Charles Martinet, The Voice Of Nintendo’s Beloved Mario Character, Steps Down

etcanada.com:

Charles Martinet, the original voice of Mario in Nintendo games since the 1990s, is stepping down. Nintendo of America confirmed Monday that Martinet will now serve in the role of “Mario Ambassador,” traveling around the world to promote the beloved plumber, signing autographs and performing Nintendo character voices. “Charles Martinet has been the original voice of Mario in Nintendo games for a long time, as far back as ‘Super Mario 64,'” Nintendo said in a 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! READ MORE: Chris Pratt Reveals His First Mario Voice Was Kiboshed For Sounding Like Tony Soprano “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,” the statement concluded in part.

Martinet shared the Twitter statement to his own account, adding, “My new Adventure begins! You are all Numba One in my heart! #woohoo!!!!!!!,” referencing Mario’s enthusiastic yelp, “woohoo,” made iconic by the voice actor. READ MORE: ‘The Super Mario Brothers Movie’ Tops $1.3 Billion At The Box Office To Become 2nd-Biggest Animated Film Ever In addition to being the original voice of Mario, he’s also voiced Luigi, Wario and Waluigi in the video games.

While he did not voice Mario in the recent movie, he did have a small role as Mario’s dad. In a question and answer session at a Canadian gaming and comics expo two years ago, Martinet told the audience “I want to voice Mario until I drop dead” in response to a fan’s question, according to