Iconic Mario voice actor Charles Martinet is the official Nintendo Mario Ambassador

Charles Martinet, the fan-favorite voice actor of Mario, will now serve as the official Nintendo Mario Ambassador.

Charles Martinet, the fan-favorite voice actor of Mario, will now serve as the official Nintendo Mario Ambassador. (Images: Nintendo of America)

Charles Martinet, the renowned Mario voice actor, will now serve as the official Nintendo Mario Ambassador. All Nintendo fans were informed of the news by Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Mario, and Martinet.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder will use a new voice cast after it was announced earlier this year that Charles Martinet will be leaving his role as Nintendo’s well-known plumber-turned-hero of the Mushroom Kingdom. Naturally, this caused both new and old fans of Nintendo to express sadness, as Martinet has been Mario’s cherished signature voice since the 1990s. Martinet will now be contributing more to the global promotion of the Nintendo brand, even if he will no longer be providing the voice acting for the video games.

Direct from Nintendo, the information is shown in a little video with Charles Martinet and the renowned Mario inventor Shigeru Miyamoto discussing the specifics of the former’s new position. On Nintendo of America’s official X (formerly Twitter) page, this video was uploaded.

Charles Martinet, wearing a red Super Mario t-shirt, is beaming as soon as the video opens. In addition, Martinet’s new formal title as “Mario Ambassador” for Nintendo is prominently displayed next to his name.

Hello everybody, it’s-a me, Charles! You know, today is a very big day for Nintendo, the Mushroom Kingdom, and for me!

Now, you may know me for voicing characters from Nintendo’s games like [in appropriate character voices] Super Mario! Luigi! Wario! And Waluigi! And today, I’m happy to share with all of you that I’m stepping into a brand-new role as the Mario Ambassador.

The adored voice actor continues by outlining his new position:

Traveling around the world, sharing the joy of the Mario family, and being able to continue meeting with all of you wonderful fans who I cherish absolutely the most, is a great, great honor. I’m very much looking forward to seeing all of you at events around the world in the years to come.

Shigeru Miyamoto then takes Martinet’s place. Senior Managing Director and “Creative Fellow” of Nintendo is Miyamoto-san. In addition to the Super Mario franchise, he is widely recognized for having created Donkey Kong, Metroid, The Legend of Zelda, and numerous other Nintendo video game franchises.

The man behind the Mario video games and other well-known Nintendo properties, Shigeru Miyamoto, has expressed his gratitude and happiness over Charles Martinet’s new position as Mario Ambassador. Additionally, Miyamoto-san revealed that a new voice cast will be included in the future Super Mario Bros. Wonder.Speaking in his native Japanese, Miyamoto-san recounted his history of collaboration with Martinet, beginning with Super Mario 64 for the N64 in 1996. As he was describing Martinet’s role as Mario Ambassador to the fans, the renowned video game inventor also mentioned how Martinet affectionately calls him “Papa”:

For all of you watching, please know that in this role Charles will continue to travel around the world and meet fans, performing the familiar voices at events, signing autographs, and enjoying interacting with you all.

Then, Shigeru Miyamoto reiterated what had been said in August, namely that Super Mario Bros. Wonder will have new voice actors and that it will launch in October of this year:

Starting with Super Mario Bros. Wonder, which will be released in October, the voices of some Mario characters have become new, so please check them out.

As he concluded his remarks, Miyamoto-san asked Nintendo fans to celebrate Charles Martinet’s appointment as Mario Ambassador and thanked the voice actor for his contributions:

I am deeply grateful for your thoughtfulness when bringing our characters to life with your voice. I look forward to seeing you enjoy the moments with Nintendo fans at events all around the world.

And for all of you Mario fans, we ask you all to honor Charles-san together with us, and please look forward to seeing him in his new role. Charles-san, thank you very much.

The movie cuts back to Martinet, who is happy to get the opportunity to voice Miyamoto’s well-known video game masterpieces and shows his gratitude for the opportunity. Martinet ends by expressing his excitement about his ability to spread happiness and the beautiful innocence that Nintendo games—more especially, Mario games—have come to represent. Martinet ends with Mario’s well-known “let’s a-go!” remark, which is fitting.

Fun fact: Charles Martinet had been collaborating with Nintendo at trade shows since 1991, even though Mario was voiced by him for the first time in Mario 64. During these occasions, Martinet voiced Mario for the SNES and Game Boy advertising of Mario games.Supporters had expressed worry that Martinet, who has been Mario’s renowned voice actor for almost 30 years, was not getting the credit he deserved. This gained extra attention when it was discovered that Martinet would only be providing the voice of an Easter Egg cameo in the big-screen Super Mario Bros. Movie, starring Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy). In addition, fans lamented the passing of an era when Martinet’s retirement and the addition of new voice actors for Super Mario Bros. Wonder were announced.

Martinet can still represent Mario to fans whenever and wherever Nintendo hosts or participates in significant events, though, in his new capacity as Mario Ambassador. How do you feel about Charles Martinet’s recent appointment to the position of Nintendo’s Mario Ambassador?

The Nintendo Switch version of Super Mario Bros. Wonder is scheduled to launch on October 20, 2023.

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