Summary
With only a week before the launch ofSuper Mario Bros. Wonder, the new voice actor for both Mario and Luigi, Kevin Afghani, has announced his role on social media. For many fans, Charles Martinet has been considered the de facto voice for both Mario brothers, voicing Mario since 1994’sMario Teaches Typingand Luigi since 1996’sMario Kart 64. This initially drummed up a lot of speculation forWondersince the torch was being passed from the veteran actor to someone new. Thischange in Mario’s voice actorwas noticed as early asWonder’s reveal trailer back in June.
With only a week before the launch of the game, places like Walmart have gotten access to demo kiosks of the game. Alongside that, there was a supposed datamine that revealed the credits andentire cast list ofSuper Mario Bros. Wonder. Based on the listing, it was believed that Mick Wingert, another veteran actor, was cast to play the Nintendo icon. Wingert however denied that he was voicing Mario shortly after this news was circulated. This rumor has been fully dispelled, thanks to Mario’s new actor revealing himself.
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Kevin Afghani proudly announced on Twitter that he’s the new voice for Mario and Luigi inSuper Mario Bros. Wonder, thanking Nintendo for the opportunity. Afghani is a California-based voice actor in the Los Angeles region who has been in a variety of different web original projects, such as character voices for the Mashed YouTube channel and Raditz in theDragon Ball R&Rfan series by MasakoX. Fans ofGenshin Impactmay recognize Afghani as the voice of Arnold in the English dub.
Many voice actors and fans congratulated Afghani for landing a role as momentous as Mario himself, praising him from what they’ve already heard in therecent trailers forSuper Mario Bros. Wonder. Gamers celebrated the announcement on social media, hyped to hear how Afghani sounds in the upcoming game, and some are already hoping to hear more of him in future games as well. Others also joked that they were glad Mario wasn’t being played by Chris Pratt in the games, regardless of it being a very unlikely scenario in the first place.
While Charles Martinet will no longer be voicing Mario or Luigi in the games, he’ll be taking ona new role as aMarioambassador, where he will be signing autographs and performing the classic voices at events hosted by Nintendo. While Martinet’s presence in the role will be missed, especially by those who are longtime fans, many are very excited to see Afghani succeed him as the voice of Mario and Luigi.
Super Mario Bros. Wonderlaunches on October 20, exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.
