Charles Martinet: The Original Voice of Mario Steps Down After 27 Years

Working with Nintendo for over 27 years, voice over actor Charles Martinet first dubbed Mario for Super Mario 64 in 1996

Remember those nostalgic Mario dialogues and voices from Nintendo video games? New Mario games will not have them anymore since ‘Charles Martinet’, the original voice of Mario in Nintendo’s video games has stepped down from the job.

Aged 67, Martinet has worked with Nintendo for over 27 years, even working as a voiceover actor in the Super Mario 64 that was released back in 1996. A legend in his craft, the Mario voiceover actor has won a Guinness World Record for the most video game voiceover performances as the same character.

Martinet was not just a voiceover actor for Mario, but also his twin brother Luigi, and their nemesis Wario. Here’s a video of Martinet playing all three characters; What a legend! Nintendo will surely have a hard time finding replacements.

Happy #MAR10 day!

Here's the original voice of Mario, @CharlesMartinet, on what it's like to voice some of the most iconic characters in history! 👇 pic.twitter.com/mQcjWs1baY

— Guinness World Records (@GWR) March 10, 2023

But Martinet is not parting ways with Nintendo, instead he will now work with the company as a “Mario ambassador”.

“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,” wrote Nintendo.

Martinet also wrote a farewell post on X, a simple but beautiful dialogue from Mario: “My new adventure begins! You are all Numba One in my heart!”.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder, the next game in the Mario series is set to release in October, it’s still unclear which voice actor will take up these roles.