo, but that seemed fine at the time).
I think Nintendo, as ever, made a backwards and unhelpful decision but tried to walk it back a bit by showing they want to keep a relationship open with Charles and have him be their “Mario Ambassador,” not that they’ve bothered defining what that means…
I actually was thinking the latter theory may be the case as soon as it was announced he wasn’t going to be the official voice of Mario anymore. Especially since his voice definitely hasn’t degraded to the point where his Mario sounds different, it’s hard to believe Nintendo making the decision because of his age. Especially once I learned he wasn’t retiring.
If it was a 100% amicable decision, going based on how Nintendo acts as a company, I’d expect Charles to have been in the Direct with the new VA of Mario, lighting a torch with a Fire Flower, and passing it on to the new person. Maybe not that exact scenario, but I’d definitely have expected some cute little skit showing solidarity.
One last thing to note is that as you become older (around your 60s), men’s voices start to become higher pitched again reverting to sounding closer in pitch to how they sounded before puberty. So it’s highly likely that a voice like Mario’s wouldn’t have been as affected by his age as, say his voice as that dragon from Elder Scrolls.
You probably should have shown clips from Futurama of Billy West playing Fry. Man he sounds OLD in the new seasons lol. Fry is supposed to be about 30-something but he definitely sounds 70 lol. No shade of course, he's just getting older, and still does a good job voice acting. But he does sound pretty old nowadays.
What I think happened: Nintendo didn’t want to “play it safe” with Mario, and they wanted to switch it up. They already saw what they could achieve by doing this with Zelda. Breath of the Wild outsold Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, and Skyward Sword combined, and the sequel Tears of the Kingdom sold a LOT of copies as well. Those two games challenged almost every Zelda convention and switched things up.
I don’t think there was any ill will, I just think someone at Nintendo thought it’d be a good idea to change things. Mario Wonder came out with a totally different art style from previous Mario games, and to accompany that, they had a new voice actor.
Let me add this: I want Martinet to return, and I do NOT want Chris Pratt to do Mario again LMAO
Holy crap I haven't yet heard the new Mario until your sample of him. That is REALLY bad for what is supposed to be the OFFICIAL Mario.