Scott Burns

Scott Burns.

Scott Burns is the voice actor who provided the voice of Bowser starting with Super Mario Sunshine in 2002 and continuing until Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games in 2007. Nearly a year following this release, Burns stopped voicing Bowser for unknown reasons, but he then returned to the role for Mario Super Sluggers in 2008 and later for Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games in 2009.

In addition to the Mario series, Scott Burns worked for Nintendo to voice Slippy Toad's father, Beltino Toad, in Star Fox Assault. Aside from Nintendo, Burns has also worked for Microsoft, McDonald's, and Boeing. Scott Burns considers himself most suited for characters between the ages of twenty-nine and forty-nine, but claims to be able to voice young adult, middle aged, and senior male characters.

History with the Mario series

Voicing Bowser

Scott Burns began his career at the suggestion of another voice actor and gained notability through his ability to impersonate people and characters such as Clint Eastwood and Popeye. Nintendo hired Burns first to voice Bowser in Super Mario Sunshine, the first video game in which Bowser was given a speaking role beyond his growls and roars. However, the title's voice acting panned by many, including Gamespot reviewer Jeff Gerstmann, who criticized the title as having "some of the lousiest voice-over work to be found on the GameCube. None of the voices fit particularly well.... [Bowser and Bowser Jr.] are completely miscast and downright disappointing." Despite such criticism, Nintendo continued to hire the voice actors from Super Mario Sunshine. Following this role, Scott began voicing Bowser without fail, giving him a series of throaty grunts, laughs, and exclamations new to the character who had previously simply roared and growled.

Absence and Return

Following Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games in 2007, Scott Burns ceased to voice Bowser for nearly a year. Eric Newsome voiced Bowser in Mario Party 8, Super Paper Mario, Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Kenny James took on the role in Super Mario Galaxy, Mario Kart Wii and Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. In 2008, Scott returned to voice Bowser in Mario Super Sluggers. In 2010 he shared the role with fellow Bowser subsitute Kenny James in Super Mario Galaxy 2.

Mario Series Voice Work by Year

• Super Mario Sunshine, 2002
• Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, 2003
• Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, 2003
• Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, 2004
• Mario Power Tennis, 2004
• Mario Strikers Charged, 2007
• Mario Super Sluggers, 2008
• Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, 2009
• Super Mario Galaxy 2, 2010 (Shares the role with Kenny James. Burns even appears in the credits of the game.)

Trivia

• When performing Bowser's voice, Burns' voice has been slowed down in games like Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and Mario Super Sluggers to make it sound deeper. However, in games like Mario Kart DS and Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, his voice has been left unaltered.
• Despite the fact that Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games has Scott Burns returning as Bowser's voice actor, his name is left unmentioned in the credits. However, the credits do list the name of Kenny James, who has also done Bowser's voice in some of the other more recent Mario titles. Curiously enough, the game recycles Dry Bowser's voice from Mario Kart Wii, provided by James.