Leslie Swan
Leslie Swan is a Nintendo employee who has served as the Senior Editor of Nintendo Power, voice actress, and Nintendo of America localization manager for numerous titles both within and without the Mario series. Contributing her voice to Princess Peach in Super Mario 64, Swan became the second actress to voice the princess in a video game. In addition, she currently is the only voice actress to voice the WarioWare, Inc. character, Mona.
Mario voice actor Charles Martinet enjoys his voice acting sessions with Leslie and the Nintendo of America localization team. "Bill Trinen, Leslie Swan, and all those great guys, they have so many ideas [for voicing Mario], I come up with ideas, and of course there's the script to go off of. So we go to the script first, and then bounce some ideas and start playing…. We have this great playtime. It's really fun."[1]
History with the Mario Series
Super Mario 64
Prior to her involvement with Mario series video games, Leslie Swan served as the localization manager of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past[2] and as the Senior Editor of Nintendo Power[3]. As her first direct contribution to the Mario series, she worked as the copywriter for Super Mario Adventures, a monthly comic included with Nintendo Power starting with the January 1992 issue and concluding with the January 1993 issue. Later, Swan penned the English script for Super Mario 64 in 1996 which would later be translated and used in all version of the title. In addition, Nintendo EAD requested that she voice Princess Peach, which she did. She was asked to sound sweet, which she considered to be "a stretch."[4] Leslie again voiced the princess in Mario Kart 64 before giving up the role in 1998 to Asako Kozuki in Mario Party.
Return to Localization
In 2000, Leslie Swan continued to localize many Nintendo of America titles. Her first Mario series related title was Dr. Mario 64 in 2001. Shortly afterwards she worked as one of several localization managers of Animal Crossing which involved both translation and major changes and additions. Nintendo of Japan was impressed by the work of Leslie and her team.[5] She worked on the localization for Luigi's Mansion later that year and in 2002, she served as localization manager for Wario World.
Voice Acting and Localization
For four years following the release of Wario World, Leslie Swan worked both as a localization manager and voice actress starting with WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ in 2003. Swan lent her voice to the character Mona, introduced in the title as both an employee of WarioWare, Inc. and as a potential love interest for Wario. It had been seven years since Leslie Swan had last voiced a character. Though the title would be the last of the WarioWare, Inc. series that she would localize, she continued to voice Mona with the release of WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Game$ and in 2004 with the releases of WarioWare: Twisted! and WarioWare: Touched!. Nintendo also released Super Mario 64 DS, a remake of Super Mario 64, in 2004. Several changes were made to Princess Peach's dialogue, so Swan took on the role once again for the first time in eight years.
Following these four titles, Leslie would not voice act again until 2006. Instead, she once again worked as a localization manager, overseeing the North American releases of Mario Golf: Advance Tour and Yoshi Topsy-Turvy in 2004 and Mario Kart DS and Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time in 2005. She also managed the localization of New Super Mario Bros. in 2006 in addition to loaning her voice once more to Mona in WarioWare: Smooth Moves. Finally, in 2007, she returned to the role of Princess Peach in Super Paper Mario.
Contributions to the Mario Series
| # | Name | First Release Date | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Super Mario Adventures | January 1992 - January 1993 | Copywriter |
| 2 | Super Mario 64 | June 23, 1996 | Screen Text Writer Voice actress: Princess Peach |
| 3 | Mario Kart 64 | December 14, 1996 | Voice actress: Princess Peach |
| 4 | Dr. Mario 64 | April 9, 2001 | North American localization |
| 5 | Luigi's Mansion | September 14, 2001 | North American localization |
| 6 | WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ | March 21, 2003 | North American localization manager Voice actress: Mona |
| 7 | Wario World | June 23, 2003 | North American localization manager |
| 8 | Mario Golf: Advance Tour | April 22, 2004 | North American localization manager |
| 9 | WarioWare: Twisted! | October 14, 2004 | Voice actress: Mona |
| 10 | Super Mario 64 DS | November 21, 2004 | Voice actress: Princess Peach |
| 11 | WarioWare: Touched! | December 2, 2004 | Voice actress: Mona |
| 12 | Mario Kart DS | November 14, 2005 | North American localization manager |
| 13 | Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time | November 28, 2005 | North American localization manager |
| 14 | New Super Mario Bros. | May 15, 2006 | North American localization manager |
| 15 | WarioWare: Smooth Moves | December 2, 2006 | Voice actress: Mona |
| 16 | Super Paper Mario | April 9, 2007 | Voice actress: Princess Peach |
References
- ^ I Am Mario: The Charles Martinet Interview. GameInformer. Retrieved March 5, 2009.
- ^ Leslie Swan (II). The Internet Movie Database. Retrieved March 4, 2009.
- ^ "Super Mario 64". Nintendo Power (Nintendo) (89): 67. October 1996.
- ^ Leslie Swan. N-Sider.com. Retrieved March 4, 2009.
- ^ Animal Crossing. N-Sider.com. Retrieved March 5, 2009.
