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This Week in Games - Thank You, Charles Martinet


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SpacemanHardy



Joined: 03 Jan 2012
Posts: 2511
PostPosted: Fri Aug 25, 2023 10:33 am Reply with quote
Just a quick correction: Hank Azaria is not the voice of Homer Simpson. That would be Dan Castellaneta.
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Greed1914



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4660
PostPosted: Fri Aug 25, 2023 10:34 am Reply with quote
The pricing of the Portal gets even worse when you factor in that you cannot use bluetooth audio with it. It's either wired headphones, or Sony's own proprietary audio connection that, wouldn't you know it, only works with their own earphones and earbuds. They've made a real case for just going to your store of choice and buying another inexpensive TV.

Also, I don't like the name of it. I get that it is your "portal" to your PS5, but the name sounds enough like "Portable" that I could see some less knowledgeable mistakenly buying it thinking it is the new PSP.
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TheSleepyMonkey



Joined: 11 Jul 2022
Posts: 960
PostPosted: Fri Aug 25, 2023 10:40 am Reply with quote
Quote:
There was much consternation with the recent Super Mario Bros. movie from Illumination, given that Martinet was bumped down to a cameo appearance within the film, with the role of Mario going to a very poorly-cast Chris Pratt in one of the most maligned cases of stunt-casting in recent history. A lot of folks find a poignant tribute in Martinet's character having the last line in the film—"Those are my boys!"—but I think the role still should have been his.


I disagree with this bit, a lot. Pratt's performance in the movie was more than good enough, specially considering Mario's character in the movie wasn't really the same as the games, being a much more grounded character instead of the super joyful guy we all know. And as much as I love Martinet, I can't imagine that hearing that kind of accent for essentially two hours of movie wouldn't get a bit grating on the ears kinda quickly.
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FinalVentCard
ANN Reviewer


Joined: 28 Oct 2018
Posts: 655
PostPosted: Fri Aug 25, 2023 10:56 am Reply with quote
I dunno, Martinet wasn't grating for the entirety of Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, both Mario Galaxy titles, all five Mario & Luigi titles... You may as well argue that nobody wants to hear Mickey Mouse's chirpy voice for a whole movie, but we have several of those.

Anyway, all my homies hate Pratt, this isn't gonna change anytime soon unless homeboy develops a personality. There is no need to carry on this old discussion, so let's end it here and not lose another comment section to stupid arguments.
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FilthyCasual



Joined: 01 Jun 2015
Posts: 2415
PostPosted: Fri Aug 25, 2023 11:02 am Reply with quote
Quote:
I won't be the first to say it, but I will chime in that whoever it is, we should embrace them with arms wide open.
>inb4 it's chris pratt

It's a shame to see Martinet go, but at least he presumably retired amicably and definitely isn't dead.

On another note, I somewhat expected to see a mention of Geoff Keighley getting another event gatecrashed by some dude talking about Bill Clinton. You'd think he'd invest in better security after the first time.
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FinalVentCard
ANN Reviewer


Joined: 28 Oct 2018
Posts: 655
PostPosted: Fri Aug 25, 2023 11:27 am Reply with quote
Real talk, the last time I talked about Blizzard (roundabouts when they unveiled their Pansexual character, I think?), I just sat back in my chair mid-paragraph and realized that it just wasn't fun talking about Blizzard being shifty for the umpteenth time. I do This Week In Games because I enjoy it, but covering idiots being idiots and causing damage to everyone around them just hurts me in a way that I know will be immensely unhealthy to me in the long run. I'll never have kind words for Geoff Kighley and his dog-and-pony shows, but I think my readership gets that at this point and I'd rather not have to keep dipping into that venom. That, and it's one less thing taking column space away from actual Japanese game stuff.

If the likes of Kighley were just that much more important to gaming in general, like the esteemed John Romero or American McGee (who I have dedicated space to), sure. But man, I don't need to stoop to a dung beetle's level. Does it suck that the rest of the industry hinges on the word of veritable clowns? Oh yeah. But I can at least not involve myself in that garbage.

But seriously, the heck is that man putting his money into that he can't even get a decent security detail? Sure ain't his wardrobe, that's for sure.
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Joe Mello



Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 2316
Location: Online Terminal
PostPosted: Fri Aug 25, 2023 12:05 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
This leaves us with a lot of questions. Nintendo's announcement reports that Martinet will now take on the role of "Mario Ambassador;" I'm struggling to understand what that means, but it'll likely mean that he'll still be closely associated with the Mario Bros brand and maybe throw out a "Wa-hoo~!" or two at official Nintendo appearances, on top of him joyously showing up to conventions worldwide to meet with fans as he already does.

I think you more or less have it. My snarky way to put is "professional convention guest" but as you had said, there are certainly worse ways to earn money post-career and I'm not mad about it.

I guess another way to view it (though heavily stereotyped) is that this is a version of "lifetime employment" in action.
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BadNewsBlues



Joined: 21 Sep 2014
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 25, 2023 1:48 pm Reply with quote
Greed1914 wrote:
Also, I don't like the name of it. I get that it is your "portal" to your PS5, but the name sounds enough like "Portable" that I could see some less knowledgeable mistakenly buying it thinking it is the new PSP.


