Two months ago, Charles Martinet announced he was stepping down from the role of Mario’s official voice, a position he’s held since 1993. But the announcement seemed to have come well after he’d actually left — the next big game to star Mario, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, has noticeably different-sounding voices for Mario and Luigi, and the first trailer was released prior to Martinet’s statement.
So now the big mystery was: who were we hearing? Nintendo refused to confirm anyone right away, stating they would only be revealing who plays Mario in Wonder on the day of the game’s release. Wonder is now one week away, but Nintendo decided to push the reveal early: Kevin Afghani (Genshin Impact) is your new Mario.
Nintendo may have decided to push up the announcement due to the fact that fans were about to figure it out on their own. Someone managed to swipe the code for the Super Mario Bros Wonder demo that is now exclusively playable in store kiosks, and pawed through it to find the hidden credits and cast list. They guessed the voice of Mario had to be either Afghani or Mick Wingert (Arcane), and they were leaning more toward Wingert. The latter actor denied he was Mario. It was about to get out anyway, so…why not beat them to it.
“Incredibly proud to have voiced Mario and Luigi in Super Mario Bros. Wonder,” Afghani said in a tweet. “Thanks to Nintendo for inviting me into the Flower Kingdom!” Notice that this message specifically references one game and Afghani doesn’t claim to be Mario’s permanent voice. We’ll have to see what that means.
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