As a relatively old guy in the gaming community, I spend a lot of time hearing gripes from the young 'uns that are often based in not knowing any better. I let a lot of them roll off my back, but I chime in when I know it's blatant misinformation. This is one of those times.

MARIO. IS. NOT. FROM. ITALY. He never has been.

Mario Mario and his brother Luigi are Americans of Italian descent, NOT Italian, and have been since they were given the name Mario Bros. They are from Brooklyn, NY. All the source material confirms this. They've never had their backstory changed, and every pre-N64 bit of media around them depicts them as having Brooklyn accents of various degrees of severity (it is literally the ONLY thing the God awful live action movie got right).

Then Charles Martinet got hired, and suddenly, again, without backstory change to make it make sense, the Mario Brothers started sounding Giorgio Armani after a helium binge. For over a quarter of a century.

Do I think Pratt is the best choice? No. Danny Devito, hands down. Even DeNiro. But Pratt isn't the worst choice. That goes to Charles Martinet and whomever decided to give them that ridiculous mockery of an Italian accent to begin with.

/rant.

Comments

Hal_E_Lujah t1_iydi4vd wrote on November 30, 2022 at 4:25 PM

#812,215

Mama Mia

justxkyle t1_iydidjz wrote on November 30, 2022 at 4:26 PM

#812,292

In a world with talking mushrooms, this man's getting upset over an accent, can't wait to see how this post plays out.

risen_peanutbutter t1_iydip5p wrote on November 30, 2022 at 4:29 PM

#812,393

When a character has been known for literal decades with an Italian accent (however inaccurate), the origins don't really matter anymore with regards to pop-culture identity

TurbulentAd4089 t1_iydit5e wrote on November 30, 2022 at 4:29 PM

#812,433

Americans with italian descent can have an italian accent

Kurotan t1_iydiwv2 wrote on November 30, 2022 at 4:30 PM

#812,468

Replying to justxkyle (#812,292)

I'm more upset he trashed on the live action movie. Best movie ever made along side the Street Fighter Movie from the same time period.

justxkyle t1_iydj4fw wrote on November 30, 2022 at 4:31 PM

#812,549

Replying to Kurotan (#812,468)

That live action Mario holds a special place in my upbringing, wouldn't be the man I am today without that cinematic masterpiece!

LocalAfter4312 OP t1_iydjfq4 wrote on November 30, 2022 at 4:33 PM

#812,658

Replying to TurbulentAd4089 (#812,433)

Yeah, man, I grew up in Jersey, I have never met a non-immigrant like Mario Mario who sounded anything close to the way Mario has been depicted. While I won't rule out the possibility, he grew up in Brooklyn, with his infancy being spent on Yoshi's Island. He is literally more likely to speak in Yoshi sound effects than with the thick accent he's been depicted. The movie voices are better for the characters.

Dougallearth t1_iydjqfb wrote on November 30, 2022 at 4:35 PM

#812,753

Mario is a cobbled mix anyway in a bizarre fantasy setting, they were thinking of giving Mario character and flair. Can you imagine how dull it would be back then to hear Chris Pratt in those old games instead of Martinet's?

LocalAfter4312 OP t1_iydk2n8 wrote on November 30, 2022 at 4:38 PM

#812,867

Replying to Dougallearth (#812,753)

Certainly less annoying. The man sounds like a 1940s Disney cartoon restaurateur who's been kicked in the testicles, not a blue collar plumber working out of NY, and I have hated it since I was 12 years old.

Khanstant t1_iydkugi wrote on November 30, 2022 at 4:43 PM

#813,122

Most effed up thing in that trailer was calling Mario and co humans. They're obviously not humans and never have been.

Skyward_Slash t1_iydl7bs wrote on November 30, 2022 at 4:45 PM

#813,227

The idea that the Mario Bros. are from America - let alone Earth - hasn't really been relevant since Yoshi's Island when we see Mario and Luigi delivered via stork to whatever world Yoshi's Island and the Mushroom Kingdom take place in.

Jellis314 t1_iydl9b5 wrote on November 30, 2022 at 4:45 PM

#813,253

He was told “Italian plumber for a video game.” So he went over the top and was chosen for the job. I agree that devito would have been a better choice, but aside from him, the guy who has already been voicing Mario for the past two decades should be the right choice.

funkwox t1_iydljen wrote on November 30, 2022 at 4:47 PM

#813,328

Replying to LocalAfter4312 (#812,658)

Huh. This Yoshi dialect thing is…a pretty good point.

daily_peeps t1_iydlzt9 wrote on November 30, 2022 at 4:50 PM

#813,454

Replying to TurbulentAd4089 (#812,433)

Lived in NY most of my life and yes they have an accent but it's def not the same accent as someone from Italy who first learned to speak Italian. Italian Americans love to juice up certain words but no one from Italy would mistake their accent for anything but Italian-American. Dude is right

Aruba_Gold t1_iydms7o wrote on November 30, 2022 at 4:55 PM

#813,700

Grandpa with a spicy hot take

daily_peeps t1_iydnosn wrote on November 30, 2022 at 5:01 PM

#813,971

I always thought that N64 version of Mario's voice was horrible. When I first heard it I was like, "what the fuck is that?" Super high-pitched, lazy Italian inflection, never sounded like a plumber from Brooklyn to me. That said, Chris Pratt is an awful choice. I agree with others saying Devito feels like a no brainer

M1de23 t1_iydpsd9 wrote on November 30, 2022 at 5:14 PM

#814,667

Really annoying how people are so upset about this, Charles Martinet is not the be all and end all of Mario voices. Give it a rest! An entire movie duration of his woo hoos and ha-ha’s would be so goddamn annoying.

Dreaming_Kitsune t1_iydqmcr wrote on November 30, 2022 at 5:20 PM

#814,940

Replying to funkwox (#813,328)

Y'know I don't blame Mario for becoming a mass murderer of goombas and koopas after I heard the Yoshi's character select song.... Shit is still stuck in my head

[deleted] t1_iye19dk wrote on November 30, 2022 at 6:27 PM

#818,382

I hope you're getting the mental health treatment you clearly need

pizzaplate24 t1_iyej2gy wrote on November 30, 2022 at 8:22 PM

#824,226

Replying to Dreaming_Kitsune (#814,940)

Actually, technically worse, Mario is a mass murderer of the Mushroom Kingdom inhabitants themselves. If I remember the instruction manual lore from the original game, King Koopa transformed the mushroom people into bricks. So ... every time you played and jumped to smash a brick ......