It’s a not me anymore.
It’s a sad day in video game history as Charles Martinet, the iconic voice of Mario for over 25 years, will no longer be voicing the character, according to Nintendo.
Lending his voice to the Italian plumber since 1996, Martinet will now be moving to a role as an ambassador and stepping away from voicing the character.
A statement on X (formerly Twitter) reads:
“Charles Martinet has been the original voice of Mario in Nintendo Games for a long time, as far back as Super Mario 64. Charles is now moving into a brand new role of Mario Ambassador. With this new transition, he will be stepping back from recording character voices for our games.
“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.”
We have a message for fans of the Mushroom Kingdom. Please take a look. pic.twitter.com/U1ASicOuTO
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) August 21, 2023
Mario moving forward without voice of Charles Martinet
The news follows speculation over why the character’s voice sounded different in promos for the upcoming Super Mario Bros Wonder game.
An email to Polygon confirmed that Martinet was not involved in voicing the character for the new game, but said, “While Charles is not involved in the game, we’re excited to honor his legacy and contributions, including looking ahead to what he’ll be doing as a Mario Ambassador.”
Martinet’s voice has appeared in popular titles like Super Mario 64, Super Mario Odyssey, and Super Mario Galaxy as well as countless others.
The 67-year-old also voiced the character’s brother Luigi, as well as their nemeses Wario and Waluigi. Other notable works from the voice actor include appearing in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim as the dragon Paarthurnax.
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