The new voice of Nintendo's mascot Mario has now been revealed.
Kevin Afghani is the new voice actor to portray the iconic video game character, with Afghani also voicing Mario's brother, Luigi. His tenure as the two Italian plumbers begins with the upcoming release of Super Mario Wonder, the latest sidescrolling platformer in the venerable series. This news comes one week before the release of that game for the Nintendo Switch, further hyping up the much-anticipated title.
The news was confirmed by the voice actor himself through X (formerly Twitter), with Nintendo promptly responding and confirming the information. It also comes a few months after it was revealed that previous Mario voice actor Charles Martinet was stepping away from the role and taking on the status of an "ambassador." Martinet voiced the video game icon for decades beforehand, with his career at Nintendo beginning in 1991. During this time, Martinet provided the character's voice for trade shows, eventually transitioning to the educational title Mario Teaches Typing.
However, most gamers first heard the now iconic Mario voice in the Nintendo 64 game Super Mario 64. This was the plumber's first 3D action-adventure title, with the addition of voice acting making for a more immersive and "next-gen" experience compared to the earlier sprite-based platformer. Since then and until 2023, Martinet provided the voice for not only Mario and Luigi but also their reversed rivals, Wario and Waluigi. These aren't the only video games where Martinet has provided his talent, with the actor being a part of numerous games based on The Lord of the Rings. He also voiced Magenta in Dragon Ball Super, reprising this role in video game adaptations of the series.
Compared to Charles Martinet, Kevin Afghani is a much more recent talent in the world of voice acting. He got his start in 2018 through the video game Dragon Ball R&R, where he voiced Goku's brother Raditz. He also voices the character Arnold in the English dub of the massively popular Genshin Impact. Afghani is confirmed to be replacing Martinet as the voice of both Mario and Luigi, but it's unknown if he'll also be taking over the roles of Wario and Waluigi in future Mario games.