Mario’s voice actor, Charles Martinet, is stepping away from the role

Charles Martinet has been the voice of Mario (and Luigi) since 1991. On Monday, August 21, 2023, Nintendo announced that Martinet would no longer be voicing its iconic Italian plumber.

Martinet won’t be leaving the company entirely; Nintendo’s statement says he will become a “Mario Ambassador.” The initial announcement didn’t clarify what that role would entail.

A Nintendo spokesperson later told MobileSyrup that “a Mario Ambassador will travel the world sharing the joy of Nintendo characters including Mario by interacting with Nintendo fans, from signing autographs and telling stories to performing Nintendo character voices.”

My new Adventure begins! You are all Numba One in my heart! #woohoo !!!!!!! https://t.co/3YWYewlnXt

— Charles Martinet (@CharlesMartinet) August 21, 2023

The next Mario game will be Super Mario Bros. Wonder, releasing on October 20th, 2023. A Nintendo spokesperson told MobileSyrup that Martinet “is not involved” in Wonder.

“While Charles is not involved in the game,” they said, “we’re excited to honour his legacy and contributions, including looking ahead to what he’ll be doing as a Mario Ambassador.”

When the trailer for Super Mario Bros. Wonder came out, fans noticed that the voice sounded unusual and began to worry Martinet had been recast. However, at the time, it was assumed that Martinet had simply rerecorded the lines for the first time in a while, which made them sound unfamiliar.

Since it is not Martinet’s voice, we presume Mario has already been recast. When we inquired about Mario’s new voice actor, Nintendo’s spokesperson said it had “nothing to announce on this topic.” Nintendo also declined to provide details about when we would see the video of Martinet and Shigeru Miyamoto mentioned in the announcement.

Update: 22/08/2023 at 2:43pm ET: Updated to include Nintendo’s comments to MobileSyrup.

Source: Nintendo