Last month, it was announced that Charles Martinet would be stepping back from recording character voices in Nintendo games and would be taking on the new role of Mario Ambassador. In the announcement, Nintendo promised a "special video message" from Shigeru Miyamoto and Charles Martinet to provide more details about Charles Martinet's new role. This video has been aired today on Twitter, which you can see below:

Here’s a special video message from Shigeru Miyamoto and Charles Martinet regarding the change of Mario’s voice actor, announced on 8/21. pic.twitter.com/4mOpD2Cx3a

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) September 7, 2023

​

As Miyamoto mentions in the video above "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." However, details about the new voice actor(s) of the Mario franchise have not been provided.

SOURCE

 

[stanleyopar2000]

Guess the criticism of Charles being "fired" got to Nintendo and this is HR...

Since Martinet said he would voice Mario until he died, either Nintendo heavily reneged on this....or he is sadly terminal and is stepping down to prep the world for the loss....or he changed his mind and doesn't want to do it for the rest of his life.

With all these situations i'm hoping the latter is the accurate option

 

[Harsky]

Sometimes you have to hang up the microphone otherwise you'll end up like the voice actress for Marge Simpson in the newer Simpsons episodes. At least they didn't make him record hundreds of hours of additional voice clips so they could reuse them over and over again without paying him a penny.

 

[Viri]

Spoiler

"In 2013, Martinet was evicted from his home in Sausalito following a legal dispute with the family of the recently deceased landlord. Dissastified with other homes in his pay range, Martinet remained homeless for the next five years, focusing his time on game events"

Apparently in 2013, he was homeless and living in hotels. I guess his job is to now travel the world, and get paid.

 

[HarveyHouston]

So... he's not retiring? I'm wondering what this might actually mean...

 

[ZeroFX]

"so long gay Bowser"

 

[DragonMals]

While he may not be associated with Mario's main voice actor anymore, I love that ehs still sticking around with Nintendo for being the Mario Ambassador.

Heres to hope that the new people do a great job making Mario sound actually like Mario.

 

[eyeliner]

I'm sure we will hear his voice for quite some time. It's not like Mario Is a talker. He just grunts and whimpers.
I'm sure that unless he becomes more talkative Martinet will have sound bites for a few games.

 

[linuxares]

I'm sure we will hear his voice for quite some time. It's not like Mario Is a talker. He just grunts and whimpers.
I'm sure that unless he becomes more talkative Martinet will have sound bites for a few games.

Mama mia, Mario 64

 

[Hanafuda]

Sometimes you have to hang up the microphone otherwise you'll end up like the voice actress for Marge Simpson in the newer Simpsons episodes. At least they didn't make him record hundreds of hours of additional voice clips so they could reuse them over and over again without paying him a penny.

Julie Kavner. Tells ya how old I am ... show me a picture of her and I'll say, "Oh that's Rhoda's little sister! And she was in some of Woody Allen's movies."

"Rhoda" was a spin-off from The Mary Tyler Moore show, in the mid-70's.

Anyway I haven't watched Simpsons in 20 years or more. What's up with her voice? Doesn't sound like Marge anymore?

 

[RedColoredStars]

The entire thing doesn't make sense since he was already the Mario Ambassador.

Spoiler

"In 2013, Martinet was evicted from his home in Sausalito following a legal dispute with the family of the recently deceased landlord. Dissastified with other homes in his pay range, Martinet remained homeless for the next five years, focusing his time on game events"

Apparently in 2013, he was homeless and living in hotels. I guess his job is to now travel the world, and get paid.

Saying he was homeless implies that he was broke, hungry, and living on the streets by no choice of his own. He chose to live in hotels, which cost him far more than simply renting a house or apartment. The guy was far from "homeless".

 

[gaga941021]

Guess the criticism of Charles being "fired" got to Nintendo and this is HR...

Since Martinet said he would voice Mario until he died, either Nintendo heavily reneged on this....or he is sadly terminal and is stepping down to prep the world for the loss....or he changed his mind and doesn't want to do it for the rest of his life.

With all these situations i'm hoping the latter is the accurate option

Stop this drama. Dude is old, they have plenty of recordings. Done.

 

[YuseiFD]

Guess the criticism of Charles being "fired" got to Nintendo and this is HR...

Since Martinet said he would voice Mario until he died, either Nintendo heavily reneged on this....or he is sadly terminal and is stepping down to prep the world for the loss....or he changed his mind and doesn't want to do it for the rest of his life.

With all these situations i'm hoping the latter is the accurate option

You realize they use his vocals for about 15 words in all the games, right ?

 

[TheZander]

i hope this doesnt mean mario will starting having dialogue in his games. it's weird in zelda and mario is not meant to speak. it should all be toadstool gibberish

 

[aoikurayami]

Poor Charly.
AI is just that good...
Even at doing voices.

(Also, old voiceclips, wahoo!)

 

[Marc_LFD]

Poor Charly.
AI is just that good...
Even at doing voices.

(Also, old voiceclips, wahoo!)

AI is just that good? It can be passable, but it's still noticeable that it's not a real person. I mean, there are AI covers of songs with characters and musicians that died and sounds pretty close, though for me I just don't like it.

Anyway, the new Mario VA in Wonder sounds similar to Martinet, just with a high pitch and that "it's-a me Mario" definitely needs to be improved.

 

[KingVamp]

Wasn't expecting that height joke.

 

[Lazyt]

I bet Nintendo does not want anything with it and they all totally frustrated about it. But don’t want all it’s fanbase to cause a scene

 

[Hassal]

i hope this doesnt mean mario will starting having dialogue in his games. it's weird in zelda and mario is not meant to speak. it should all be toadstool gibberish

"Please give me your Koopas"

 

[Julie_Pilgrim]

Julie Kavner.

she stole my name what the fuck