Charles Martinet Is Retiring From His 'Super Mario Bros.' Roles
Charles Martinet Is Retiring From His 'Super Mario Bros.' Roles
The longtime voice of Mario will let a-go after more than 30 years
Charles Martinet is “stepping back from recording character voices” for Nintendo after more than 30 years at the helm. His most prominent role was of course, the big plumber himself, Mario, but had several roles just as big in the Mario franchise. He will now transition into a new role as “Mario Ambassador”.
Nintendo of America and Canada posted this statement to their socials:
“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! 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 began voicing Mario at the 1992 Summer Consumer Electronics Show, going onto Mario’s Game Gallery before Super Mario 64 as his first major release. He would also take on the roles of Mario’s brother Luigi, their nemeses Wario and Waluigi, and beings based on them like Metal Mario, Shadow Mario, Mini-Mario Toys, and younger selves Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, and Baby Wario. Martinet’s Nintendo work encompasses over 150 titles extending to such series as Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart, Super Mario Galaxy and Mario Party.
It has been confirmed that he is not involved in the next Super Mario game, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, which releases on October 20 on the Nintendo Switch. This makes his last Mario video game appearance being the crossover title Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope. His status for the Super Mario RPG remake is unclear. His final performance in a Mario production is as Mario and Luigi’s father, and the character Giuseppe, a Brooklynite who resembles Mario's original Donkey Kong appearance and uses Martinet’s Mario vocal techniques, in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, released in April. In the film, Mario and Luigi were voiced by Chris Pratt and Charlie Day.
Quote tweeting Nintendo’s tweet/post, Martinet stated “My new Adventure begins! You are all Numba One in my heart!”. He is a frequent convention guest and does have other non-Nintendo voiceover roles, such as Magenta in Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero and the video game Dragon Ball Legends, as well as Orvus in Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time.
Sources: Nintendo of America, Variety, Charles Martinet