Charles Martinet no longer Mario's voice in games, Nintendo confirms

Charles Martinet, the official voice of Mario, will no longer play the iconic plumber.

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It's an end of an era: Nintendo has announced that Mario's voice actor Charles Martinet will no longer lend his legendary high-pitched phrases to new games. In a recent announcement, Nintendo says that Martinet is "stepping back from recording character voices of our games."

The announcement makes it clear that Martinet will still portray Mario, just not in new games. Martinet will now be the first-ever Mario ambassador, a role that was created at Nintendo in an effort to continue his legacy even if his voice won't be in any new Mario titles.

Fans were divided as the latest Super Mario Bros movie saw Chris Pratt portraying Mario instead of Martinet, who had been playing Mario for decades worth of video games and media.

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

"It has been an honor working with Charles to help bring Mario to life for so many years and we want to thank and celebrate him. Please keep an eye out for a special video message from Shigeru Miyamoto and Charles himself, which will we post at a future date."