Voice of Nintendo's Mario Is Retiring

Charles Martinet will now be a 'Mario ambassador'
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 22, 2023 8:37 AM CDT
Voice of Nintendo's Mario Is Retiring
A person passes an ad featuring the Nintendo character Mario at Narita airport in Narita near Tokyo on June 10, 2022.   (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama, File)

The original voice of Mario is retiring. Charles Martinet, who's voiced the Nintendo character for nearly three decades, dating back to 1994, is "stepping back from recording character voices for our games," Nintendo announced Monday, per Deadline. The 67-year-old American voice actor, who reportedly based the voice of the Italian plumber on the character Petruchio from Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, also provided voices for other characters in the Super Mario Brothers franchise, including Mario's brother Luigi, Luigi's arch-rival Waluigi, Mario's arch-rival Wario, as well as Baby Mario.

Fans had noticed that the voice of Mario was different in promotional videos for the upcoming game Super Mario Bros Wonder and speculated that Martinet had been replaced, per the Guardian. Back in 2021, he'd said he hoped to voice Mario "until I drop dead." But Nintendo—yet to identify the actor behind Mario's new voice—said Martinet is "moving into the brand-new role of Mario ambassador" and "he'll continue to travel the world sharing the joy of Mario and interacting with you all!" Martinet shared his excitement on X, writing, "My new Adventure begins! You are all Numba One in my heart! Woohoo!!!!!!!" (More Super Mario Brothers stories.)

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