Mario Voice Actor Charles Martinet ‘Stepping Back’ From Role

Charles Martinet, the actor whose voice has been synonymous with Mario since the mid-90s, is moving into a new role at Nintendo, the company announced on X (formerly Twitter). This takes effect immediately, as the company has confirmed that Martinet does not voice Mario in the upcoming game Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

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Nintendo posted on X that Martinet will be “stepping back from recording character voices for our games.” In addition to Mario, Martinet has provided the voices of Luigi, Wario, and Waluigi. In his new role as Mario Ambassador, he’ll travel the world “sharing the joy of Mario” and interacting with fans.

“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,” Nintendo wrote on the social media website. “Please keep an eye out for a special video message from Shigeru Miyamoto and Charles himself, which we will post at a future date.”

When this fall’s Switch platformer Super Mario Bros. Wonder was revealed in June, some fans felt that the voices featured in the trailer sounded somewhat different from Martinet’s signature exclamations. In a comment to Kotaku, Nintendo has confirmed that Martinet will not voice Mario in Wonder, stating, “While Charles is not involved in the game, we’re excited to honor his legacy and contributions, including looking ahead to what he’ll be doing as a Mario Ambassador.” No details were provided on who might be stepping into the overalls.

Martinet has voiced Mario since the ‘90s, stepping into the role in 1994 for the educational game Mario Teaches Typing on Macintosh and PC. It was in 1996’s Super Mario 64, however, that his distinctive exclamations of “Wahoo!” and “Mamma mia!” first became intrinsically associated with the role for millions of gamers. He’s since lent his voice to various Mushroom Kingdom characters, including Luigi and Wario in Mario Kart 64, Baby Mario and Metal Mario in Mario Golf, Waluigi in Mario Tennis, and other forms of Mario throughout the years. His last Mario role in games was Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, while he appeared in The Super Mario. Bros Movie as Mario and Luigi’s dad. Apart from his work with Nintendo, Martinet has voiced characters in other IPs like Dragon Ball (as Red Pharmaceuticals president Magenta in Super Hero) and The Elder Scrolls (as Greybeards leader Paarthurnax in Skyrim), among others.

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Martinet has long been a fan favorite for his enthusiastic embracing of the role and for his reputation as a friendly, approachable, and genuine performer. Following today’s news, Martinet shared his own tweet, saying “My new Adventure begins! You are all Numba One in my heart! #woohoo !!!!!!!”

Updated: 8/21/21, 12:53 p.m. ET: Added a comment from Nintendo confirming that Martinet will not voice Mario in Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

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Shigeru Miyamoto Reveals Mario Voice Actor Called Him ‘Papa’

After it was announced that legendary voice actor Charles Martinet would no longer portray Mario in future Nintendo games (starting with October 20’s Super Mario Bros. Wonder) but would become a “Mario Ambassador,” fans were confused. What is a Mario Ambassador? Why isn’t Martinet voicing the Italian-American plumber anymore? Now, Nintendo and Martinet have tried clearing the air with a cute video, but the results are somehow more confusing.

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In a video posted to X (formerly Twitter), Martinet and game director Shigeru Miyamoto briefly talk about their past together and their friendship. We learn that Martinet used to call Miyamoto “Papa!” in his signature Mario voice, and that he also nearly banged his head walking into a Kyoto restaurant because he’s reportedly 6-foot 3-inches tall. The short video isn’t just cutesy personal anecdotes, however, as it tries to provide some clarification of just what Martinet’s new role as “Mario Ambassador” is. It still sounds vague, though.

“You traveled the world visiting events, joyfully performing the voice of Mario for fans, and putting smiles on people’s faces,” Miyamoto said of Martinet. “You always place a priority on spreading joy, and I am sure that you will be a great Mario Ambassador. For all of you watching, please know that Charles will continue to travel around the world and meet fans, performing the familiar voices at events, signing autographs, and enjoying interacting with you all.”

We still don’t know who will voice Mario going forward, as Miyamoto said to wait until October to see who’s portraying the mustachioed plumber in the upcoming platformer Wonder, or why Martinent is no longer voicing the character after almost 30 years, but will still be “performing the familiar voices” at fan events. It certainly seems like Nintendo is aware of just how iconic Martinet as Mario is, and wants to hold onto that magic in any way possible–just not by casting Martinet in future Mario games.

Read More: Longtime Mario Voice Actor Charles Martinet ‘Stepping Back’ From Role

We don’t have long to figure out who the hell is portraying Mario now, since Super Mario Bros. Wonder comes out on October 20. October is a crammed month for video games, but for Mario fans, it’ll also be one of both nostalgia and reinvention as the franchise goes in a new gameplay direction with a new voice actor at the helm, whoever that may be.

