Some people out there may already know who the new voice of Mario is.
Our source here is popular Nintendo and retro gaming YouTuber AKFamilyHome. We’ll just share his story as he posted it on Twitter:
“Just a heads-up, I don’t believe it’s been publicly released yet but someone out there does appear to have the Mario Wonder kiosk demo and has datamined info from it, including the full list of voice actors (albeit unlabelled). If you’re avoiding spoilers for that, be careful!
I’ve seen who it’s most likely to be and if it’s true then this guy has a pretty varied past resume throughout games and other media, it’ll be interesting to see if it truly is him and is also Nintendo’s new long-term choice.
also “lmao what do you mean spoilers for voice actors” idk maybe some people out there *are* that quirky who am I to judge
I personally went and found out for myself, you decide for yourself if you want to look into it or not lol”
Based on what AKFamilyHome says, the name is already out there. If fans are determined enough, they could go lurking around online spaces where leaks and datamining is found and seek it out.
Of course, the entire hullabaloo around this stems all the way back from August, when Nintendo revealed that Charles Martinet was about to retire, and take on a new role as ambassador for the company.
Charles Martinet is world famous for being the voice of Mario, but Nintendo has actually tapped him to voice a significant number of Mario game characters. That includes Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Metal Mario, Shadow Mario, Mini-Mario Toys, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Baby Wario, Wart, Mouser, Tryclyde, and Clawgrip.
Martinet plays Mario, Luigi, Wario, and Waluigi in a particular way. Stemming from his audition for the role, where he was instructed to play an Italian plumber from Brooklyn. He originally played the role like a Martin Scorsese character, as you might expect. But on his own, Martinet decided that voice would be too harsh, so he made his Italian a soft-hearted and friendly voice.
So why did I bring all of that up? Obviously, Mario’s new voice actor will be facing high expectations. While Mario has also been voiced by WWE Hall of Famer Captain Lou Albano, actor Walker Boone, and more recently, Chris Pratt, Martinet’s rendition of Mario’s voice is now the most well known.
It may be too much to ask that voice actor to copy Martinet to a tee, but from what we’ve heard of Super Mario Bros Wonder, he seems to effortlessly replicate a familiar tone.
We’ll all find out for sure who it is when we can see the end credits for Super Mario Bros Wonder, which releases exclusively to the Switch on October 20, 2023.