Mario’s new voice actor potentially revealed via demo datamine

The new voice of Mario has potentially been revealed, following an alleged datamine of a Super Mario Bros. Wonder retail demo.

An unverified list of voice actors for Wonder first appeared on the 4chan forum on Wednesday, and then spread to other social media sites and forums such as Resetera.

The list is said to have been published after an anonymous user managed to obtain the kiosk demo for Mario Wonder, which was rolled out at US retailers last week, and then modified it to access content not meant to be seen by players.

The user posted images on 4chan (some of which are mirrored on Twitter) of previously unseen Wonder levels to support their claims.

Nintendo announced this summer that Charles Martinet – who has voiced Mario for over 25 years – would be stepping down from the role, but it still hasn’t announced who’s replacing him.

The alleged voice actor list could point to Martinet’s replacement. However, since it does not include credited characters, some analysis is required.

As noted by Famiboards’ user MondoMega, assuming no female, foreign language, or returning voice cast members have taken on the role, two names remain.

Since LA-based Kevin Afghani’s performance as Arnold in Genshin Impact sounds very similar to Mario Wonder’s talking flowers, this leaves one likely candidate on the allegedly leaked list: veteran cartoon and video game voice actor Mick Wingert.

Wingert is best known as the voice of Tony Stark in various Marvel cartoons, as well as Zeng in the spin-off Kung Fu Panda series. He’s also contributed voices to games such as Genshin Impact, Spider-Man, World of Warcraft and Fire Emblem Heroes.

If accurate and complete, the list suggests that Deanna Mustard, one of the longest-serving Mario voice actors, has been recast as Daisy.

Meanwhile, Samantha Kelly, who voices Peach, Toad and Toadette in previous Mario games, voice of Bowser Kenny James, as well as Caety Sagoian as Bowser Jr., could be returning.

In a video posted by Nintendo last month, Charles Martinet and Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto discussed Martinet’s new role as ‘Mario Ambassador’.

Martinet said 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.