Until 2023, Charles Martinet provided Nintendo with iconic voices to fill the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario. Luigi. Wario. Waluigi. He originally performed these roles at various trade shows until next gen consoles and increased audio capacity allowed him to step into the games themselves. One Nintendo star he is not renowned for, however, is Donkey Kong, the king of swing. Thanks to a new collection from the Video Game History Foundation, we have a glance at what Martinet’s ape might’ve sounded like.
“Ohhhhh baby, I’m back and I’m proud,” hollers Martinet’s ape. “Hello all you beautiful people out there. Ow, the first day of the Consumer Electronics Show is coming to a close, baby. And I want to say a big hello to my friend An-Tho-Ny from New YAWK!”
While Nintendo ultimately opting for grunts over this top 40 radio approach is no mystery, this barkering is exactly how Martinet’s Mario came about. Prattling with trade show crowds through “Real Time Mario” renders. It was only fair that Martinet get a chance at bat for the big gorilla, especially ahead of Donkey Kong Country’s 3D takeover of the Super Nintendo.
This rare glimpse, and many others, comes provided by retail rep Anthony Parisi. More than a dozen hours of footage from ‘90s trade shows like CES and E3 with uncut looks at unpublished games and industry panels. Parisi has donated the collection to the Video Game History Foundation to be studied and enjoyed by the public.
Many famed Expo moments, from the announcement of the Sony PlayStation to the Killer Instinct dance crew have long circulated online, but this new library allows you to really get into the weeds, including early footage from Mario 64, Tomb Raider and Ocarina of Time. It also includes extensive footage at various unreleased games, like Earthbound 64, the Lobo fighting game and Twelve Tales: Conker 64, the original cartoon platformer before Rare’s naughty squirrel hit the sauce.
It’s a fascinating and unwavering view at the kind of pageantry that went into selling video games as it grew into a cultural force of its own. While nostalgia is a trap and we hardly need to return to booth babes or outlandish aughts media stunts, it does recall an era when publishers put their whole ass into selling these things. As big games increasingly struggle to find their audience, and major publishers settle comfortably into YouTube streams, there must be a more captivating sell out there than the Nintendo Direct voice saying “Wow, what could this be?!”