Games don’t shut up anymore. At least most of the big-budget ones. There are potentially lots of reasons for that but it mostly sucks. Not sure what I’m talking about? Look no farther than this Unreal Engine 5 fan render of what a gritty Mario game might look like that’s going viral again thanks to a perfect set of new voiceovers.
It’s actually broken up into two videos. The first was shared earlier this month on Instagram on by voice actor and cosplayer ryanstewartvo. It shows Mario navigating a dark, linear jungle environment at night with question blocks, Goombas, and green warp pipes. “A mushroom…I should take a look at that,” he says to no one in particular. He follows it up with other cringe dialogue barks like “A coin…this could be useful” and “maybe I should go this way.”
It’s a perfect send-up of the type of hand-holdy presentation that’s become all too common in some AAA games.
The quotes ryanstewartvo voices were actually taken from the comments section for the original fan render video that was uploaded to YouTube back in 2022 by Funkyzeit Games. That, too, was meant to be a joke, but didn’t include any voice acting. It just used ultra-violent animations to convey gritty seriousness, another unfortunate tic of many modern blockbusters. Still, viewers could practically hear the Joss-Whedon-esque MCU banter just waiting to fill the silence.
“This is a satire,” Funkyzeit Games wrote at the time. “It’s obviously an over-the-top alternate version of Mario that isn’t supposed to lecture you about what Mario game should be instead. I get that the ‘remake of X in UE’ and ‘HIRE THIS MAN’ have become a meme and you are free to joke about it (this video does to some extent), just don’t be the person that takes the video with Goomba blood-explosions too seriously.”
The new voice acting adds a fresh layer of parody that sends the whole thing over the edge, though. The first dub was so popular that ryanstewartvo ended up uploading a second one with fellow voice actor Ariel Hack playing the role of Princess Peach, who chats with Mario over a comms signal.
“A monarch’s job is never done,” she quips. “But we can talk more later. Bowser’s Castle should be just up ahead.” Mario responds, “I thought I smelt something burning…” Peach cuts him off. “Focus, M. Bowser’s got the Power Stars, and you know what that means,” she continues. It is pitch perfect in every way, including when she hints at giving him upgrades if he brings back enough red coins.
All of this is of a piece with the backlash against yellow paint and chatty NPC companions. They can both serve important functions, but their pervasiveness has gotten to the point that players often feel like they’re just Band-Aids for hard-to-solve design challenges. Instead of implementing better workarounds, whether because of budget constrains, time issues, or other production limitations, the games saddle fans with absurd video game-isms that break immersion or make the experience more annoying.
All that said, I would definitely play the full version of this Mario fan game.
