His face might not be recognisable but for millions of gamers around the world, Charles Martinet’s voice was probably the one they heard when playing a Nintendo video game for the first time.
Martinet attended Middle East Film and Comic Con in Abu Dhabi last weekend thanks to his connection to the gaming industry. A tall man with white hair down to his chin, Martinet, 66, speaks in a tone that doesn't immediately give away his ties to the gaming world. However, in a split second, he lets out a familiar, high-pitched, “It’s-a me, Mario!”
For more than 30 years, he’s been the voice behind the most famous Italian plumbing brothers in gaming history: Mario and Luigi. It's a role that he takes seriously and one that he says he has no plans of walking away from — at least not anytime soon.
“I’m going as long as I can. I’ll know when I can't and I don't sound right and I'll be the first to say it. But the wonderful thing about a voiceover talent is you last so long."
Martinet didn’t originally set out to be a part of the video game industry when his friend told him there was an audition for a job in Las Vegas and that he should crash it.
“I said, ‘buddy, there's no way I would ever crash an audition. I'm a professional actor. Where should I go?’,” he says with a sly smile. “And I don't know why. But I left the beach and I went, and I crashed this audition.”
He made it at the last minute, just as the casting directors were putting away equipment and asked if he could read for the part. He was told he was auditioning for the role of an Italian plumber from Brooklyn named Mario for a gaming system called Nintendo.
It's such an honour for me to play a character that I know is something that people love
Charles Martinet
Back in 1990, Martinet hadn’t heard of either. Although the character of Mario first appeared in the Donkey Kong video game in 1981, it would still be a couple more years before Mario would be the star of his own game.
Given the clues about the character, he just decided to go for it, speaking about Italian food in a high-pitched accented voice that would soon become synonymous with the overall-wearing, red capped plumber.
Originally, when Martinet heard “Italian plumber from Brooklyn”, he had a different voice in mind but soon realised that it would be too rough to be suitable.
“The idea of a character talking was incredible at the time. But I wanted to do something that would be nice in case there were children,” he says.
Instead, in that moment and with about 20 seconds to get ready, he drew inspiration from a past character he played in William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew but made his voice sound younger.
He then proceeded to audition with that, discussing different Italian food combinations until the tape ran out. He was given a “thank you, we’ll be in touch” and thought that was the end of it.
After his 1990 audition, he wasn’t sure if it would amount to much. In the following years, Martinet voiced Mario at video game trade shows, in which people would walk up to a television that displayed a 3D Mario head that moved around the screen and he would talk to them. He was able to see them via a hidden camera and facial motion capture helped sync his voice to Mario's movement on screen, a revolutionary idea at the time.
“This was a one-off job for me. You know, to go to Las Vegas and work. And I thought, well, that's great,” he says.
“We had so much fun with the character that we did it again and again and again, for five years until I got a phone call: ‘Mr [Shigeru] Miyamoto would like you to play Mario in a video game?’ To which I said, ‘Marvelous’.”
While he made his video game voice debut in 1995’s Mario’s FUNdamentals, most fans of the franchise may have heard Martinet’s voice for the first time in a milestone Mario game that was created for the Nintendo 64 and released in 1996: Super Mario 64.
It would go on to be praised by critics as well as players. It was named the Game of the Year by members of the gaming media including Electronic Gaming Monthly, Game Informer and the Golden Joystick Awards. It was also the bestselling video game of 1996. During its first three months on sale in the US, it sold more than two million copies and is still regarded as one of the greatest video games of all time.
While some may wonder if playing the same characters for so long would get stale, Martinet says that it never does. He says he knows that Mario and Nintendo have been a part of so many people’s childhoods and that it means a lot for him to be part of that too.
“It's really absolutely spectacular. It's such a joy. And it makes it such an honour for me to play a character that I know is something that people love.”
He believes the appeal of Mario and Nintendo is that, not only is it a game franchise that's nostalgic for so many around the world, but also one that follows a simple formula that most people can relate to.
