For the Nintendo history buffs here, I had a question that had been bothering me for a while: Does Charles Martinet, the voice of Mario for almost three decades, voice him in the Gottlieb Super Mario Bros. pinball machine? The pinball machine came out in 1992, but it was widely-believed that the first Nintendo "game" with Martinet as the voice of Mario was Mario Teaches Typing in 1995, before making his mainstream debut in Super Mario 64. Before this release, Martinet voiced Mario for an interactive exhibit during Nintendo trade shows. Earlier portrayals of Mario, such as the cartoon, featured a very deep and gruff voice. The pinball machine did not appear on Martinet's credits, and there was no information online about who did the voice. I had a chance to meet Charles Martinet this weekend at a convention, so with my translite in tow, I asked him about the machine. He confirmed that it WAS his voice, but Gottlieb stole it - using the clips without paying him for the game or giving him any credit. I felt terrible, but he was super generous about it and signed my translite anyway. That would make Super Mario Bros. pinball the FIRST game with Charles Martinet as Mario - a good 3 years before Mario Teaches Typing, and puts to bed a 26-year-old Nintendo/pinball mystery.

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My best guess is they used clips from his Mario interactive show, but I am not sure. He had been doing Mario voice work since 1990, but the first video game was Typing. Without reading his original contract, I am not sure if Nintendo had the right to use his voice in other media, including the pinball machine, without additional compensation for each use but it did not sound like that was the case.