It’s the end of an era in the Mushroom Kingdom as Charles Martinet, the original voice of Mario, will step back from recording dialogue for the iconic Italian plumber.
“Charles is now moving into the brand new role of Mario Ambassador,” Nintendo said in a statement posted on X on Monday. “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,” the message continued. “Please keep an eye out for a special video message from Shigeru Miyamoto and Charles himself, which we will post at a future date.”
Martinet shared the post, writing: “My new Adventure begins! You are all Numba One in my heart! #woohoo!!!!!”
Martinet has portrayed Mario since 1991, though his first appearance as the character in a Nintendo video game was for “Super Mario 64,” released in 1996.
Since then, other characters he’s voiced in the franchise include Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Toadsworth, Baby Mario and Baby Luigi in video games such as “Super Mario Sunshine,” “Super Mario Galaxy” 1 and 2, “Super Mario 3D World”, “Luigi’s Mansion,” “Super Mario Odyssey,” the “Mario Kart” series, and the “Super Smash Bros.” series.
Additionally, he had two cameo roles in this year’s “Super Mario Bros. Movie” as Mario and Luigi’s dad and a character named Giuseppe. Mario and Luigi were voiced in the 2023 film by Chris Pratt and Charlie Day, respectively.
A replacement for Mario’s voice actor has not been identified.
