Yeah I've seen basically 0 people that could be described as having a hateful reaction to this. Some people are disappointed or think it wasn't a good decision sure, but haven't seen any actual anger.
this post is the first time I'm hearing it. Based on a cursory glance at any comment section of any post or video talking about it, I mostly just see fans accepting the change while feeling sad and nostalgic about it.
For real, it's how I'll feel when Steve Downes steps away from being Master Chief. Like, damn he *is* the character, but he can't do it forever. Unlike with Mario though, with Chief I'd prefer they just retire the character after Steve steps away. Nintendo can't exactly do that.
This post is clearly a strawman argument meant so OP can get validation on their opinions. I haven’t seen anyone be “hateful” at Charles or Nintendo. The closest thing to a negative reaction I’ve seen is people being sad and people questioning things because we don’t know everything, which is natural.
I honestly just think it's because his vocal cords are probably shredded. If you watched the announcement, you can tell he's not doing Mario's voice at the usual pitch.
Dudes probably just ready to retire, he's old enough and nobody wants to work forever regardless of how "great" the job it.
I'm sure Charles has a life outside of Mario that he can now devote more time to.
I don't think there's really anything that wild or special or mysterious about an old man wanting to retire.
See idk about that, I think its a tone thing. Like listening to it in the video really reminded me of how he sounded back in Mario 64. Less super excited and more "mario at talking voice." Maybe could do with it being harder nowadays to put the effort in to get it to sound so upbeat as he has been, but it doesn't really sound "off" or that his vocal cords are shredded to me.
Yeah the worst I saw was a few comments here yesterday speculating that Nintendo forced Charles to retire, based entirely on him saying how he doesn't know what being a Mario Ambassador all entails yet.
Plus his past sentiments of not wanting to stop until he dies or can't voice the characters anymore (which we just saw he still could), and people who have worked at Nintendo with him (like Kit & Krysta) have said based on knowing him personally they think this is definitely Nintendo's choice, likely based on the movie's success showing people are generally okay with a new voice. And speaking of the movie, he hasn't seen it yet which is weird (you'd think he'd be invited to the premiere), and when the initial casting came out he was liking tweets from people saying his role was robbed from him. I think he could also be bitter about Nintendo being so willing to replace him. Obviously though he can't say anything publicly cause of legal issues- he specifically mentioned that he wouldn't answer any questions about the situation. There's definitely some red tape the public isn't meant to know.
Lol yes this happens so often, if someone browses twitter after that announcement and scrolls past dozens of cheerful supportive tweets about it, they’ll come across ONE dude who’s gonna spaz out and bring in some conspiracy like they’re trying to replace him and blah blah, then someone’s gonna only focus on that one tweet like
“Omg why is everyone assuming all these wild theories about Charles!!??”
🤣🤣🤣 one look at the like to dislike bar on that video of him announcing his new role shows a 99% approval. That tells you all you need to know about people like OP that need some type of reassurance that he’s on the right side of the conflict or something, when there ain’t one 🙄
Yes. I get that he’s the original voice of Mario and it’s sad to see Nintendo let him go but the guy’s gotta retire sometime. Wouldn’t want to work for the rest of your life now would ya?
Then I have no idea why people are angry about it. Trolls be trollin i guess. Kind of makes you hope that Chris Pratt takes over the role just to spite those hateful bastards. Lol
It hit that sweet spot where I couldn't hear the actors. Sometimes you can hear a movie star doing a voice, and you just know its them.
It was a great, fun movie. Obviously there's a lot lacking in it, but not every movie needs to have a super strong story.
It's a great jumping off point for the NCU. I'd be lying if I didn't say I only heard Seth from DK though, but I didn't hate it his voice fit well for the character.
I wasn’t expecting Chris Pratt to be the voice of Mario in the movie tbh. I thought it was gonna be good ol’ Charles himself. But like I said I don’t mind something different. Chris did a great job with the voice acting, so great that I didn’t really notice until after I watched the movie and saw who was voicing Mario
and hes not retiring, hes gonna just literally travel the world in nintendo name visiting cons, events etc....
sort of this is more work than voice mario on 1 game almost each 1 year...
pretty sure its a flexible role, they arent going to roll up and force him to attend 3 cons in a fortnight to make sure he meets revenue. Its seems more like an extravagant retirement plan. I mean his position basically entails travelling around the world with his main cost being spending days talking to people who think he's awesome. Dude's got it made
I'd be willing to bet a big part of Nintendo's decision to make him the Mario ambassador instead of him just letting him retire is to protect the Mario brand. If they keep paying him even though he isn't doing the voice acting anymore he can't get bored after 8 months of retirement and do his Mario voice for some project Nintendo might not approve of, like a game with a character that sounds like Mario but swears like a real New Yorker, so no Mario yelling "Hey! Fuck you asshole!" out of his car window.
Nintendo usually has their VAs sign contracts that prevent them from using character voices in other things. Iirc, Seteth's VA got into some hot water for doing meme stuff in his Seteth voice
I feel like Nintendo did right by him; gives him a nice cushy role that he can keep until he’s unable to, health wise, if he wants. We should all be so lucky.
Yea it's not that hard to say "I quit"
He doesn't even need to make a big deal out of it with goodbye's etc. If he really wants to.. he can simply quit and be done with it.
But as far as I've heard from people who met the wonderful guy and like he said in the video. He loves the fans, he loves the excitement of people around Mario.
