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Nintendo's Mario once insulted Sonic the Hedgehog’s mom (but it was all in good fun)

Inside the playful but testy rivalry between Nintendo's Mario and Sega's Sonic voice actors.

Does anybody remember the console wars? During the ‘80s and ‘90s, Nintendo and Sega battled for dominance in the video game market. In the days before PlayStation and Xbox, it was all about Nintendo and Sega, with their mascot Sonic and Mario front and center. Speaking from personal experience, I can tell you that there were plenty of Mario versus Sonic debates amongst ‘90s kids. They were the Coke and Pepsi of the video game world.

Today, Sega is out of the console business, operating as a third-party developer and publisher. Mario and Sonic are on better terms, appearing together in numerous video games, such as Mario and Sonic at the Olympics.

However, Mario and Sonic’s voice actors are playfully keeping the rivalry alive. Speaking to a crowd at Fan Expo Canada, Super Mario voice actor Charles Martinet spoke about the playful rivalry he has with Sonic the Hedgehog voice actor Roger Craig Smith. According to Martinet, things can get a bit spicy when they’re in the recording booth together.

“Roger and I can’t help but play. Somehow, we were doing post-it notes to each other and sticking them on our boards. He started it! He would write these things about me, and then I would write, ‘(in his Mario voice) Your mama makes a bad pasta.’ I don’t know why. It’s just that we have fun with it. We’re just playing.  Life is just pure play when you’re an actor.”

Insulting Sonic’s mama is a low blow, but in fairness, I’ve never had her pasta. Plus, we all know Sonic can give as good as he gets. Roger and Charles, if you’re reading this, the next time the two of you record together, post the sticky notes on social media.


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Joshua Lapin-Bertone

Joshua Lapin-Bertone: Joshua is a pop culture writer specializing in comic book media. His work has appeared on the official DC Comics website, the DC Universe subscription service, HBO Max promotional videos, the Batman Universe fansite, and more. In between traveling around the country to cover various comic conventions, Joshua resides in Florida where he binges superhero television and reads obscure comics from yesteryear.

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