Mario voice actor Charles Martinet is retiring

After being the voice of Mario for nearly 30 years, voice actor Charles Martinet is stepping down from his iconic role.

For the past 27 years, Martinet has been the official voice of Mario, the titular character from the Super Mario Bros. games and media. Nintendo announced on Twitter today that he’s retiring his voice and becoming a “Mario Ambassador” instead.

“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,” Nintendo wrote.

Charles Martinet retires as voice of Mario

Mario is an iconic video game character not only for his successful games but his personality, brought to life by Martinet. He has been voicing the jump-happy plumber since 1991 when he went to an audition at a trade show.

By 1995, he was at a studio in Seattle coming up with the iconic mad-libs and catchphrases we hear Mario say in every game. Apparently, a lot of these were off-script and came from Martinet himself.

He first appeared as Mario in a video game in Super Mario 64, which came out in 1996. Since then, Martinet has been the official voice of Mario as well as other popular cartoon, video game, and anime characters. This includes many other popular characters within the Mario games.

Charles Martinet: It’s-A Me, Mario! – Guinness World Records

Fans are unsurprisingly heartbroken at the news. Many had demanded Martinet play the role of Mario in The Super Mario Bros. Movie and see him as the only real voice of the popular character. A lot of fans are calling this the “end of an era.”