Charles Martinet will no longer voice Mario or other series characters

Updated

Nintendo Life

The actor will now serve as Nintendo's "Mario Ambassador."

Nintendo has announced that Charles Martinet, the iconic voice of Mario and other Nintendo characters, will no longer provide work for its games and will instead serve as a "Mario Ambassador" in the future.

The details:

Martinet will step down from his role as a voice actor after over 25 years, according to a statement released on the company's Twitter account. He will instead serve as its 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,” the company wrote. “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!”
Martinet will also not be voicing any characters in the upcoming Super Mario Bros. Wonder, which fans have been worried about since the game's reveal in June after some noticed the character sounded slightly different. He will also not be voicing any other Mario characters, such as Luigi, Wario, or Waluigi, which means in WarioWare: Move It, the villain will also be played by an entirely new actor.
Martinet appeared in the Super Mario Bros. Movie in a cameo role as Giuseppe, the plumbers' father, and the actor has been unusually quiet on Twitter since March, implying that the decision had been made for some time. Outside of traveling the world "sharing the joy of Mario," it's unclear what his new role will entail, but a video from Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto and Martinet will be released at "a future date" and could include more information.

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