Charles Martinet Retires From Voicing Nintendo’s Mario
Charles Martinet, the original voice for Mario throughout the Nintendo video game series since the ’90s is retiring from the role, as announced by the iconic Japanese company.
“Charles Martinet has been the original voice of Mario in Nintendo games for a long time, as far back as Super Mario 64,” Nintendo’s announcement begins. “Charles is now moving into the brand-new role of Mario Ambassador. With this transition, he will be stepping back from recording character voices for our games, but he’ll continue to travel the world sharing the joy of Mario and interacting with you all!” Martinet reposted the tweet, adding, “My new adventure begins! You are all Numba One in my heart! #woohoo !!!!!!!” Check out the tweet below.
My new Adventure begins! You are all Numba One in my heart! #woohoo !!!!!!! https://t.co/3YWYewlnXt
— Charles Martinet (@CharlesMartinet) August 21, 2023
Martinet is also known for voicing Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Baby Mario, and other Nintendo characters. It is unknown if he will continue to voice those characters. Martinet made his initial debut as the character at early tradeshows in the 90s before making his video game debut in 1994’s Mario Teaches Typing. However, his breakout role would be when Mario transitioned to 3D in ’96’s Super Mario 64 for the Nintendo 64.
The voice actor behind the character found his popularity rise when Chris Pratt was revealed to be the voice of Mario in the now-highly successful Super Mario Bros. Movie, where fans were outraged Martinet would not reprise his role. However, he made a brief cameo in the film as Mario’s dad and Giuseppe (a nod to Mario’s original appearance in Donkey Kong.)
Now that he’s retired from the video game role, it is now up in the air how Mario will sound or if he will resemble Pratt’s portrayal more closely in future titles.
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