Charles Martinet Assigned Mario Ambassador; Stepping Away from Voice Acting

[Moonface]

Nintendo has announced that Charles Martinet has moved into the role of Mario Ambassador, but will be stepping away from voice acting as a result.

Whether or not any new voice lines for characters he voiced will be needed or who will fulfill the role has not been specified. Do you think Nintendo will be able to find a suitable replacement for Martinet, and how do you feel about his role change going forward?

[Mr EliteL]

Y'know I never thought about what will happen when Martinet stops voicing Mario and co, other than until he's too unwell/old to do it anymore and I suppose this could be something like that. Just no idea who could fill the role(s) and whoever it could be, it's some damn big shoes to fill. I for one am worried really, I don't think anyone can, sure it will be filled at some point I guess, and no matter how close their voice acting is to Martinet's or just a completely new voice, I know it's not him so it'll just be...bad. Sure there's the movie cast for Mario & Luigi to compare to as well and most people enjoyed Day's performance of Luigi. It's all up in the air now, so who's going catch them four roles? Who knows...

I assume Martinet has done the work for Wonder, the SMRPG Remake and any possible games in the works before this announcement/decision.

[Moonface]

Well the guy is currently 67 so I doubt his age is the reason for stepping back from voice acting, plus I would assume he doesn't even have to do it very often or a lot considering Mario games don't release often enough where new voice lines are needed, so it wouldn't be because he finds it taxing at his age from all the travel. Unless his new role is going to have more to it than what the statement says, travelling would stay the same or increase under his new role so the travel definitely can't be the factor. I also wonder what he would be doing in the role that would take up so much of his time that he doesn't have time to do voice acting, especially since Nintendo would surely be in control of where he goes and what he does so they would be able to plan all this out for him anyway, there wouldn't be a scheduling conflict.

For who would fill his role, it might not be hard when it comes to simple sounds so long as the tone is there, but anything that is actually a spoken line is going to be tougher to nail. As long as Chris Pratt doesn't somehow get the role.

[Moonface]

Holy balls Martinet hasn't even been told what the Mario Ambassador position actually is nor is he retired: https://nintendoeverything.com/charles-m...t-retired/

Makes sense why Nintendo are dragging their heels on getting out that video mentioned in the original announcement. We're two weeks out from that and Martinet comes out saying multiple things that go against it. Great look for Nintendo here.

[ShiraNoMai]

I already knew that role of "Mario Ambassador" was the most bullshit thing that could've existed. It's basically a "you're still contracted by us but you have no proper place in the company at this moment so legally we have to give you a job title."

[Moonface]

So out of the blue a video was released giving a further update on the matter by Martinet and Miyamoto:



Really a nothing burger of a video honestly that tells us nothing we didn't know, so not sure why this wasn't just used as part of the original announcement. I also only discovered it by being recommended to me on YouTube, and weirdly it isn't on Nintendo's channel at all.

[Mr EliteL]

Yeah I had no clue what the Mario Ambassador title would mean, oversee events that are related to meeting fans but it's something he takes part in already anyway, but just higher position I assumed but whatever I guess.

Hm so some characters voices have changed in Wonder? I know at least Mario sounded like Martinet, Luigi seemed normal too so don't know who it could be referring to.

[Mr EliteL]

I recently found this video and well, this may indeed be what they meant by the voice changes in that it's Mario and Luigi. I am willing to say I have been fooled. The new voices are actually acceptable.

[Moonface]

After watching that video, I feel like Mario is very noticably not Martinet, particularly with the "here we go" line. Luigi sounds a lot more convincing though.