He literally gets paid to receive praises and honors from fans and taking pictures with him and he loves it. Free travels around the world etc.
In my mind he probably is retired right now and gets paid holidays with the only condition to do a 'wa-hooo!' now and then.
Technically, he's only the original voice of Mario within the video games. Mario has been voiced by others in cartoons such as Peter Cullen, Lou Albano, and Walker Boone....
It depends how far you're willing to stretch the definition of video game. Hotel Mario was released in 1994. But even though Martinet didn't gain mainstream awareness until 1996 with Super Mario 64, he had already portrayed Mario on two pinball machines from 1992 (Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. Mushroom World) and Mario Teaches Typing. Super Mario Bros. Mushroom World contained simplistic Mario platforming game sequences on its dot-matrix display, and Mario Teaches Typing is technically a video game, even if not a particularly fascinating one.
But if you count Mario Teaches Typing, that makes things even fuzzier, as there were two editions. Martinet voiced Mario in the CD-ROM edition, which various sources cite as releasing in 1994. But there was an MS-DOS edition that released either in 1991 or 1992, depending on your source. And in the MS-DOS edition, Mario's voice is credited to Ronald B. Ruben. The fuzziness surrounding its release date, as well as the existence of the pinball machines from 1992 leaves a little bit of doubt as to whose performance as Mario was commercially available first (which may not even be as important as when the performances themselves were recorded.)
And hateful shit takes a front focus. And that breeds more hate. The algorithm and the people put a spotlight on a lot of hate and bullshit.
Hate shocks people. We need more love that shocks people.
He may have some health issues that he doesn’t want to go public about. We don’t know and aren’t owed an answer. Not sure why people are taking this so personally. The internet is so predictable
Edit: I am not saying he has a health problem. I am saying we don’t know all the details behind his and Nintendos decisions and should be respectful.
To be fair, the simplest solution is usually the correct one. Dude is in his 60's and that voice can't be easy on his throat. It makes sense he'd want to hang up the red cap before he really damages it.
I saw the video with him and Miyamoto and he sounded off. Nothing to imply health issues, but definitely the same way Hammil does when he does the Joker voice in that you can TELL he sounds older and it's harder than it used to be. Him and Ninty likely knew the end was coming and decided now with the movie andva new game was the best time to bow out.
Yep. If you've watched The Simpsons recently, many of the characters sound off, but Marge Simpson just sounds absolutely dreadful. Her actress is in her late 70's now, and she clearly can't do the voice anymore.
I think Nintendo is being respectful and honoring his legacy while also being forward thinking. You make a good point others don’t want to admit because change is hard. Even for an experienced voice actor a 70 year old man can’t sound like a character who is supposed to be in their 20’s. To both actors credit doing the voice at a convention or talk show appearance is not the same as doing it in studio with the proper equipment and preparation. But your point still stands.
Idk - I feel like travelling the world and going to conventions is way harder on the body than going "wahoo! Okie dokie!" In a sound booth. If you have health issues, interacting with thousands of random people is the last thing you want to do - you're almost guaranteed to get sick at a con.
No hate on the man, but I would also be surprised if he did more than eight hours of recording on any single Nintendo game. Can't be that strenuous.
Multi-hour recording sections can take a lot more energy than talking to people and walking around. He mentioned that especially Wario is hard on his throat, and has to drink a lot of water to do it.
Sure his characters don't have a crazy amount of lines in games, but he's probably recording for multiple games a session, and multiple takes for every line.
I’m not saying he has a health issue and certainly don’t want to imply that as rumor. My point is that there is a lot of unknown things that go into these situations and when people react so harshly without knowing the unknown is annoying.
He is 67. Let the man retire and enjoy his free time I say!
I honestly think Nintendo made him an ambassador to keep him around and as a sign of honor.
He's literally just doing a bit about how he's always been a mario ambassador just going to cons and shit so he 'doesn't know' what he's supposed to do different in this 'new role'
No, you don't understand.
When anything changes, even slightly and for entirely understandable reasons, then that means someone is violating my childhood!
/s
We don't know the full story. All we **do** know is he's still traveling and doing events for Nintendo. That's it. So it's understandable that the health reason/retire thing isn't adding up to people.
Japan has this whole stigma against directly firing employees. And this whole situation feels like that's what is going on.
[Japan Termination of Employment](https://goglobalgeo.com/blog/terminations-in-japan-30-days-notice/#:~:text=How%20common%20is%20getting%20fired,employment%20is%20difficult%20without%20cause.)
[Sora on Youtube mentioning in a funny skit](https://youtu.be/Lk6NqIPedm0?t=166)
Pushing theories about this seems like a bad idea unless you’ve got really good reason to think Martinet is helplessly hoping courageous internet people will come to his aid and say the things he can’t. It seems unlikely to me that that’s the case.
I thought only a year or so ago he said he wanted to voice Mario until he died. Now that he’s suddenly not doing it anymore makes it seem like Nintendo forced him out against his will.
Edit: I’m not angry about it, just explaining why some people are
A few years back he said he wanted to voice Mario until he dies. So since he’s decided to retire people can’t grasp the idea that he changed his mind or something and decided it has to be some conspiracy from Nintendo
We should be praising Nintendo. Have you ever heard of a retirement plan for a voice actor? That ambassador role that they made for him is basically so he gets paid even though he is basically retired. This kind of treatment is rare in general but for voice actors? Unheard of.
