E3 2009: Charles Martinet Samples Mario's New Adventure
June 09, 2009
During the closing hours of E3 on Thursday I was making one last loop through West Hall to try those few last lingering games on my own personal to-do list. It was just dumb luck that I happened to stumble across the New Super Mario Bros. Wii section of Nintendo's booth while the voice behind Mario, Luigi, and Wario (just to name a few), Charles Martinet, was taking the new game for a multiplayer test drive. They needed an extra player to round out the group and I happened to be in the right place at the right time, so I was handed a controller and assigned to the role of the blue Toad. We played a few levels of the game before time was called and I moved on, but I did convince a Nintendo booth employee to snap a photo of the group before it was all over. That's-a him on the far left, while I'm on the far right.
Martinet performs Mario's voice much better than he does Mario's actions. His platforming skills need some work, but it was nice to challenge him to a game once again. Besides, his official E3 badge listed his name as "It's-a Me, Mario", so I'm tempted to hand him an honorary victory based on that alone.