Current Events > So what happens when Charles Martinet dies?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Does Nintendo just implode?

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They can get Mark Hamill

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Sonic had several voice changes and Sega is still around somehow. Not like the Nintendo characters even talk that much, they could survive on the compilation of all the grunts, yells and laughs that are already recorded.

A: they reuse his voice clips. A lot of the clips are pretty similar - whoops, cheers, short words like "yahoo!". As far as New Super Mario Bros and the spinoff titles go, they might get away with reusing voice clips for everyone.

B: they get a soundalike. This could just be for Mario, with other characters getting new voice actors and possibly new characterisation to fit these new voices, or they could replace Charles with a handful of VA gatekeepers to keep the Nintendo magic alive.

C: they hire a new VA with their own personal flair, and Nintendo takes the opportunity to experiment with the character a little. Maybe they do a little rebranding, or test the waters for a serious paradigm shift. This ties into B, since the other characters will need to be voiced too and they might get a similar treatment.

While the building blocks of Mario have always been there - you're an Italian bloke named Mario who has to rescue a princess - Mario has changed pretty radically over the years. 3 was a departure from 1 and 2, Yoshi's Island flipped the formula entirely (if you consider it a mainline game), 64 smashed the polygon ceiling with a resounding success, Sunshine was a radical departure with more of a story emphasis, Galaxy crafted an excellent story with game mechanics that have no business being as good as they were... but ever since 3D World, you have people complaining about recent titles being mediocre Mario games with an abundance of gimmicks and no soul. Personally I enjoyed Odyssey, but on here especially the verdict seemed to be "alright, but not great". I can understand why people see something like Cappie as a gimmick rather than as a step forward.

So if a massive, immutable aspect of the Mario franchise like Charles Martinet does pass on, I think Nintendo would take the opportunity to experiment with the formula. I think that rather than emulate Charles, the team would work with the new VA and get a gauge for their energy and delivery to deliver a Mario game that's true to the franchise - while taking in the essence of the new voice talent to ensure that above all else, Mario feels as authentic as he always has.

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