MARIO fans have been reacting to a huge shake-up for the beloved plumber, as a key figure in the franchise is stepping down.
The fans are now curious about what the change would mean for upcoming game Super Mario Bros. Wonder.
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On Monday, August 21, Nintendo announced that Charles Martinet, who has been the voice of Mario in video games for over three decades, is stepping down from the role.
Martinet is moving on to a new role as Mario Ambassador and will continue to represent the beloved game series, but will not be voicing characters in the games anymore.
The shocking reveal comes just before Gamescom 2023, Europe’s biggest video game convention, where Nintendo is expected to showcase upcoming Mario games.
Besides Mario, Charles Martinet has lent his voice to many other Mushroom Kingdom characters, including Mario’s brother, Luigi, and bad guys Wario and Waluigi.
Fans speculated that the news dropped right before the event, because Nintendo wants to come clean about the change before everyone notices.
Sharp-eared Mario fans have already heard slight differences in Mario’s voice, as he speaks in the trailers for Super Mario Bros. Wonder.
Nintendo has now confirmed that Super Mario Bros. Wonder will not feature Charles Martinet and will have new voice talent for the roles of Mario and Luigi.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is due to release on October 20, 2023, for the Nintendo Switch.
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The company also revealed that WarioWare: Move It! will use a new voice actor for Mario’s antipode, Wario.
WarioWare: Move It! was announced at the June 2023 Nintendo Direct and is coming on November 3, 2023.
Nintendo has promised a video message from Martinet and Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto, which should be coming soon.
Charles Martinet has been the only official voice of Mario in the games, and most fans first heard him in Super Mario 64, which released in 1996 for the Nintendo 64.
This means that this voice change will be the first one in the long-running series, if we don’t count portrayals by Chris Pratt and other actors in movies and TV shows.
Martinet first became the voice of Mario back in 1991, voicing the character at trade shows where attendees could talk to the famous plumber as he was shown on a TV screen.
His earliest appearances in games were in the somewhat obscure educational title Mario Teaches Typing in 1994 and in 1995’s Mario’s Game Gallery.
Written by Stoyan Ovcharov on behalf of GLHF.
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