Julien Bardakoff

Julien Bardakoff is a former French Nintendo of Europe France employee involved with translation and localization. He was also the voice of Luigi in the Japanese version of Mario Kart 64 and again for Mario Party. He was replaced by Charles Martinet in the English version of Mario Kart 64 and all versions of most subsequent games. However, his voice clips were reused for Mario Party 2 and Mario Kart: Super Circuit. His performance influenced Luigi's voice in Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Melee, where the voice is a higher pitched variant of Mario's voice from Super Mario 64.

Bardakoff is currently affiliated with Ubisoft, and was responsible for translation and voice direction in the French localization of Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope.

Portrayals

 * Mario Kart 64 – Luigi (Japanese version only)
 * Excitebike: Bun Bun Mario Battle – Luigi (in-game only)
 * Mario Party – Luigi
 * Mario Party 2 – Luigi
 * Mario Kart: Super Circuit – Luigi

Works

 * Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! – Special Thanks
 * Super Mario 64 – Screen Text Writer (French)
 * Diddy Kong Racing – NOE Thank You's
 * Donkey Kong Country – NOE France
 * Mario Party – French Localisation
 * Super Smash Bros. – French Localisation
 * Mario Party 2 – French Localisation
 * Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope – Translator / Voice Director (French)

Trivia

 * Originally, Bardakoff wanted to be Toad's voice in Mario Kart 64, but after testing his voice in the studio, Koji Kondo told him that he has more of Luigi's voice than Toad's.
 * Additionally, Bardakoff was not initially chosen to do a voice; he had to convince the sound programmer of Mario Kart 64 (Taro Bando or Yoji Inagaki) with a rare French  card in order to be let into the studio with Kondo.