2023 saw a number of surprising announcements from Nintendo, but few were more shocking than the news that Mario would no longer be voiced by Charles Martinet. After decades of voicing the character, Martinet moved into a new role at Nintendo as a “Mario ambassador” around the world. Nintendo debuted a new voice for the character in Super Mario Bros. Wonder, with Kevin Afghani taking over the role. Afghani had big shoes to fill, but fans had a lot of praise to offer last year. To celebrate the start of 2024, Afghani wrote on Twitter that he’d “lived a lifetime’s worth of dreams in a year” and thanked fans for their support.
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The Tweet from Kevin Afghani can be found embedded below.
A Wonderful Year for Mario
Super Mario Bros. Wonder debuted on Nintendo Switch just a few months after The Super Mario Bros. Movie released in theaters. The movie was a massive box office success, and existing Mario games saw a big sales bump as a result. While a new 2D Mario game is always cause for celebration, there was a lot of apprehension following the announcement that Charles Martinet would not appear in the game. Those concerns started to slip away in the weeks leading up to the game’s release, particularly when fans noticed just how closely Afghani’s voice stuck to what Martinet had established. Since releasing in October, Super Mario Bros. Wonder has proven to be a huge critical and commercial success. The game was nominated for a number of awards this year, and won Best Family Game at The Game Awards last month.
The Future of Mario Games
Presumably, Kevin Afghani will return to voice Mario in future games, but we don’t know when that will happen just yet. It’s possible we could hear the actor in a new Mario spin-off, or the character’s next big 3D game. A follow-up to 2017’s Super Mario Odyssey is likely in development, but Nintendo has had nothing to say in that regard. There has been a lot of speculation that a new 3D Mario game will be a launch title for Nintendo’s next console (tentatively named Nintendo Switch 2), but until we see something official announced, that’s all just speculation!
In 2024, Nintendo fans can look forward to seeing the Mario family in multiple games, starting with a remake of Mario vs. Donkey Kong next month. March will also see Princess Peach: Showtime! released. Later in the year, Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door will both appear on Switch. Nintendo has already confirmed that Charles Martinet’s voice work will remain in existing games, so fans shouldn’t expect to hear anything different in any of this year’s remakes or remasters. It’s possible he could appear in Princess Peach: Showtime!, but we don’t know if Mario will be in that game just yet.
Were you happy with Kevin Afghani’s Mario voice? When do you think we’ll see him return as Mario? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!
