Charles Martinet is known and beloved to gamers as the vaguely creepy old man who can make himself sound like a high-pitched Italian plumber, but if he'd have had his way, the voiceover artist would've also become the vocal chords behind The Legend of Zelda's green-suited hero as well.
"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," confesses Martinet. "Of course Mr. Miyamoto is always right! 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."
Could Martinet be any further up Miyamoto's arse? Anyway, do you think Miyamoto was right to refuse Martinet, or should Link always stay the silent hero? I think I'll personally side with Miyamoto on this, considering what happened the last time we allowed Link to say more than just "HRUH HRUH HAH!"
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
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Contest:
10:20 AM on 11.16.2009
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"It'sa me! Link! Woohoo!"
Meaning if Link talked I would want it to be a amazingly complex Shakespearean novel with a massive amount of character development and themes combined with a great supporting cast of voice actors etc.
Not just "I would like to buy some items" whenever he goes to the store.
There would probably be a grunting inflection with everything he said.
That said Link STILL should remain silent
They both run around yelping and going HYAAAAA and OOOOOOOOOW and making noises.
It's just when the time arises Mario has the option to say an entire word or two but really how often do you hear him speak full on dialog?
Nintendo's been doing it that way forever now. They've told some pretty impressive tales without the need to beat you over the head with pointless chattering.
And really, Toon Link's eyes these days seem to talk enough. He can do Implied Facepalm, Like Hell, This is Sad, Holy Shit and all kinds of things with those two eyes of his. Link has feelings, he expresses them. What could voice add beyond that?
I didn't like Jak when he started talking, he became an emo bitch. I didn't like Tommy Vercetti because he stole my main character slot. And do you know who worried people were about how Kefka would turn out in Dissidia? Very good thing they got someone that veered to Mark Hamill's Joker on that one, had they done anything else there would have been a shitstorm over it.
Taking a long-time beloved character and giving them voice is a big risk and hard to meet the expectation of others. If you don't agree with me, I'll just wait for someone to argue my Kefka example. Not everyone saw him as The Joker.
You're very articulate for a silent protaganist ;)
HEY!! LISTEN!! HEY!! LISTEN!! HEY!! HEY!!
LISTEN!!!
HEY!
* "Oooaah!" and "Aaah!" when performing certain attacks.
* "Humph" when climbing.
* Tiny cry when hit.
* Other monosillabical sounds during cutscenes ("Oh?")
* "Barf" and "Arf" when transformed into a wolf.
And he's not really a kiss up because if you're talking about what someone wants to do with their game then it's probably better to say "it's his and he's right" then "my idea was better!"
And I seem to remember some of Link's dialog boxes being along these lines at times, just not often. More often its his eyes that do the talking and they do quite a funny job of it.
Anyway, if Link does ever speak, when he actually starts talking it should be a major shock moment like in Jak 2. And as Eiji Aunomi said, when he starts talking it should be because he's got something important to say!
I just want to have the option to play as a snarky Link, dammit! I will agree that a good system doesn't need fixing.
He also did a short demo of what he thought Link's voice would sound like. I was rather unimpressed with it.
Just because games *can* have voices now doesn't mean that every one should!
By the way, the several times I met Charles he was nothing but super nice and welcoming. A real class act. Although, he is damn near schizophrenic with his characters, he'd go from Charles to Mario to Wario back to Charles in a matter of seconds. Creepy and cool. =) You can tell he really loves being the voice of Mario and meeting the fans.
I'd still be morbidly curious to hear Martinet's "take" on Link.
Also, you forgot the CD-i games.
"GREAT! I'll grab my STUFF!"
I am not sure if Martinet would have been right for Link, but I would like to see someone voicing him at some point. Come to think of it, everyone in the Zelda games should be given a voice.
Those two options don't conflict with each other.
With him going on and leeking new games and stuff I'm sorta waiting for Nintendo to send the word down the pipe that he needs to shove a sock in it before they do it for him. And from his comments about his conversation with Miyamoto-san he seems to be very much the yappy puppy.. but that may come from the fact that Miyamoto puts bread on his table.
Frankly if they ever give Link a voice it wont be his. It'll be a younger man, or a woman. (many male anime characters are voiced by females for those giving that comment the stink eye)