December 7 was a very special day for Nintendo. Obviously, the biggest reason was that the highly anticipated Nintendo Switch exclusive, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, launched with a lot of media publications calling it the best in the series. In addition, the game was among many Switch titles that rocketed the console to some amazing sales this holiday, setting the console-game attach rate record in the process. On top of that, the day before Smash Ultimate released, Joker from Persona 5 was shockingly announced as future fighter for the game at The Game Awards 2018.
This is already an impressive display from the company, but they were involved in yet another great honor this week. Charles Martinet, the iconic voice actor for Nintendo’s most recognizable character, Mario, made history on that fateful December 7, as he was credited the voice actor for the Red Plumber for a record 100th time. This achievement awarded him the Guinness World Record for most video game voice performances on the same character.
While the exact time of when Martinet first voiced Mario are somewhat debated (between 1990-1995), most fans recognize his first official gig as the plumber on Mario’s Game Gallery for DOS in 1995. However, one year later, he would forever cement himself as Nintendo’s mascot when he voiced Mario in the revolutionary Super Mario 64 for the Nintendo 64. Since then, Martinet has given Mario life in all of his video game endeavors, including the Super Mario series, and all of the sports spin offs (Mario Kart, Mario Tennis, Super Strikers, etc.)
Martinet has also voiced the other Nintendo Italian characters, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, and Baby Mario in almost every single game they have been in. Beyond the realm of Nintendo, Martinet has also voiced some other video game characters for different companies, one of which was the Elder Dragon Paarthurnax in Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim. Yes, the voice of Mario was also the voice of a Dragon; the more you know.
Martinet appeared on the Guinness World Record Podcast to receive his award, where he also talked about how he originally got the job and how his life has changed since. Martinet can hardly contain his excitement during the video, but who can blame him? He has arguably one of the best jobs on the planet, and his love and passion clearly shows in his work. Now, he can add yet another milestone to his resume, as for the 100th time he has voiced the most legendary video game character of all time.
You can check out The Guinness World Record Podcast video here:
You can also check out Charles Martinet doing a Paarthurnax voice request, because it’s an amazing thing to see/hear: