Martinet wanted to voice Link

By Tom Bramwell Published 17 November, 2009

But Miyamoto said no.

Charles Martinet, better known as the voice of Mario, has admitted that at one stage he also wanted to be the voice of Link, star of the Zelda games.

"I spoke to Mr. Miyamoto and said, 'I wanna be Link, I wanna be Link,' and Miyamoto told me that Link isn't going to have a voice, he is going to stay the way he is," Martinet related to thatgamingsite (thanks vg247).

"Of course Mr. Miyamoto is always right!" he added. "The way it works right now is the way it is supposed to be.

"It's the genius of Miyamoto and he knows just the right formula for making his games more fun and more exciting. For example in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, if things slowed down for Mario to express his inner feelings it just wouldn't work and this way it keeps our hearts pounding with enthusiasm."

Not that Martinet seems to have much difficulty with enthusiasm, as anyone who encountered him at the Eurogamer Expo can attest.

But is he right to be enthusiastic about New Super Mario Bros. Wii? Very much so.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (24) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • MORZTAN #1 2 years ago

    "Wahoo! I-a gotz-a me a Heartpiece-a!!"

  • Steroyd #2 2 years ago

    Keep Link a mute, the rest of Hyrule however...

  • ZuluHero #3 2 years ago

    "Itsa me, Linkio"

    EDIT: Hmm, tough crowd... That IS what Mario says right? Or have a confused it with offensive stereotype? :S
    Edited by 2 at 17/11/09 @ 09:37

  • OnlyMe #4 2 years ago

    So, who does Link's "HAH!" and "HAAAAIAAA!" then? And "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" when he falls down a bottomless hole?

  • jellyhead #5 2 years ago

    I've said it before and i'll say it again. Link should NEVER speak!

  • Eraysor #6 2 years ago

    "Of course Mr. Miyamoto is always right!" the desperate brown noser added.

  • Nikanoru #7 2 years ago

    Thank god for this.

  • insincere_dave #8 2 years ago

    Agree Link shouldn't speak but everyone else certainly should.

  • spekkeh #9 2 years ago

    Wel excuuuuuuuuuuuuuse-a me princess?

  • spekkeh #10 2 years ago

    These talking Links are somewhat funny:
    http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=414Zo2vYsog

  • scouserfuller9 #11 2 years ago

    Voices in Zelda would not suit the game it's spent so long without them. Don't mind the little nags they make but as for voices I already have one in my head for each character so why ruin it with a voice that will sound nothing like I imagine?

  • Ninja_Tino #12 2 years ago

    The Legend of Zelda is a much more story orientated game than it ever has been. Look at how cinematic Twilight Princess was. The lack of voice acting really, really stood out and as I presume the next console Zelda will probably be even more cinematic, voice acting is a must.

  • makeamazing #13 2 years ago

    I personally didnt like the early Wii games where there was no voice acting, it came across as a cheap thing to do (no translation to do)... I personally dont like it. I dont see why link shouldnt talk.

  • Zidargh #14 2 years ago

    I always wonder how Martinet bloody even discovered he could do this voice.

    As for Zelda, the voice of 'HEY!' was more than enough.

  • swissorc #15 2 years ago

    I was annoyed enough when in twilight princess you can see link speaking but can't hear him. Link should not speak not unless it is done as a wow moment like samus being revealed as a women. It should be in a final scene of a future game. Not the next one though please !

    P.S Link should definetly NOT have a fucking american accent I'm sick of every character in every dubbed/ localised game having an american accent. Europeans are massively under represented in games and asian and africans and come to think of it every bloody nation except god fearing yankies.
    Edited by 1 at 17/11/09 @ 14:46

  • Darren #16 2 years ago

    The excuse for not including voice acting in the earlier Zelda games was technology and storage space since Nintendo were fond of using cartridges. Since the GameCube though with its disc format, it's become a bit of a lame excuse not to feature voice-acting in Nintendo games. More so on the Wii which has an even larger disc format.

    On the positive side all that text made it easier for deaf people to play their games at a time when subtitles were a rarity in most other games but on the negative side it could be a hindrance to younger gamers without speech (I remember my six year old nephew struggling with Zelda: The Wind Waker for example).

    Voice-acting is pretty much a given for the majority of games these days so it seems terribly old-fashioned of Nintendo to not have embraced it by now. There again Nintendo have never been one to follow trends anyway; they're content to just do their own thing and pretend the rest of the world doesn't exist really.

  • JEPC123 #17 2 years ago

    @ swissorc

    To be fair, in other language versions of games they're often dubbed (obviously in that language). I've only played Modern Warfare 1 in French, for example.* And attempts at accent diversification could also end up with poor imitations, such as the often crappy, evidently fake English accents in the otherwise superb Dragon Age. I know there are some real accents in there too, but the fake ones are present a little too much for my liking, and remind me of my Canadian friends putting on an English accent!

    As for Link, thank goodness he's silent. Martinet can go a bit overboard sometimes!

    *I currently live in France, and blame that for the number of edits I've had to make, stemming from French-like typos!
    Edited by 2 at 17/11/09 @ 15:13

  • Zidargh #18 2 years ago

    "Voice-acting is pretty much a given for the majority of games these days so it seems terribly old-fashioned of Nintendo to not have embraced it by now."

    Nintendo have always stuck to the tried and tested basic formula for Zelda games. I always thought their success in maintaining nostalgia whilst attracting new audiences was why the brand was so successful.

  • peterfll #19 2 years ago

    "Heh!" "Listen!"

    ..... happy to leave it at that TBH.

    The best example I can think of in terms of voice acting - Unchartered 2 - still not perfect, but I think a new bar ahs been set.

  • BBIAJ #20 2 years ago

    @JEPC123:

    Tim Curry is in Dragon Age: Origins (as Arle Lowe), so they're not all fake English accents, thank-you-very-much! ;o)

  • JEPC123 #21 2 years ago

    Hence my 'I know there are some real accents in there too...' :p
    I actually think what you said highlights the problem: those real English voices are voiced by top-notch actors to boot, so the fake ones are even more jarring! I admit it's a minor gripe with a great game, a bit like my quibble with Dominic West's accent in The Wire!
    Edited by 1 at 17/11/09 @ 19:26

  • Burkey123 #22 2 years ago

    Link should never speak imo.

  • Andytails #23 2 years ago

    In Soul calibur 2, if you set it to Japanese and fight Link vs Nightmare. That's the same actor going toe-to-toe with himself. Seriously, drop Nightmare off the edge - familiar scream? I thought so.

    He was also Axel in Disgaea 2 and Demetri, Donovan and Pyro in Darkstalkers.. among many other roles throughout games and anime.

  • scouserfuller9 #24 2 years ago

    @OnlyMe - I remember reading once that young Link is actually done by a girl! Also Ganondorf is done by the bloke who does Donkey Kong's voice. Which Zelda games this applies to though I can't remember?