A quick statement from Nintendo indicates that long-time Super Mario voice actor Charles Martinet is “stepping back” from voicing the company's characters, implying that the veteran actor is now retired from his iconic role as the red plumber Mario.

In the same statement, Nintendo assures fans that Martinet will “continue to travel the world sharing the joy of Mario and interacting” with fans, presumably under his new role as a “Mario Ambassador.” This appears to be a brand-new role made specifically for him, which should allow Martinet to continue representing Mario in spite of his apparent retirement.

The statement also adds that Martinet and Nintendo Producer Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of some of Nintendo's most popular IPs including Super Mario, will be appearing in a “special video message” which will be posted at a future date.

Martinet has been working with Nintendo as Mario's voice for over three decades, starting in 1991 as the voice for both Mario and Luigi. His voice has become synonymous with the Italian plumber and Nintendo fans would always remember Mario's iconic “yahoo!” as his voice. Many fans have identified him as Mario himself which was what led to some fan backlash when Chris Pratt was originally revealed as Mario's voice actor for The Super Mario Bros. Movie, with many people believing that Martinet should have voiced Mario in the blockbuster film, which was an opinion held by other voice actors in the industry including Tara Strong.

Who will voice Mario in Super Mario Bros. Wonder?

Meanwhile, speculations on who will be taking over Martinet's role in future Super Mario games now run high, especially with the upcoming release of a new Super Mario game later this year. As expected, many people are already expecting Chris Pratt to take over, but we doubt that given how Hollywood actors usually have a far busier schedule than other industry voice actors for them to commit to voice acting in video games. On the other hand, Martinet's supposed retirement comes just months before the release of the new game which probably means that the game has reached a production stage past recording voice lines, so we might still hear Martinet as Mario's new voice in the upcoming title.

Let's just hope that Nintendo didn't make him sign off his voice to be used by an AI generator for them to use in perpetuity even without his involvement.

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