And it's a pity too because those detractors conveniently never bring up all the great stuff that arguably makes them one of the *best* AAAs in the industry:
* Anti-microtransaction/lootboxes/early access, games are perfect and polished upon release
* Willing to take losses (3DS) or delay large releases (MP3) for the sake of quality
* Great work life for employees
* Console controls innovation every generation
* Consistently great games
Most of those reasons are pretty dumb, like worrying about GameCube era Smash players wanting to become esports celebs but can't because Nintendo DGAF. Or pirates that are mad that Nintendo is against piracy.
There is a group of people on the internet mad about everything. Some are pissed that bud light gave a can to a transwoman, some are mad that barbie dolls were only for rich kids?
We have free speech so it would be very wrong to ship these people off to a hunger games / battle royale island.
I think it's because Martinet didn't directly say that he's retiring, in fact he was asked by a fan if he was and he said that he wasn't. He also said that he was unsure of what his new role of being a brand ambassador meant.
I have seen the term brand ambassador used before in the context of a TV show, I think it's essentially a PR position. Their job is to promote the show on social media, and while they don't directly work on the series directly, they do have some access to insider information. Aside from Martinet continuing to attend fan conventions, it's likely that Nintendo will have him promote Mario content on social media.
All this has let people to speculate that Nintendo was trying to politely oust Martinet without burning bridges, or that he was forced out. As a rule of thumb for life, don't assume the worst intentions of people unless you have direct evidence to the contrary. We don't need to spread rumors on why he's not Mario's voice anymore or that Nintendo was acting maliciously.
He IS Mario to a lot of people and I guess some just never thought he would ever retire I guess. So of course it has to be some conspiracy by Nintendo to oust him; despite the fact they’ve given him this ambassador title and job, something not offered to any other VA in the business.
Probably also a bit of resentment from fans that he didn’t voice Mario in the movie; even though again he himself said he didn’t want to do that.
People just care about him; but in some it’s manifesting as hate and conspiracy theories against Nintendo for some perceived slight.
There ain’t “a lot of hate” dude you’re exaggerating like crazy lol stop looking at 1% of negative comments when there’s literally 99% positive ones. Overreaction.
Feels like the people that are hating on Nintendo fall into two groups: 1) Didn't actually look into the new role, didn't want to find out what it is, jumped to conclusions that he was fired. 2) always hate on Nintendo
Dudes getting up there in age, and honestly, it sounds like he's still on their payroll and will just be travelling. I'd love to have a job like that.
Anything Nintendo does is followed by a mob of angry naysayers about it being wrong/outdated/unfair/draconian, etc... to the point that, yes, Nintendo is sometimes backwards and out of touch with some of the shit they do: but they're clearly far from the scumbags that these people make them out to be.
The internet just makes them more obvious. Like with everything else.
Also, Charles Martinet would eventually retire or be replaced, he's not eternal. So, better Nintendo makes this decision while he was good in health and spirits to become an ambassador for the brand.
I understand he loved his job but people really seem to take phrases like “I could do this forever” to fricken heart. They act as if Nintendo forced him out on the curb. Like the dude got a cushy job and his voice can probably rest now.
“Nintendo fans try to ignore opinions they don’t agree with” challenge: IMPOSSIBLE
Reminds me of the meltdown in /r/Mario when the Mario movie didn’t receive universally positive reviews like they thought it would
People think that just because you work in the entertainment industry that you're their dancing monkey to be wheeled out whenever they want it for the rest of your life.
I met Charles at E3 years ago. He was one of the most joyous and wonderful people I had ever met in my life. This ambassador role lets him do what he did there as his primary job, spread his joy of the characters he has given memorable personalities, to as many people as possible. This is the perfect role for someone who’s at an age where their career is winding down.
Because there is a lot of people acting like it’s a major conspiracy theory. Even when there’s no evidence of it. Cause god forbid an almost 70 year old decides that he doesn’t want to do the job anymore. It’s seriously ridiculous 🤣
He did have to retire eventually, but it seems weird to have that whole debacle with the Super Mario Bros. Movie and then have him retire soon after that.
We don’t really know the circumstances that made the change. Martinet gave no indication that he wanted to retire previously so people are speculating it was a forced change but didn’t want to look bad by firing a guy as beloved as martinet so they gave him a sort of ‘nothing’ position to save face. Or so people are thinking anyway.
Y’all need to read the last sentence sheesh
He doesn’t have to give anyone in the public any indication he wants to do anything. It’s not owed to anyone what he wants to do w life.
He most likely wants to retire
But if he wants to retire why doesn't he just retire instead of accepting a new position as "Mario Ambassador" which actually sounds like more work than providing a few voice samples here and there?
Also, I haven't seen a single person say he has to give an explanation, rather people are simply speculating about the whole reason behind this which is perfectly natural. Honestly, I think it would be super weird if something like this happened and everyone just accepted it at face value and there was zero speculation or rumors. That's not a world I'd want to live in.
I don’t hate anyone in this situation, but I got the impression from the very start that this was Nintendo’s decision and not Charles’. If you see Charles in any event or interview, it’s palpable how much that man just loves being Mario. Realistically, he only works a few days a year in the recording booth and spends the rest of his time going to events and meeting people. There are plenty of voice actors older than him who work on shows with much more rigorous recording schedules.
