Charles Martinet clarifies Mario Ambassador role with help from Shigeru Miyamoto

Last month, Nintendo revealed longtime Mario voice actor Charles Martinet will no longer voice the character. The company stopped short of revealing who is taking over the role, although it did say we’d find out in the upcoming release of Super Mario Bros. Wonder, which does not feature Martinet as Mario. 

Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto has shed more light on Charles Martinet's new role as a Mario Ambassador.

As we all know by now, Charles Martinet, the legendary voice of Mario and other Nintendo characters, is stepping back from his role as a voice actor for video games and Is going to transition to a new role as “Mario Ambassador.” Today, Martinet and Mario’s creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, released a video in which they acknowledged the transition and had a little fun with one another despite not being on screen together. In it, they promised that Martinet would still be around and would still be a part of the brand as he’d spread the joy of Mario as he travels around the world.

By Ash Parrish, a reporter who has covered the business, culture, and communities of video games for seven years. Previously, she worked at Kotaku.

Charles Martinet and Shigeru Miyamoto have explained Martinet’s new role as ‘Mario Ambassador’.

Nintendo has shared a video of Charles Martinet saying goodbye to his role as Mario, as well as revealing that he calls Shigeru Miyamoto "papa".

Years ago I met Charles Martinet at E3. We shot a quick video where I said “It’s a-you?” and he shrieked “It’s a-me!” in the voice. I was so taken aback that I said “Holy Sh*t!” – He immediately took me aside and asked me not to post the video, as it would be inappropriate for children. We ended up posting it anyway, with my swear bleeped out, and it was a cute, hopefully inoffensive bit of fun. But what I really took away from that moment is how much Charles Martinet cares about his fans. He wants to fill their hearts with hope and joy, and not whatever the opposite of those two things is. That may be why we still haven’t heard exactly why he’s no longer the voice of Mario in the games.

Nintendo of America recently announced that Charles Martinet would be hanging up his cap as the voice of Mario, a role he's occupied the goomba-stomping boots of since 1996. Nintendo of America announced the transition via a post on Twitter/X last month, revealing he'd be «moving into the brand-new role of Mario Ambassador.»  

Voice actor Charles Martinet, who provided the voice of Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, and other iconic characters for decades, has spoken publicly about his new 'Mario Ambassador' role, and has revealed that he’s not entirely sure what it will consist of yet, either.

Mario Ambassador Charles Martinet is still unsure what his new role actually entails.

Charles Martinet has said that he doesn’t yet know what his new role of ‘Mario Ambassador’ entails.

Many people have Super Mario Bros Wonder on their minds, given that the title just had a significant Nintendo Direct that broke down the various elements of gameplay, plot, and the new kingdom players will be in. As if on cue, the floodgates opened after that, and the team talked about everything to do with the game, including the parts of its development process. For example, the team wasn’t rushed to develop something special early on, as the producer wanted them to make something special. But a question about what Mario’s creator had to say about the game has popped up.