Charles Martinet on Being ‘Mario Ambassador’: ‘I Don’t Know What That Is Yet’

Charles Martinet, the now former voice of Mario, has discussed his new role as “Mario Ambassador” for Nintendo, saying: “I don’t know what that is yet.”

Last month Nintendo announced Martinet was “stepping back” from voicing Nintendo characters, and confirmed the much-loved voice actor, who has voiced Mario for 32 years, is not involved in upcoming Switch exclusive Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

Nintendo has yet to announce Martinet’s replacement, but did say he will assume the new role of “Mario Ambassador”.

But what does “Mario Ambassador” mean? It seems Martinet himself is unsure. Speaking during a Q&A panel at GalaxyCon Austin 2023, Martinet said: “I am now a Mario Ambassador. I don’t know what that is yet. I’m not retired as it were, but I’m an ambassador. As we step forward into the future, I will learn, we’ll all learn exactly what that is.”

It sounds like Martinet is in the dark about his new role for Nintendo, but, as he stresses, he is not retiring. As for his replacement, during a recent interview with IGN, Nintendo of America boss Doug Bowser said fans will have to wait until the release of Super Mario Bros. Wonder on October 20 to find out, as the company will keep the new voice of Mario under wraps until the game’s credits are public.

“Charles has obviously been a voice actor with us for quite some time, and as we look for ways to keep Charles involved in Nintendo’s business, we thought this was a very nice transition for him,” Bowser said.

“And Charles is very excited about it. I’ll let Charles speak to it himself if he’d like to, but we look forward to having him continue to represent Nintendo and importantly the Mushroom Kingdom as we go forward. I think people have recognized this when they see Super Mario Bros. Wonder, they’ll hear a different voice and we’ll let that play out and that’ll be within the credits, and people will learn who the new person is at that point in time, but we don’t plan to make any announcement in advance of that.”

Image credit: Tales From The Collection: Autographs & Fan Mail YouTube channel / GalaxyCon Austin 2023

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].