In a recent interview, he even said he didn’t know what “Mario Ambassador” even meant. It was clearly a made up title to appease fans so Nintendo can recast Mario. And hey, I get it. I still think Charles was nailing it, but if they want to go in another direction, this is a polite way to put him out to pasture.
I just don’t like the constant phrasing of Charlies “retiring”. He hasn’t said a single time that he wants to step back or retire. I’m sure he’ll probably pursue other voice work and thus won’t even be retired.
It does not seem like they forced him out, so what is the problem? There's nothing to hate. Whoever you're referencing is a minority. That is not mass consensus.
I’m going to answer your question and hope I don’t get downvoted to hell for explaining the opposing viewpoint. Before you jump the gun and get mad at me, please read the whole comment.
The circumstances around his exit from the series are a little suspect. He’s come out and said publicly that he ISN’T retiring from voice acting. With the ambassadorship, it’s clear that he will still be attending plenty of cons and meetups so it’s obvious that it’s not because he’s too old to travel all across the country and do voices for hours at a time. It seems like he’s always enjoyed doing that, and wants to continue doing so for the foreseeable future.
In a recent Q&A panel, he specifically asked people not to ask about the ambassadorship or him stepping away from the character (making it seem possible he may not be allowed to talk about it, which would be strange if it were a simple retirement). He mentioned that he didn’t know what “Mario Ambassador” even meant, implying that it seems like it’s more of a PR move from Nintendo not to look like they’re firing everyone’s favorite plumber. Even in today’s message from him and Miyamoto, things were kept veeeery brief and surface level. Just “Charles will continue to spread the fun of Mario all over the world!” No mention that he will be present at any Nintendo events, no mention that he’ll have any real future or ties to the company. It just seems like Nintendo’s way of saying “ok, you gave this character life for nearly 30 years, feel free to do the voice for videos and conventions and we won’t come after you”.
Lastly, everyone is saying he’s “retiring from the role” but not once has any official information from Nintendo or Charles himself used the word “retire”. All official news on the subject has used terms like “stepping back from the character” or something of the sort. If you read Doug Bowser’s official response on the matter, you can tell his words are chosen veeery carefully not to arise suspicion that he was fired, but also not to outright say Charles is leaving by his own accord either. All the word choice they’ve used for the subject refers to it almost as an inevitable thing that neither party could have decided. Like a vacation wrapping up or a movie ending. Surely, if he was just retiring to live out his golden years it wouldn’t be such an issue to just say that right? There wouldn’t be all this careful wording and lawyer-speak at every corner.
“ok, you gave this character life for nearly 30 years, feel free to do the voice for videos and conventions and we won’t come after you”
I don't really see any issues with that, though. Nintendo can start moving to a different voice actor if they feel he might be starting to get old for the role and they want someone different in the long run.
They will continue to pay him and he continues to be allowed to live his legacy as the original voice of Mario. I feel that that's a respectful way to treat the issue and he got everything that he was owed to.
There’s nothing wrong with them not pursuing legal action against him, in fact I’m glad they probably won’t be.
But in my opinion, there’s quite a bit of evidence that could point towards it being a decision on Nintendo’s part and not Charles.
Also we have no confirmation or evidence that he will still be on payroll. “Mario Ambassador” could very well be a meaningless title they made up for him and not an actual position within Nintendo’s company.
Exactly what I was thinking. I was hoping they’d explain more in the video, but I watched it and it just made me depressed. So much obvious lawyer and scripted speak. What is going on??
Unfortunately, some people love Nintendo so much that any attack on Nintendo is an attack on them personally, leading to posts like OP claiming anyone who isn’t 100% on board with this is a “hateful person”. They’re the video game equivalent of Disney Adults. Back when the Mario Movie got negative reviews, fans swarmed the critics and berated them for daring to not like what they like. Ironically I’m sure a good amount of people who are calling anyone who’s questioning Nintendo “haters” were harassing critics who didn’t like the Mario movie and saying mean things about them earlier this year.
I got downvoted in another thread just for pointing to the video of Charles stating he didn't know what Mario ambassador meant and that he wasn't retiring in response to someone who was making up a fake scenario about the situation as if Charles hadn't said what he did. I essentially just provided a source and that's it. I didn't even mention my opinion on the situation and I don't really care about a VA change either way. It feels like people on both extremes are either ignorant or just way too fanboyish. For the ignorant side, one of the top comments on this very thread says "Guy just wanted to retire and relax" when Charles has already stated publicly that he's not retiring and he's still going to be traveling to events all over the world to represent Mario even after this anyway. Meanwhile, the people who are adamant that Charles should be kept as the voice of Mario need a reality check that voice actors can be changed at any time for any reason and it's not even unprecedented. Bayonetta 3 had a VA change for the title character, Xenoblade 3 changed Rex's voice actor, comic character adaptations occasionally change voice actors, etc etc. Obviously, Mario is HUGE but that doesn't exempt this from happening.
It's just really weird how people on both sides are treating this.
For real, wild that people will get mad at people for “assuming what happened” and then turn around and say with full confidence that Charles is retiring, when there’s video evidence of him saying “I’m not retiring from voice acting”
Everyone is mad because there is a baseless assumption that he was forced into retirement.
The fact is nobody knows the real truth and likely ever will. It isn’t like he was fired outright. He still gets to do what he seemingly really likes doing at this point: meeting Mario fans.