 

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Metal Gear Solid Paid Voice Actor Jennifer Hale Only $1,200

Voice actor Jennifer Hale needs little introduction, having gained fame playing characters like Metroid Prime’s Samus Aran, Bastila Shan from Knights of the Old Republic, and of course Mass Effect’s one true Commander Shepard. She’s also known for Konami’s Metal Gear Solid series, in which she’s played the shifty geneticist Naomi Hunter since the series’ inception in 1998. But in a recent podcast appearance, Hale revealed that her first MGS gig voicing that important character paid only $1,200.

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Previously, Hale avoided naming Metal Gear Solid directly in interviews, only saying in September that a “game made $176 million” and paid her an hourly wage that was “way less than [what] I wanted it to be.” But in this week’s episode of the My Perfect Console podcast, currently available in early access, Hale responded quickly to host and critic Simon Parkin’s question as to what that $176 million game was: It was Metal Gear Solid.

She agreed with Parkin that her original MGS pay, $1,200, is at a “grotesque disparity” with $176 million, saying “it’s indicative of what’s happening in modern culture. […] For every dollar that the workaday person makes—and [voice actors] are workaday people; all actors, on-camera, voice-over, who are not celebrities are workaday people—we make a dollar for every $399 [executives] make.”

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Still, “I love [Metal Gear],” Hale said. “It was such a crazy departure from anything I’d done before. I loved it because it was brilliant, and because it was just so unique. […] And it’s dark, and it’s mysterious, and it’s intense, and […] I loved everything about it.”

Currently, Hale is one of many video game voice actors prepared to strike over what they tell Kotaku is “an existential fight to make sure that they hang on to the rights to their own voices, their own images, because that is what they make their living with, as well as achieve wages that will keep up with inflation so that they can continue to be professionals in this space economically.”

During her podcast appearance, Hale reinforced this last point and said she wants voice actors to receive residuals for game work “on a flexible structure that honors the indie developers, that honors the budgets and capacities of teams. I would like to see that.”

SAG-AFTRA members authorized a video game strike with a 98 percent “yes” vote on September 25.

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Did Super Mario Bros. Wonder Demo Hack Reveal New Mario Actor?

Update 10/13/2023 3:25 p.m. ET: The speculation surrounding who voices Mario has been brought to an end. Kevin Afghani, who also voices Arnold in Genshin Impact, confirmed on X (formerly Twitter) that he had stepped into the plumber’s boots.

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The Verge reports that Nintendo also confirmed the news via an email which stated, “The voice actor’s name is Kevin Afghani.”

The original story follows below.

Fans believe they might have discovered who the new actor for Mario is in Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

In June, Nintendo revealed an all-new 2D side-scrolling Mario platformer called Super Mario Bros. Wonder. While one section of the internet was captivated by the upcoming game’s new power-up that transforms Mario and friends into elephants, other keen-eared fans were distracted by how “off” the Italian plumber’s various utterances sounded in the trailer. Nintendo confirmed in August that longtime Mario voice actor Charles Martinet was stepping away from the series, transitioning to an honorary role as a “Mario ambassador” for the company. Now, one Mario fanatic claims to have committed what the kids call a “cool crime” to figure out who the unannounced new Mario voice actor is.

Pre-order Super Mario Bros. Wonder: Amazon | Best Buy | GameStop

According to Video Games Chronicle, an anonymous 4chan user claims they acquired a “kiosk demo” of Super Mario Bros. Wonder from a retail store in the U.S. and has hacked into it to obtain previously unrevealed information. On Wednesday, the anonymous user posted images of an unverified list of voice actors, which filtered out across other websites like ResetEra and Twitter. Although the list gained an air of credibility thanks to attached screenshots of previously unseen levels allegedly from World 1 of Wonder, it didn’t specify what roles the name-dropped actors would be voicing. This in turn led to a bit of online investigating on fans’ part to narrow down the potential Mario actor by cross-referencing each actor’s previous works.

After Famiboards user MondoMega whittled down the 21-person list by removing any female, foreign, or returning Mario cast member names, the list of potential western Mario actors came down to just two: Kevin Afghani (Arnold from Genshin Impact) and Mick Wingert (Heimerdinger from Arcane). The running theory in this makeshift Mario Wonder actor ARG is that the plumber’s new voice is probably Wingert. Why Wingert? As VGC notes, Afghani’s performance as Arnold sounds similar to Wonder’s talking flower, which would make veteran voice actor Wingert the likely pick for Wonder’s Mario.

Nintendo

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After giving Wingert’s demo reel a quick listen and discovering that he’s voiced a wide range of similarly plucky-sounding characters over his career—from Baki Hanma’s Kaku Kaioh, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim’s Shu Amiguchi, to virtually every character in the Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness game—I wouldn’t be surprised if he were the new voice of Mario. Plus, Wingert’s high-energy voice print maps nicely to Nintendo’s adventurous plumber. Of course, we’ll find out come October 20 if Wingert is in fact the new voice of Mario or if a bunch of internet sleuths just got in a tizzy over nothing.

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