The original voice actor for Mario in nearly every game, Charles Martinet, is officially stepping back from the role of Mario going forward. Martinet has been the voice of Mario for decades. Beginning with Super Mario 64.

Now, according to an official tweet from Nintendo (via The Verge), Martinet will no longer voice the character, but he won’t be gone. Instead he will transition into a new role surrounding the Mario franchise. Becoming a Mario ambassador and promoting future games and products. It’s also been confirmed that Martinet is not the voice actor for Mario in the upcoming Super Mario Bros. Wonder, due out on Nintendo Switch on October 20.

He was also not the voice for the character in the official film that released this year. With Nintendo instead choosing Chris Pratt to take over the voice for the movie specifically. As part of the transition to Mario Ambassador, Martinet will “continue to travel the world sharing the joy of Mario and interacting” with the fans Nintendo says. Neither Nintendo nor Martinet mention the reasoning for the change. But the same tweet does point to more details coming. With Nintendo stating that a special video message from Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto and Martinet will be coming. Presumably to talk about Martinet’s new role.

Who will be the voice actor for Mario going forward?

That is uncertain for the moment. While Nintendo has confirmed Martinet isn’t involved in the upcoming Wonder title, the publisher hasn’t said who is voicing the character. It’s also unclear (naturally) if the same person will reprise the role in future games or projects.

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For now, Nintendo is keeping that close to the chest. But it will eventually talk about who voices Mario for Wonder. And the reasons why it hasn’t been mentioned so far are likely to NDAs. As these things tend to be. Even though Martinet will no longer be the voice of Mario going forward, fans can rejoice that he’ll still be involved with the franchise. And he’s most certainly forever cemented in the history of games as the voice of one of the most iconic characters ever created. That will never change.

 



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