For more than three decades, Charles Martinet has been the voice of the famous Nintendo game hero Mario. His “It’s a me, Mario!” made Martinet world famous with the release of “Super Mario 64” for the Nintendo 64 and could not be missing in any other Mario. Likewise his sayings like “Woo-hoo”, “Let’sa, go” or “Okey dokey”. Now Nintendo has confirmed that Martinet will take on a new role in the future.
“Charles Martinet has been the voice of Mario in Nintendo games for a long time – ever since the release of Super Mario 64,” explains Nintendo Germany in a message “To all Mushroom Kingdom fans” on X (formerly Twitter). And further:
“Now Charles will take on a new role as Mario Ambassador. While he will be retiring from voicing characters in our games, he will continue to travel the world sharing the joy of Mario in encounters with all of you.”
Nintendo is planning another surprise
Nintendo would like to thank Martinet for decades of cooperation. “It has been an honor to bring Mario to life alongside Charles for so many years and we want to thank him and honor the achievement.”
According to the tweet, there will also be a slightly more emotional farewell to the Mario voice. Nintendo hints that there will be a “special video message” from Super Mario dad Shigeru Miyamoto and Charles Martinet, which will be released at a later date.
The role of Mario ambassador suits Martinet perfectly. For many years he has been traveling around the world to meet Mario game fans.
farewell was indicated
The farewell to Charles Martinet (born 1955) as the voice of Mario had already been indicated earlier. In the extremely successful Super Mario Bros. film, US actor Chris Pratt lent his voice to Mario, and Martinet “only” took part in two other speaking roles. For example as the spokesman for Mario’s father in the animated film.
Two months ago, Nintendo announced “Super Mario Bros. Wonder” for Switch. The new 2D Mario game will be released on October 20, 2023 and is here on Amazon pre-order. Attentive fans noticed in the trailer that Mario’s voice sounded different.
Martinet is looking forward to a new task
“My new adventure begins”, explained Charles Martinet on X (formerly Twitter) in a reaction to the message from Nintendo USA to X. Martinet has already changed his title and is now called: “Mario Ambassador and original Voice of Mario, Wario, Luigi, Waluigi, & the Babies!”
