Iconic Star’s Final Curtain – GAME OVER!

(DailyVantage.com) – Charles Martinet, the voice of Mario in Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros. series, is retiring after three decades of work. First appearing in 1996 with the release of the Nintendo 64’s “Super Mario 64,” Marinet has come to provide voices for characters in the franchise, including Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, baby variants of characters, members of the Koopa Troop, and voice samples throughout Nintendo games.

When initially auditioning, Martinet was not familiar with the Mario property. He was not invited to the audition. Nonetheless, after crashing the auditions and performing a great Italian accent, Martinet has voiced Nintendo characters since.

While retiring from voice acting, Martinet’s work with Nintendo will continue as he will serve as the “Mario Ambassador. In a post on Twitter, Nintendo of America announced that Martinet will step back from recording character voices for the games but will continue to be a public presence through traveling and “sharing the joy of Mario and interacting with you all! They also said a special video message would be sent from Shigeru Miyamoto, game director at Nintendo, and Martinet at a future date.

This news comes after Nintendo announced a new 2D Mario platformer entitled “Super Mario Bros. Wonder” for the Nintendo Switch. Nintendo has yet to confirm who will be voicing Mario in the game. However, they have confirmed Martinet is not involved with this installment in the series. The legacy and contributions of Martinet to the Mario franchise are significant, making this news even more important to fans, who had already begun to speculate that he would retire since promotional videos for Super Mario Bros. Wonder had a voice that sounded different.

Martinet also did not voice Mario in the 2023 animated film The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which instead had actor Chris Pratt and other famous actors and actresses voice characters. However, he did make multiple cameo appearances as the voices of Jump Man and Giuseppe. In total, Martinet is credited with voicing over 150 works in his career.