Voice of Mario Smashes Guinness World Record
63-year-old Charles Martinet has been awarded a Guinness World Record for the most voice-over appearances of a single video game character. The special achievement is for his most iconic role, and indeed one of gaming’s most recognizable faces, that of Mario himself. With the recent release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on Nintendo Switch, Martinet has provided the voice behind the Italian plumber an astonishing 100 times.
Martinet announced his exciting news via his social media pages. On his Twitter account, Martinet expressed that he is “so honored” to have been given the award from the leading authority on world records.
Charles Martinet was first selected as Mario’s voice actor for the educational computer game, Mario Teaches Typing, released in 1992. His first appearance in a Mario game that was internally developed by Nintendo was 1996’s Super Mario 64. Since then, he has starred as Nintendo’s mascot in pretty much every core Mario game and several of his spinoffs, including last year’s SuperMario Odyssey on Nintendo Switch. And now, according to Guinness World Records, no video game voice actor has ever been as prolific in a single role, as of 7 December 2018.
In addition to Mario, Martinet has also done the voice work for the red plumber’s relatives: Luigi, Wario, and Waluigi. Furthermore, his appearances in video games extend beyond the Mushroom Kingdom. You can find Martinet lending his voice talent to games in the Ratchet and Clank, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings series. However, there is no denying that Mario dominates his gaming filmography.
Charles Martinet included a #woohoo! in his social media posts, paying tribute to one his most iconic catchphrases as Mario. He will push that record out to 102 on 11 January 2019 with the re-releases Maria & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story + Bowser Jr.’s Journey and New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe on Nintendo 3DS and Switch, respectively.
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