Charles Martinet will no longer be voicing Mario

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The writing was on the wall with them moving to AI recordings for the Mario in Real time exhibits but it still feels so sudden.

I wasn't in love with his performance as Mario but it's undeniable Charles was a big part of the character's identity for the past 30-ish years. I wish him the best for whatever he is doing next.
 
I can't believe this is actually happening! I wish Charles the best in his life going forward and hope Nintendo finds a good replacement down the line. His voice as Mario was so distinct and iconic. And it also fit in with the rest of the Mario cast quite well. It wasn't brash like Lou Albano or Walker Boone, nor was it a Brooklyn accent like Bob Hoskins or Chris Pratt.

This probably means that Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, and the Baby Bros. will have to be replaced as well, since they were also voiced by him. Luigi's voice is distinct, unlike Tony Rosato's, Danny Wells' and John Leguizamo's takes on him. Charlie Day did a decent Luigi voice, but Charles Martinet gave depth to the character by making him sound anxious and worried at times.

Wario and Waluigi's voices are unique as well, they sound tough and tricky, like they might be up to something. The Baby Bros sound very cute and adorable, so I hope they aren't butchered by whoever replaces Charles. (Please don't let their replacements be young kids, Nintendo. It won't work out in the long run if you do that.)
 
Wow, what a historical moment for the franchise. I'm heartbroken but I knew it had to happen one day. Martinet was an amazing VA across many amazing games and hopefully his replacement will be good.
 
I would be most interested in the voice actor of Waluigi, because with other characters (especially Mario, Luigi, and Wario), they have a history of more than one voice actor providing their voices so at least we know they can get replaced. With Waluigi? Since he's only got one single voice actor in his life, I wonder if there will be someone who would do his voice.

Thank you for reading.
 
Are they going to recast Papa Mario and Giuseppe in The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2? They could still keep Charles Martinet as Papa Mario's voice actor since it's close to his normal voice.
 
It's nice he'll still be around for other Mario events, but yeah what a run he's had in the games. Wonder would have been a nice sendoff game, but it's still possible that they'll reuse some of his voice clips from past games in future titles along with whoever will be voicing the characters.
 
I have to say that I'm actually a bit offended over the manner that Nintendo let Charles Martinet go, all of this to me just justifies my suspicions that Nintendo treats their voice actors as completely expendable (esp with how they go about hiring nonunion VAs to do the work). I don't like how this major news regarding a long term famous voice actor with an iconic voice was done suddenly via a random, shadow dropped jpg on an ailing social media site, long after fans rose a stink and speculation about that Nintendo Direct and the Super Mario Bros. Wonder trailer, while the current voice actor who replace Charles Martinet who did do the current voice remains uncredited, as if the human being who did the impressive imitation that had fooled many of us, myself included doesn't deserve to be credited with his name, not until a "sanctioned" date anyway. Plus not even long ago Martinet did state that he wanted to voice Mario until he died.

Like I get it, I understand that voice actors get old and lose their luster. I've heard performances get worse, and even with Martinet you can see in various recent games. It's inevitable that he'll get replaced. But to see such a passing of a torch done in such an...underhanded manner is just very gross to me and I think it's very a disrespectful gesture to someone who deserves more than a solmen jpg. Like we'll see what that future announcement entails but right now I'm just not very happy at this entire situation.

I'm looking forward to the new roles for the characters of course and I'll probably still love a new voice attempt for Baby Luigi but yeah overall not happy at how this thing was handled.