Mario Voice Actor Charles Martinet is Stepping Down After 27 Years

Nintendo has announced that Charles Martinet, who provided the iconic voice for Mario and other Nintendo characters, will be stepping down from recording after 27 years. Martinet has been the voice of gaming’s favourite plumber since 1991 and appeared in other video games as well. He will now serve as a “Mario Ambassador” at Nintendo.

Nintendo shared the news on Twitter recently, confirming that Martinet will no longer be lending his voice talent to Mario. Martinet has a very long career voicing the character across dozens of games, though some fans also know him as the voice of the dragon Paarthurnax from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. On many occasions, he also voiced Luigi alongside Mario.

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Nintendo’s statement about Martinet stepping down from voice acting 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 the brand-new role of Mario Ambassador. With this transition, he will be stepping back from rrecording character voices for our games, but he’ll continue to travel the world sharing the joy of Mario and interacting with you all! 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.”

Martinet’s last role in a Mario project oddly didn’t feature him as the voice of the character, but rather Mario’s father Giuseppe in The Super Mario Bros. Movie (Mario was actually voiced by Chris Pratt, much to the dismay of fans initially). It’s unclear if Martinet will provide the voice for the upcoming Switch game, Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

We just want to say thanks for the awesome memories and giving a voice to our childhoods, Mr. Martinet.

Source: Nintendo