Nintendo Reveals Charles Martinet Will No Longer Voice Mario

Nintendo of America has revealed that Charles Martinet, the longtime voice of Mario in the company’s various Mario games, is stepping back from the role and will no longer record lines for the character. 

Nintendo announced this in a tweet posted today, revealing that Martinet is now moving into “the brand-new role of Mario Ambassador.” While he is stepping back from recording lines for Mario, Nintendo says Martinet will continue to travel the world to interact with fans and share the joy of the character. 

Martinet is the voice of Mario since Super Mario 64, in 1996. That’s more than 25  years as one of the most popular mascots of all time. Nintendo has announced that it will be sharing a special message by Mario creator Shigeru MIyamoto with Martinet. 

This news is out of left field, as it’s unclear why Martinet will no longer voice the character. Perhaps Nintendo wishes to take the voice in a different direction – it hired Chris Pratt to voice Mario in this year’s massively successful The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Perhaps Martinet simply wants to move on from the character, although that seems unlikely as he’s now in a new role of Mario Ambassador, according to Nintendo. 

Regardless of why, Martinet’s voice as Mario will be missed. Mario’s next outing, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, hits Switch this October but given today’s news, it’s now unclear if Martinet is the voice of Mario in that game. Play InformerHas reached out to Nintendo and asked for confirmation that Martinet was the voice of Mario on Super Mario Bros. Wonder. We will update this story as soon as we receive a response. 

What are your thoughts on this? Comment below to let us know what you think!