In a surprising announcement from Nintendo, the iconic voice of Mario, Charles Martinet, will be stepping back from voicing the plumber.
Nintendo of America announced earlier today in a statement that alongside Mario, Martinet would no longer be “recording character voices” for its games, and will now instead be fulfilling the role of Mario Ambassador. “Charles Martinet has been the original voice of Mario in Nintendo games for a long time, as far back as Super Mario 64,” reads 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 honour 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.”