The voice of Super Mario hangs up his overalls for retirement

It’s a warp pipe to retirement for Charles Martinet, the iconic voice behind Super Mario. After 27 years of stomping Goombas and rescuing princesses, Martinet is trading his voice box for a Nintendo ambassador badge.

But keep those tissues at bay because he won’t be ghosting us like a Boo in a haunted castle. As an ambassador, he’ll continue to spread Mario’s love worldwide, just without the studio mic.

Nintendo, in a statement as heartfelt as a Princess Peach letter, thanked Martinet and teased a special video message from him and Mario’s creator, Shigeru Miyamoto.

My new Adventure begins! You are all Numba One in my heart! #woohoo !!!!!!! https://t.co/3YWYewlnXt

— Charles Martinet (@CharlesMartinet) August 21, 2023

“Charles Martinet has been the original voice of Mario in Nintendo games for a long time, as far back as Super Mario 64. Charles is now moving into the brand-new role of Mario Ambassador,” writes Nintendo in its farewell tweet. “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!

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. Please keep an eye out for a special video message from Shigeru Miyamoto and Charles himself, which we will post at a future date.“

Martinet was in the recent Super Mario Bros Movie, where he voiced Mario’s dad. The film, starring Chris Pratt and Charlie Day, scored a massive glowing 1-Up, grossing over $1 billion.

With Martinet stepping back, the big question is, who will voice our favorite plumber in the next game, Super Mario Bros Wonder?

Nintendo reps remain as silent as Luigi in a ghost house. But hey, no rush. It’s just the voice of the most iconic character in gaming. No big deal, right?

Have any thoughts on this? Drop us a line below in the comments, or carry the discussion to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Kevin Raposo

Kevin is KnowTechie's founder and executive editor. With over 15 years of blogging experience in the tech industry, Kevin has transformed what was once a passion project into a full-blown tech news publication. Shoot him an email at kevin@knowtechie.com or find him on Mastodon or Post.