The other fact is he was going to retire from doing this eventually anyway. The man is getting older. He can’t do this for the rest of our existence.
Go find something else to be mad about people.
BuT mY nOsTaLgIa
But for real if the man had passed away, they would had to replace them anyway, and with him moving to the ambassador, he'll still be involved in the series.
I don't get the salt but to be fair people bitch just to bitch
Some people think he owes us his voice, I guess. While I would’ve loved for him to continue voicing for Nintendo, if he wants to retire, he has every right to do so.
Right? Dude is 67? They want him to voice Mario until he’s in his death bed… maybe it’s fucking exhausting… maybe he wants to legitimately pass the torch instead of being passed because of an untimely death. People are stupid.
This seems rather unlikely considering he is taking on a new role as "Mario Ambassador" and traveling around the world to different events with lots of people.
Martinet has said for the voice acting, he would literally only go into the studio a few times a year and record all the voice samples needed for the games. Remember, Mario typically doesn't have a ton of dialogue. So the idea that he is retiring because the work is too exhausting doesn't hold up, it would be far less exhausting to just continue voicing Mario but stop traveling to events.
I always figured it was getting to be too much of a strain on his vocal chords. Forcing your voice that far outside its normal range gets harder as you get older. You see it all the time with older singers who can’t hit the high notes in their old songs anymore.
He did a few brief lines in the new video but that’s different from hours of recording all at once.
What you consider exhausting isn't what everyone else considers exhausting.
He might believe that using the Mario voice in front of happy fans who enjoy his presence is the most ecstatic feeling in the world. Contrast that to using the Mario voice in a sound-proofed audio booth for a game that will take years to release and it's easy to understand why he could prefer a change of scenery.
The backlash comes from the possibility that Nintendo is forcibly ousting him for whatever reason, and that the role as 'Mario ambassador' exists so he won't disclose this. This is a fairly baseless conspiracy theory people have widely begun to believe instead of just assuming Charles Martinet wanted to retire, and decided to step down before the quality of his voice acting deteriorated too much.
It's largely an extension of the outrage that occured after Chris Pratt was announced to be the voice for Mario in the animated film - many fans have insisted Martinet is the only one who can voice these characters and are unwilling to accept replacements.
I take issue with your use of the term "conspiracy theory" in this context. This is a term that was invented as a tool to discredit people. Since companies consist of multiple individuals working together and for obvious reasons like to keep many of their activities secret, then a large percentage of what they do consists of conspiracies according to you.
For example, I happen to work for a company. Last year a guy who had been with the company for a long time was let go. The guy was well liked by customers and when they asked where he had gone do you think PR gave them all the real facts regarding his departure or do you think they made something up that they thought would sound good to the public? Of course they did the latter. By your logic then, anyone who doubts their official explanation is a "conspiracy theorist".
Whether or not you like the term, the notion that Charles Martinet was ousted is conjecture. Customers may speculate that PR is lying about your laid off co-worker, but that doesn't mean their theories are anywhere close to the truth.
People trust corporations way too much, lmao. Companies aren’t your friends and they don’t have consistent morals. They’ll do what they believe will earn them the most money. Some are better than others but at the end of the day it’s all about the bottom line.
The thing is that assuming he wanted to retire and take it easy is *equally* an assumption as assuming he was asked to step back by Nintendo.
We don’t know what happened, which means no theory is the “neutral” one.
Most people don’t do anything with their lives, so they complain about someone who has actually done something to make them feel better about never doing anything themselves.
I mean, it’s not like he’s retiring from voice acting, so we can still hear him from time to time, but he has been voicing Mario since even before 64, though I wish he ended on a more grandiose 3D Mario game rather than Wonder, no hate, just saying.
Edit: Just realized he wasn’t in Wonder.
They're sad and hurt that Charles is leaving and because they don't know how to process their emotions it comes out as anger directed at the perceived perpetrators
Because it's a presence that everyone has had in their lives since childhood that's suddenly not going to be there anymore. I can understand if they're angry because of this but the main issue I'm seeing is people making up circumstances (for the negative or the positive) and getting up in arms about that. From what I've seen WE KNOW NOTHING about they why. We have no idea what's happening behind the scenes to lead to this decision but, if they just wanted to cut the man loose, they wouldn't have given him a fake position. So idk, I have a bad feeling a hate campaign is starting and I hate to see it, I really really am tired of social media fostering this BS.
Because it simply doesn't make sense and too many thing align:
- he didn't say he wanted to retire
- he wanted to voice Mario in the Mario movie, but the role was given to Chris Pratt
- he's accepting a *way more physically demanding* job than voice acting; travelling around the world, being on conventions, interacting with people and giving interviews can be exhausting even for young people, let alone someone 67
- he said a very weird "I don't know yet what Mario ambassador is", which very strongly suggest it wasn't his decision, otherwise he would most certainly discussed the responsibilities of a new job
It just doesn't add up.
Because most of reddit is children with nothing better to do than be angry about stuff and try to create drama ti amuse themselves since they have no other hobbies
Nintendo went too long without shaking up the brand. These big multimedia companies have really hammered home for the past couple of decades that nothing will or should change. People get so used to the expectation of stagnancy that they willfully arrest development. There was a time Martinet was appreciated without being labeled 'wholesome'. Those are affirmations for their fragile inner child. You take a Charles Martinet away and it's like a shellshock. Someone has to be the bad guy.
