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Charles Martinet named official Mario ambassador by Nintendo

Martinet will step back from recording new Mario lines for games and projects, but will travel the world promoting the franchise.

TJ Denzer

August 21, 2023 7:50 AM

Image via Charles Martinet

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An interesting new shift is happening with Charles Martinet and Nintendo to kick off this week. Nintendo has named Charles Martinet as its new Mario ambassador, set to travel the world and promote the Mario franchise. It’s well-earned as Martinet has been voicing Mario since Super Mario 64. However, this also means that Martinet will step back from recording new voice work for Mario on any further projects and games.

Nintendo announced its appointment of Charles Martinet as its new Mario ambassador via the Nintendo Twitter on August 21, 2023. According to the announcement, Shigeru Miyamoto and Martinet will be preparing a formal message to appear in a video at a later date.

“Charles Martinet has been the original voice of Mario in Nintendo Games for a long time, as far back as Super Mario 64,” Nintendo’s statement reads. Charles is now moving into the brand-new role of Mario Ambassador. With this transition, he will be stepping back from recording character voices for our games, but he’ll continue to travel the world sharing the joy of Mario and interacting with you all!”

Martinet himself seems thrilled about the role as well, having provided brief commentary in a quote tweet of the Nintendo announcement.

“My new Adventure begins! You are all Numba One in my heart! #woohoo!!!!!!!,” Martinet wrote.

More Martinet in every Nintendo fan’s life sounds peachy, and it feels like with the success of the Super Nintendo World theme parks and the Super Mario Bros. Movie, Martinet has plenty of places to be, even in the short-term.

That said, it’s almost bittersweet to know that this also means we won’t have new Martinet voices in later Nintendo games utilizing the iconic character. Nonetheless, it looks like Martinet is still living his best life adjacent to Mario. Hopefully, it’s the start of an awesome new chapter for him with the Big N.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.