Charles Martinet may have the most recognizable voice in all of video games — he’s the one who gets to voice Mario. Until Nintendo discovered him in the early 90s, most of Mario’s speaking roles were in cartoons and non-canon CD-I games, and he was usually imagined to have a gruff, low Brooklyn plumber voice. That all changed with the release of Super Mario 64 and Martinet’s peppy “It’s-a me, Mario!” greeting players every time they turned the game on.
Martinet has been the voice of Mario, Luigi, Wario and Waluigi for nearly 30 years….until today. For reasons that are yet to be made clear, he is officially stepping down from those roles. In fact, he may have done so months ago but hadn’t publicly announced it: Nintendo has confirmed the voice of Mario we heard in the trailer for Super Mario Bros Wonder was not Martinet’s voice. If you thought it sounded a bit “off,” now you know why.
According to Nintendo, Martinet’s new role within the company will be “Mario Ambassador,” whatever that entails. The company issued this statement: “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 of this writing the video has not been released yet.
Martinet was, controversially, NOT Mario in Illumination’s The Super Mario Bros Movie, released earlier this year, though he had a significant role anyway as Mario’s father. As for the mysterious new voice actor who will make their debut with Mario Bros Wonder, Nintendo hasn’t revealed who it is.
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