Charles Martinet Is No Longer Voicing Mario, Nintendo Reveals

Charles Martinet, the original voice of Mario in the video games, has officially retired from voicing the iconic plumber but he has been named Mario Ambassador by Nintendo.

Previously, he has also voiced Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Metal Mario, Shadow Mario, Mini-Mario Toys, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, and Baby Wario. The Super Mario Bros. Movie earlier this year featured Chris Pratt as the voice of Mario but Charles Martinet has a voice cameo in the movie as Mario and Luigi’s father.

It’s currently unclear what exactly a Mario Ambassador’s job will entail but it seems like he will be a “Stan Lee”-like person for the IP, apparently. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

At the time of writing, Nintendo has yet to announce a replacement.

Here’s the full statement from Nintendo:

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 recording character voices for our games, but he’ll continue to travel the world sharing the joy of Mario and interacting with you all!

In 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.

We have a message for fans of the Mushroom Kingdom. Please take a look. pic.twitter.com/U1ASicOuTO

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) August 21, 2023

Charles Martinet will always be remembered as the original voice of Mario.