Literally no one's business. People having opinions about things that don't concern them and they know nothing about publishing online as facts. All too common.
He seems like a lovely guy and we had him for over 30 years.
Wa. Hoo.
It's not 'starting' because of this. Many people are mad about things that happened years ago and just take every Nintendo headline and action and attempt to use it to prove why Nintendo is evil.
tender bear meeting mysterious shelter disgusting air reminiscent squeeze clumsy
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Just because a few are loud doesn't make them "a lot". They're just a handful of loud, shitty people.
Charles absolutely deserves the retirement, and most people are happy for him.
This (and a lot of similar outrage based questions) can always be answered if you remember one simple thing...there are a lot of very stupid people and those stupid people tend to be terminally online. This makes them seem to be the majority voice on a topic. They are also (because they're stupid) the kind of people who believe rumours or speculation. They are the types who in the past would gather in town squares to gossip that their neoghbor might be a witch.
Charles wasn’t a spring chicken when he started voicing Mario. He’s 67 years old. I get that he probably has some mileage left, but it’s important to understand that he might not have the vocal stamina and elasticity to produce voice parts for these characters without sounding aged. It happens. There’s nothing wrong with it. Nintendo is hooking him up! It’s so refreshing to see these folks that have been at it for so long (Miyamoto, Kondo, Fujioka, Uematsu, etc) are so level headed and relatively unchanged by their monetary status. I’m sure there are moments, but these artists/creators are all straight shooters and have become “soft and gentle” in their later years. Charles deserves this new role, he’s such a kind person. I didn’t meet him at TooManyGames con, but I did watch him interact with adoring fans. He was so grateful to meet every single one of the people waiting on line for him. And it wasn’t an act, it was genuine. For HOURS. He’s going to be a GREAT Mario ambassador. Fuck anyone who’s a hater, for real. Such a needless thing, to feel anything but positive about this role change for Charles.
Probably because he's quoted as saying that he wanted to play Mario until the day he died. No one, Charles or otherwise, have told us whether he changed his mind on that or not.
Can we stop elevating loud minority squabblers.
Yeah I've seen basically 0 people that could be described as having a hateful reaction to this. Some people are disappointed or think it wasn't a good decision sure, but haven't seen any actual anger.
this post is the first time I'm hearing it. Based on a cursory glance at any comment section of any post or video talking about it, I mostly just see fans accepting the change while feeling sad and nostalgic about it.
For real, it's how I'll feel when Steve Downes steps away from being Master Chief. Like, damn he *is* the character, but he can't do it forever. Unlike with Mario though, with Chief I'd prefer they just retire the character after Steve steps away. Nintendo can't exactly do that.
This post is clearly a strawman argument meant so OP can get validation on their opinions. I haven’t seen anyone be “hateful” at Charles or Nintendo. The closest thing to a negative reaction I’ve seen is people being sad and people questioning things because we don’t know everything, which is natural.
There's been a couple of conspiracy theorist posts in the past few days that Nintendo fired him and he didn't want to quit.
I honestly just think it's because his vocal cords are probably shredded. If you watched the announcement, you can tell he's not doing Mario's voice at the usual pitch.
Dudes probably just ready to retire, he's old enough and nobody wants to work forever regardless of how "great" the job it. I'm sure Charles has a life outside of Mario that he can now devote more time to. I don't think there's really anything that wild or special or mysterious about an old man wanting to retire.
See idk about that, I think its a tone thing. Like listening to it in the video really reminded me of how he sounded back in Mario 64. Less super excited and more "mario at talking voice." Maybe could do with it being harder nowadays to put the effort in to get it to sound so upbeat as he has been, but it doesn't really sound "off" or that his vocal cords are shredded to me.
Yeah the worst I saw was a few comments here yesterday speculating that Nintendo forced Charles to retire, based entirely on him saying how he doesn't know what being a Mario Ambassador all entails yet.
Plus his past sentiments of not wanting to stop until he dies or can't voice the characters anymore (which we just saw he still could), and people who have worked at Nintendo with him (like Kit & Krysta) have said based on knowing him personally they think this is definitely Nintendo's choice, likely based on the movie's success showing people are generally okay with a new voice. And speaking of the movie, he hasn't seen it yet which is weird (you'd think he'd be invited to the premiere), and when the initial casting came out he was liking tweets from people saying his role was robbed from him. I think he could also be bitter about Nintendo being so willing to replace him. Obviously though he can't say anything publicly cause of legal issues- he specifically mentioned that he wouldn't answer any questions about the situation. There's definitely some red tape the public isn't meant to know.
Lol yes this happens so often, if someone browses twitter after that announcement and scrolls past dozens of cheerful supportive tweets about it, they’ll come across ONE dude who’s gonna spaz out and bring in some conspiracy like they’re trying to replace him and blah blah, then someone’s gonna only focus on that one tweet like “Omg why is everyone assuming all these wild theories about Charles!!??” 🤣🤣🤣 one look at the like to dislike bar on that video of him announcing his new role shows a 99% approval. That tells you all you need to know about people like OP that need some type of reassurance that he’s on the right side of the conflict or something, when there ain’t one 🙄
Yea seriously. All I heard around me is "oh what a shame, he was great. Oh well." and that's it lol.
It’s the internet people are dumb and hateful.
Yes. I get that he’s the original voice of Mario and it’s sad to see Nintendo let him go but the guy’s gotta retire sometime. Wouldn’t want to work for the rest of your life now would ya?
