Mario Voice Actor Charles Martinet Is Retiring From Voicing Characters

I have some sad news for Mario fans. Long-time voice actor Charles Martinet, 67, will no longer be voicing the character of Mario, or any other characters, and will instead become a Mario Ambassador.

The news comes after an announcement by Nintendo:

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

“Charles Martinet has been the original voice of Mario in Nintendo games for a long time, as far back as Super Mario 64. Charles is now moving into the brand-new role of Mario Ambassador. With this transition, he will be stepping back from recording character voices for our games, but he’ll continue to travel the world sharing the joy of Mario and interacting with you all!

It has been an honor working with Charles to help bring Mario to life for so many years and we want to thank and celebrate him. Please keep an eye out for a special video message from Shigeru Miyamoto and Charles himself, which we will post at a future date.“

As the announcement says, a video message from Shigeru Miyamoto and Charles Martinet will be posted soon.

It’s currently unclear why Martinet will no longer be voicing the iconic character, which he’s done since 1991 before his first video game appearance in Mario Teaches Typing almost 30 years ago. Hopefully, it was a mutual decision and not made due to the film or over health reasons.

Some already wondered if this was the case as the new trailers for Nintendo Switch games, Super Mario Bros. Wonder and WarioWare: Move It, did not seem to feature Martinet’s Mario voice.

Over the years, Martinet has voiced many Nintendo characters, including Mario, various incarnations of Mario like Baby Mario and Shadow Mario, but also Luigi and anti-characters like Wario and Waluigi.

My husband met him at a convention they were both guests at, and he was incredibly kind and clearly adored his fans. One can hope whoever takes over is just as involved and open to those who support the games. Actually, a brand ambassador is a perfect position for him to move on to because he was already amazing at it, but we will miss him as the voice of the iconic plumber.

I think this comment in response says it all, and I agree 100%

The voice acting in Mario 64 circa 1996 was iconic and the fact that we all still reference:

“Yahoo!”
“Let’s-a go!”
“Here we go!”

to this day is proof of that. Whatever this new role means, he has always been the Mario Ambassador!

— Stealth (@Stealth40k) August 21, 2023

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