If anyone were to buy this thinking it was a new PSP that would be an egregious lapse in judgment on the part of the person buying it when there hasn’t been a new PSP on the market since 2011.

FinalVentCard wrote:
I dunno, Martinet wasn't grating for the entirety of Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, both Mario Galaxy titles, all five Mario & Luigi titles... You may as well argue that nobody wants to hear Mickey Mouse's chirpy voice for a whole movie, but we have several of those.


I think the key difference is that Nintendo has never had Mario speaking an entire game with fully voiced dialog even in the one game that actually had it i.e. Sunshine. Which people weirdly complained about at the time leading to them never having the characters speak full lines of dialog afterwards.

Having said that though it probably wouldn’t be that bad. Try to imagine having to listen to Toad with that raspy guttural voice he’s had since the Wii games.
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Gem-Bug



Joined: 10 Nov 2018
Posts: 1330
PostPosted: Fri Aug 25, 2023 2:55 pm Reply with quote
Never thought I'd see Vinny Vinesauce referenced in an ANN article, but 2023 has been super weird.
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light turner



Joined: 13 Aug 2022
Posts: 190
PostPosted: Fri Aug 25, 2023 2:58 pm Reply with quote
BadNewsBlues wrote:
I think the key difference is that Nintendo has never had Mario speaking an entire game with fully voiced dialog even in the one game that actually had it i.e. Sunshine. Which people weirdly complained about at the time leading to them never having the characters speak full lines of dialog afterwards.


Doesn't even have to be a full game of speech. The GBA ports of the first few Mario games were ruined with the constant voice clips of "WAHOO" and "JUST WHAT I NEEDED" every time you jumped or grabbed a power-up. Which is a shame since they have all the bonus e-reader levels which are nice. I wonder if anyone's made a romhack that edits out the voice clips...
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FinalVentCard
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Joined: 28 Oct 2018
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 25, 2023 3:18 pm Reply with quote
Gem-Bug wrote:
Never thought I'd see Vinny Vinesauce referenced in an ANN article, but 2023 has been super weird.


I've been referencing the funny pizza-pasta man on and off since I started working on the column last year! Anime hyper

animenewsnetwork.com/cms/article/this-week-in-games/187664/show
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Lord Geo



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 2696
Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey
PostPosted: Fri Aug 25, 2023 3:21 pm Reply with quote
BadNewsBlues wrote:
I think the key difference is that Nintendo has never had Mario speaking an entire game with fully voiced dialog even in the one game that actually had it i.e. Sunshine. Which people weirdly complained about at the time leading to them never having the characters speak full lines of dialog afterwards.


Martinet did have full lines & the like in Mario Teaches Typing, as shown in the article, but that was also Martinet's debut as Mario & wasn't produced by Nintendo itself, so it understandably became an outlier.

Listening to it now you can tell that Martinet tried to keep Mario sounding a little more "normal" in his inflections, while still keeping that Italian sound, & I imagine that once Nintendo took direct control of Martinet's performance they had him perform more in a style that worked better for short quips & the like, as seen in "proper" Mario games, rather than longer conversational pieces like in MTT.
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AiddonValentine



Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 2359
PostPosted: Fri Aug 25, 2023 3:46 pm Reply with quote
Like I was saying in another thread, the Portal isn't just an imitation of the Wii U Gamepad, it's actually worse in every way. The Gamepad was at least integrated into the system's design so it was far easier to use in gameplay. What the heck can the Portal do? It's just a convoluted way to play games that would look better on your TV. I genuinely do not see what it can offer.

As for Martinet, what a career. Dude came out of nowhere and ended up becoming the voice for gaming's greatest icon. And considering how Wonder is clearly taking after his take, that's Mario's voice forever. Usually voice actors get discarded or recast without note, but Nintendo actually making an announcement of it shows how important he is. He is enshrined in gaming history.
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BadNewsBlues



Joined: 21 Sep 2014
Posts: 6358
PostPosted: Fri Aug 25, 2023 6:05 pm Reply with quote
light turner wrote:
Doesn't even have to be a full game of speech. The GBA ports of the first few Mario games were ruined with the constant voice clips of "WAHOO" and "JUST WHAT I NEEDED" every time you jumped or grabbed a power-up.


I’m one of the few people who will die on the hill of Super Mario Advance 2 being better than the SNES version in part because of the voice clips.

Lord Geo wrote:
leading to them never having the characters speak full lines of dialog afterwards.


Martinet did have full lines & the like in Mario Teaches Typing, as shown in the article, but that was also Martinet's debut as Mario & wasn't produced by Nintendo itself, so it understandably became an outlier.[/quote]

That makes it even more puzzling that they wanted to keep Mario just like Link mostly silent.
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Gem-Bug



Joined: 10 Nov 2018
Posts: 1330
PostPosted: Fri Aug 25, 2023 8:13 pm Reply with quote
FinalVentCard wrote:
Gem-Bug wrote:
Never thought I'd see Vinny Vinesauce referenced in an ANN article, but 2023 has been super weird.


I've been referencing the funny pizza-pasta man on and off since I started working on the column last year! Anime hyper

animenewsnetwork.com/cms/article/this-week-in-games/187664/show


Not seeing it in the linked article, but I'll take your word!
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