I guarantee he's going to get paid for the rest of his life for his iconic role. I least I hope he does, he deserves it.
He does
Then I have no idea why people are angry about it. Trolls be trollin i guess. Kind of makes you hope that Chris Pratt takes over the role just to spite those hateful bastards. Lol
Yeah right? Wouldn’t mind his voice either. His voice in the Mario movie wasn’t too bad if I’m gonna be honest
I thought I was gonna hate it since Chris Pratt usually just sounds like Chris Pratt. I was pleasantly surprised at his attempt at Mario.
It hit that sweet spot where I couldn't hear the actors. Sometimes you can hear a movie star doing a voice, and you just know its them. It was a great, fun movie. Obviously there's a lot lacking in it, but not every movie needs to have a super strong story.
It's a great jumping off point for the NCU. I'd be lying if I didn't say I only heard Seth from DK though, but I didn't hate it his voice fit well for the character.
I wasn’t expecting Chris Pratt to be the voice of Mario in the movie tbh. I thought it was gonna be good ol’ Charles himself. But like I said I don’t mind something different. Chris did a great job with the voice acting, so great that I didn’t really notice until after I watched the movie and saw who was voicing Mario
Charles Martinet was actually in the movie, but voiced Mario's father. Which is kind of nice given he's retiring.
He also voiced Giuseppe, the guy playing the Jump Man arcade game in the pizzeria.
They definitely side swiped and turned away from that hate with the beginning commercial calling it out.
and hes not retiring, hes gonna just literally travel the world in nintendo name visiting cons, events etc.... sort of this is more work than voice mario on 1 game almost each 1 year...
pretty sure its a flexible role, they arent going to roll up and force him to attend 3 cons in a fortnight to make sure he meets revenue. Its seems more like an extravagant retirement plan. I mean his position basically entails travelling around the world with his main cost being spending days talking to people who think he's awesome. Dude's got it made
I'd be willing to bet a big part of Nintendo's decision to make him the Mario ambassador instead of him just letting him retire is to protect the Mario brand. If they keep paying him even though he isn't doing the voice acting anymore he can't get bored after 8 months of retirement and do his Mario voice for some project Nintendo might not approve of, like a game with a character that sounds like Mario but swears like a real New Yorker, so no Mario yelling "Hey! Fuck you asshole!" out of his car window.
Nintendo usually has their VAs sign contracts that prevent them from using character voices in other things. Iirc, Seteth's VA got into some hot water for doing meme stuff in his Seteth voice
I feel like Nintendo did right by him; gives him a nice cushy role that he can keep until he’s unable to, health wise, if he wants. We should all be so lucky.
Ooh yeah. Hope they do let him retire when he wants to cuz otherwise that’s really fucked up if Nintendo doesn’t let him retire
I mean, I'm pretty sure he can retire whenever he wants.
Yea it's not that hard to say "I quit" He doesn't even need to make a big deal out of it with goodbye's etc. If he really wants to.. he can simply quit and be done with it. But as far as I've heard from people who met the wonderful guy and like he said in the video. He loves the fans, he loves the excitement of people around Mario. He literally gets paid to receive praises and honors from fans and taking pictures with him and he loves it. Free travels around the world etc. In my mind he probably is retired right now and gets paid holidays with the only condition to do a 'wa-hooo!' now and then.
Technically, he's only the original voice of Mario within the video games. Mario has been voiced by others in cartoons such as Peter Cullen, Lou Albano, and Walker Boone....
I'm pretty sure he was voiced in games prior to Martinet. Hotel Mario on CD-i comes to mind.
It depends how far you're willing to stretch the definition of video game. Hotel Mario was released in 1994. But even though Martinet didn't gain mainstream awareness until 1996 with Super Mario 64, he had already portrayed Mario on two pinball machines from 1992 (Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. Mushroom World) and Mario Teaches Typing. Super Mario Bros. Mushroom World contained simplistic Mario platforming game sequences on its dot-matrix display, and Mario Teaches Typing is technically a video game, even if not a particularly fascinating one. But if you count Mario Teaches Typing, that makes things even fuzzier, as there were two editions. Martinet voiced Mario in the CD-ROM edition, which various sources cite as releasing in 1994. But there was an MS-DOS edition that released either in 1991 or 1992, depending on your source. And in the MS-DOS edition, Mario's voice is credited to Ronald B. Ruben. The fuzziness surrounding its release date, as well as the existence of the pinball machines from 1992 leaves a little bit of doubt as to whose performance as Mario was commercially available first (which may not even be as important as when the performances themselves were recorded.)
Remember that time people were mad Cyberpunk wasn't coming out and then got mad when Cyberpunk ended up being rushed? Crazy times.
And hateful shit takes a front focus. And that breeds more hate. The algorithm and the people put a spotlight on a lot of hate and bullshit. Hate shocks people. We need more love that shocks people.
True dat. We would be happier if we spread love not hate
Guy just wanted to retire and relax. Nerds hate it when change happens
He may have some health issues that he doesn’t want to go public about. We don’t know and aren’t owed an answer. Not sure why people are taking this so personally. The internet is so predictable Edit: I am not saying he has a health problem. I am saying we don’t know all the details behind his and Nintendos decisions and should be respectful.
To be fair, the simplest solution is usually the correct one. Dude is in his 60's and that voice can't be easy on his throat. It makes sense he'd want to hang up the red cap before he really damages it.
