Today is a sad day for fans of Mario, Nintendo’s most iconic character. The company has released a farewell video for Charles Martinet, the actor who has voiced him for nearly 30 years.
In the video, which was released earlier today, Martinet says goodbye to Mario and gamers. He is also thanked by Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of the plumber. This marks the end of Martinet’s important role in bringing Mario to life.
A farewells that hurts
Martinet has been the voice of Mario since 1992 when he made his debut in the educational game Mario Teaches Typing. Since then, he has voiced the character in more than 100 games, including Super Mario 64, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Mario Odyssey, and many more. He has also voiced other characters such as Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, and Baby Mario.
His work has been recognized by millions of fans around the world who grew up with his iconic “It’s a-me, Mario!” and “Wahoo!” But all things must come to an end, and Martinet has decided to retire from voice acting to become a Mario Ambassador.
As we can see in the video shared on Twitter, this new position will allow him to stay connected to the character and the community. Nintendo has not revealed who will replace Martinet in future Mario games.
However, the company has confirmed that Super Mario Bros. Wonder, the new side-scrolling platformer coming to Nintendo Switch on October 20, will be the first to not feature his voice in over 30 years.
What’s next for the voice of Mario?
There is speculation that the voice of Mario and the rest of the characters will now be done by artificial intelligence. So many years of Martinet’s phrases could be enough to digitally bring all the characters of Super Mario Bros. to life.
Even so, we don’t officially know what Mario’s voice will sound like in this new game, or whether it will retain the same enthusiastic and witty tone that characterizes him.
What we do know is that we will miss Charles Martinet, who has been an integral part of the history of Mario and Nintendo. We wish him well in his new role as Mario Ambassador and thank him for bringing our favorite hero to life for so many years!
