Mario voice actor Charles Martinet’s new role will involve ‘attending events and meeting fans’

Charles Martinet and Shigeru Miyamoto have explained Martinet’s new role as ‘Mario Ambassador’.

Last month Nintendo announced that Martinet – who has voiced the mascot for over 25 years – will be stepping down from voice acting duties and will instead be taking on the new Mario Ambassador role.

Now, in a new video posted by Nintendo, Martinet and Miyamoto discuss the new role and Martinet’s history voicing the character.

“Today is a very big day for Nintendo, the Mushroom Kingdom and for me,” Martinet says in the video.

“You may know me from voicing characters from Nintendo’s games like 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.

Martinet says the role will entail “travelling 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”.

“I’m very much looking forward to seeing all of you at events around the world in the years to come,” he said.

In a separate message directed at Martinet, Miyamoto added: “You have travelled the world visiting events, joyfully performing the voice of Mario for fans, and putting smiles on people’s faces.

“You always place a priority on spreading joy, and I am sure that you will be a great Mario Ambassador.”

Addressing Nintendo’s fans, Miyamoto said: “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.

“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.”

Further reading

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Charles Martinet will no longer be voicing Mario, Nintendo says

He will instead be taking on the new role of 'Mario Ambassador'

Speculation about Martinet’s role as Mario grew in June, following the announcement of several new Mario-themed games, including Super Mario Bros Wonder and WarioWare: Move It.

Both these trailers featured soundbites from characters traditionally voiced by Martinet, but some believed they didn’t quite sound like him, to the point where ‘Charles Martinet’ was one of the trending topics on Twitter following the announcements.

Nintendo finally announced on August 21 that Martinet would be stepping down from the iconic role, saying: “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.”