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 retires as voice of Mario for new Nintendo role
22.08.2023 - 10:41 / radiotimes.com / Chris Pratt / Charles Martinet / Charles / Mario / New / New Nintendo / Nintendo
Charles Martinet, the original voice actor of Mario, is retiring after 27 years and and will now serve as a «Mario Ambassador», Nintendo has confirmed.
The American voice actor, 67, first appeared in the role of Nintendo’s video game character Super Mario in the 1996 instalment Super Mario 64, and also provided the voices of Mario’s brother Luigi and villain Wario.
Nintendo shared the news on <a href=«https://twitter.com/NintendoAmerica/status/1693624002982314108?ref_src=» https: target="_blank" rel=«noopener»>Twitter
— which was recently re-branded as X — saying fans can also expect a special video message from Shigeru Miyamoto and Martinet to come at a later date.
«Charles Martinet has been the original voice of Mario in Nintendo games for a long time, as far back as Super Mario 64,» Nintendo wrote in the statement.
«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!
»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."
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Following his first performance as the Italian plumber in 1996’s Super Mario 64, Martinet went on to voice the character in over 150 Nintendo games, bringing to life Mario’s unforgettable noises like “Wahoo!” and “Mamma mia”.
Martinet also has a brief cameo in this year’s The Super Mario Bros Movie, which saw Chris Pratt take over as Mario.
Martinet quote tweeted Nintendo's post, writing: «My new adventure begins! You are all Numba One in my heart! #woohoo !!!!!!!»
In the replies, fans expressed their gratitude for the actor’s work.
“Your work has inspired me since I was a child,” penned fellow voice actor Gianni Matragrano. He continued: “As a kid I was inspired by Mario’s fun loving and determined adventures, and as an adult you’ve inspired me in what it means to be a voice actor, and more importantly, a good person. Thank you. And enjoy this new adventure!”
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It's-a not me: Voice actor of Mario retires after 27 years
Charles Martinet has been the voice of Nintendo's mascot Mario since 1996, but no more. Nintendo has announced that the actor is to step down from the role, and will instead act as a «Mario ambassador» in the future, which is all rather ceremonial and full of pomp for a gig that mainly involves shouting «wa-hoo!»