Charles Martinet to Step Back from Voicing Mario in Nintendo Games

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Nintendo announced that Mario voice actor Charles Martinet will step back from voice acting in future Nintendo games. He will now become a Mario Ambassador, a brand-new role where he will continue to voice the character for fans across the world. You can check out the official announcement below:

We have a message for fans of the Mushroom Kingdom. Please take a look. pic.twitter.com/U1ASicOuTO

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) August 21, 2023

Martinet first voiced Mario in the 1994 PC game Mario Teaches Typing. He would then later voice Mario in Super Mario 64, and from there become the regular voice of the titular plumber in every Nintendo project since then. The only exception to this was when Chris Pratt voiced Mario in this year’s Super Mario Bros. Movie, but Martinet still had some minor roles in that movie, including the voice of Mario’s dad.

Apart from Mario, Martinet also voices Luigi, Wario, and Waluigi (having voiced Waluigi in all of his appearances). His non-Mario related voice roles include most of the boxers in Super Punch-Out!!, Paarthurnax in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and just recently Magenta in Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. You can check out all of Martinet’s voice-acting roles here.

Martinet himself made a tweet regarding the news where he said quote: “My new Adventure begins! You are all Numba One in my heart! #woohoo !!!!!!!”. Martinet will be appearing in a special video message alongside Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto at a later date.

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Author’s Note: Super Mario 64 was one of the first games I ever played, and my love of Nintendo games has only grown since then. Needless to say, this is the end of an era. Thank you Charles Martinet for all of the great memories and best wishes to whoever will take up Martinet’s roles going forward. What are your favorite clips/memories of Martinet’s Nintendo-related roles? Let us know in the comments below!

 

Charles was voicing Mario even before then! He was appearing as Mario in trade shows and conventions as far back as 1990, doing a real time motion capture CG Mario head to speak to attendees to Nintendo's booths. Rumor has it some recordings of those appearances were then used for a Mario pinball machine!

I'm gonna miss Charles Martinet's voice work. I wish he had gotten to do more full dialogue as his characters. You could really tell he was enjoying getting to do so in WarioWare Gold. Insane to finally see this era come to an end.

 

Wario is my favorite Nintendo character ever and Martinet definitely helped with that a lot given his amazing performance of him. Whether it was his wackiness in the main Wario games or his constant smart remarks in the Mario spin-offs, Martinet really helped bring Wario to life. His scenes from WarioWare Gold are probably my favorite:

 

well it had to happen one day i suppose. guess i didn't think this era would end so soon

 

I would like to take this time to announce that I am Marion’s new voice actor. I look forward to bringing this character to life and also the new direction we are taking. Instead of only utilizing Mario’s Italian heritage a minuscule amount, we will be going all the way we a full historical Roman accent with tons of Latin in it. I’m looking forward in bringing Mario to a more serious and climatic level than ever before.

 

I would like to take this time to announce that I am Marion’s new voice actor. I look forward to bringing this character to life and also the new direction we are taking. Instead of only utilizing Mario’s Italian heritage a minuscule amount, we will be going all the way we a full historical Roman accent with tons of Latin in it. I’m looking forward in bringing Mario to a more serious and climatic level than ever before.

marion?

 

Thanks for 32 years

 

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If he can replace Adam Sandler, he can replace Charles Martinet.

 

Honestly i dont know why they didnt just record like 1000 lines that wouldve last for like 20 Years probably!

 

It's going to feel odd knowing that Martinet is retiring, but we should always keep in mind that Nintendo has had the habit of reusing old voice clips.

 

This was all training for Chris Pratt

 

I hope there's room for a Mario that sounds like he's from Brooklyn, and with more dialogue, in the games in the future. Now that Martinet is retiring and we're not pigeonholed into his interpretation of the character.

 

Does this mean Charles is retiring from voice acting in general? Unless he was fired (doubtful), I don't see another reason why he'd step down from Mario. Godspeed to him, in any case.

 

I hope there's room for a Mario that sounds like he's from Brooklyn, and with more dialogue, in the games in the future. Now that Martinet is retiring and we're not pigeonholed into his interpretation of the character.

you mean the canon version