“Life is like a video game. You play and your character evolves and develops and you end up defeating the monsters and rescuing the princess, and you realise you are a hero the whole way.”
Scroll through the gallery below to see all the Super Mario games created:
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Abu Dhabi GP schedule
Friday: First practice - 1pm; Second practice - 5pm
Saturday: Final practice - 2pm; Qualifying - 5pm
Sunday: Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (55 laps) - 5.10pm
PSA DUBAI WORLD SERIES FINALS LINE-UP
Men’s:
Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY)
Ali Farag (EGY)
Simon Rosner (GER)
Tarek Momen (EGY)
Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL)
Gregory Gaultier (FRA)
Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY)
Nick Matthew (ENG)
Women's:
Nour El Sherbini (EGY)
Raneem El Welily (EGY)
Nour El Tayeb (EGY)
Laura Massaro (ENG)
Joelle King (NZE)
Camille Serme (FRA)
Nouran Gohar (EGY)
Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG)
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Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
Result
Arsenal 4
Monreal (51'), Ramsey (82'), Lacazette 85', 89')
West Ham United 1
Arnautovic (64')
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 201hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 320Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.7L/100km
Price: Dh133,900
On sale: now
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Brief scores:
Southampton 2
Armstrong 13', Soares 20'
Manchester United 2
Lukaku 33', Herrera 39'
One in nine do not have enough to eat
Created in 1961, the World Food Programme is pledged to fight hunger worldwide as well as providing emergency food assistance in a crisis.
One of the organisation’s goals is the Zero Hunger Pledge, adopted by the international community in 2015 as one of the 17 Sustainable Goals for Sustainable Development, to end world hunger by 2030.
The WFP, a branch of the United Nations, is funded by voluntary donations from governments, businesses and private donations.
Almost two thirds of its operations currently take place in conflict zones, where it is calculated that people are more than three times likely to suffer from malnutrition than in peaceful countries.
It is currently estimated that one in nine people globally do not have enough to eat.
On any one day, the WFP estimates that it has 5,000 lorries, 20 ships and 70 aircraft on the move.
Outside emergencies, the WFP provides school meals to up to 25 million children in 63 countries, while working with communities to improve nutrition. Where possible, it buys supplies from developing countries to cut down transport cost and boost local economies.
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More coverage from the Future Forum
The specs: 2018 Maserati Levante S
Price, base / as tested: Dh409,000 / Dh467,000
Engine: 3.0-litre V6
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 430hp @ 5,750rpm
Torque: 580Nm @ 4,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 10.9L / 100km
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Classification of skills
A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
Disability on screen
Empire — neuromuscular disease myasthenia gravis; bipolar disorder; post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Rosewood and Transparent — heart issues
24: Legacy — PTSD;
Superstore and NCIS: New Orleans — wheelchair-bound
Taken and This Is Us — cancer
Trial & Error — cognitive disorder prosopagnosia (facial blindness and dyslexia)
Grey’s Anatomy — prosthetic leg
Scorpion — obsessive compulsive disorder and anxiety
Switched at Birth — deafness
One Mississippi, Wentworth and Transparent — double mastectomy
Dragons — double amputee
Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
The Lowdown
Us
Director: Jordan Peele
Starring: Lupita Nyong'o, Winston Duke, Shahadi Wright Joseqph, Evan Alex and Elisabeth Moss
Rating: 4/5
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White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
The specs: 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor
Price, base / as tested Dh220,000 / Dh320,000
Engine 3.5L V6
Transmission 10-speed automatic
Power 421hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque 678Nm @ 3,750rpm
Fuel economy, combined 14.1L / 100km
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
UAE central contracts
Full time contracts
Rohan Mustafa, Ahmed Raza, Mohammed Usman, Chirag Suri, Mohammed Boota, Sultan Ahmed, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Waheed Ahmed, Zawar Farid
Part time contracts
Aryan Lakra, Ansh Tandon, Karthik Meiyappan, Rahul Bhatia, Alishan Sharafu, CP Rizwaan, Basil Hameed, Matiullah, Fahad Nawaz, Sanchit Sharma