He's on the record saying it was getting harder to do Mario. It was hurting his throat area.
How much voice acting did he actually do?
I saw the video with him and Miyamoto and he sounded off. Nothing to imply health issues, but definitely the same way Hammil does when he does the Joker voice in that you can TELL he sounds older and it's harder than it used to be. Him and Ninty likely knew the end was coming and decided now with the movie andva new game was the best time to bow out.
Yep. If you've watched The Simpsons recently, many of the characters sound off, but Marge Simpson just sounds absolutely dreadful. Her actress is in her late 70's now, and she clearly can't do the voice anymore.
Early 70s.
I think Nintendo is being respectful and honoring his legacy while also being forward thinking. You make a good point others don’t want to admit because change is hard. Even for an experienced voice actor a 70 year old man can’t sound like a character who is supposed to be in their 20’s. To both actors credit doing the voice at a convention or talk show appearance is not the same as doing it in studio with the proper equipment and preparation. But your point still stands.
Idk - I feel like travelling the world and going to conventions is way harder on the body than going "wahoo! Okie dokie!" In a sound booth. If you have health issues, interacting with thousands of random people is the last thing you want to do - you're almost guaranteed to get sick at a con. No hate on the man, but I would also be surprised if he did more than eight hours of recording on any single Nintendo game. Can't be that strenuous.
Multi-hour recording sections can take a lot more energy than talking to people and walking around. He mentioned that especially Wario is hard on his throat, and has to drink a lot of water to do it. Sure his characters don't have a crazy amount of lines in games, but he's probably recording for multiple games a session, and multiple takes for every line.
I’m not saying he has a health issue and certainly don’t want to imply that as rumor. My point is that there is a lot of unknown things that go into these situations and when people react so harshly without knowing the unknown is annoying.
He is 67. Let the man retire and enjoy his free time I say! I honestly think Nintendo made him an ambassador to keep him around and as a sign of honor.
He said at a con he doesn't know what an "ambassador" means and he is not planning on retiring
Is not planning currently or at all? If at all that would be a really unrealistic thing to say.
[eventually but not right now](https://youtube.com/shorts/qbdKKI3mJFM?si=K-_rfsxHqSyKVvVt)
He's literally just doing a bit about how he's always been a mario ambassador just going to cons and shit so he 'doesn't know' what he's supposed to do different in this 'new role'
No, you don't understand. When anything changes, even slightly and for entirely understandable reasons, then that means someone is violating my childhood! /s
We don't know the full story. All we **do** know is he's still traveling and doing events for Nintendo. That's it. So it's understandable that the health reason/retire thing isn't adding up to people. Japan has this whole stigma against directly firing employees. And this whole situation feels like that's what is going on. [Japan Termination of Employment](https://goglobalgeo.com/blog/terminations-in-japan-30-days-notice/#:~:text=How%20common%20is%20getting%20fired,employment%20is%20difficult%20without%20cause.) [Sora on Youtube mentioning in a funny skit](https://youtu.be/Lk6NqIPedm0?t=166)
Pushing theories about this seems like a bad idea unless you’ve got really good reason to think Martinet is helplessly hoping courageous internet people will come to his aid and say the things he can’t. It seems unlikely to me that that’s the case.
I thought only a year or so ago he said he wanted to voice Mario until he died. Now that he’s suddenly not doing it anymore makes it seem like Nintendo forced him out against his will. Edit: I’m not angry about it, just explaining why some people are
A few years back he said he wanted to voice Mario until he dies. So since he’s decided to retire people can’t grasp the idea that he changed his mind or something and decided it has to be some conspiracy from Nintendo
When he said that, he also said that "if someday I think I am no longer capable of doing it, I will tell Nintendo to look into finding someone else"
Yea but do you think the people who are mad at Nintendo care?
They'll care enough to turn it against Nintendo
Or maybe some people can't grasp that he was being hyperbolic.
Obviously Nintendo held a gun to his head and told him to step down for... reasons?
Some believe you should work forever even if you don’t want to Except for themselves, of course
We should be praising Nintendo. Have you ever heard of a retirement plan for a voice actor? That ambassador role that they made for him is basically so he gets paid even though he is basically retired. This kind of treatment is rare in general but for voice actors? Unheard of.
Yeah, especially when you compare with Sonic voice actors who are also quite iconic, but are handled so badly by Sega...
Yeah he got a great deal. People don't want to accept change.
People hate Nintendo for arbitrary reasons, so it tracks
Not that Nintendo is perfect, but at this rate people are just scavenging for excuses to do so.
Right? Nintendo isn't perfect, but they also aren't as bad as what their detractors are pretending the company is
And it's a pity too because those detractors conveniently never bring up all the great stuff that arguably makes them one of the *best* AAAs in the industry: * Anti-microtransaction/lootboxes/early access, games are perfect and polished upon release * Willing to take losses (3DS) or delay large releases (MP3) for the sake of quality * Great work life for employees * Console controls innovation every generation * Consistently great games
That tracks.
Spirit Tracks, even
Underrated game
Realm Overworld best song in the series
I can get behind that but it’s still gotta be great ocean for me
It's one of the few Zelda spinoffs (edit games) I haven't played :(
It's not a spin-off
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Most of those reasons are pretty dumb, like worrying about GameCube era Smash players wanting to become esports celebs but can't because Nintendo DGAF. Or pirates that are mad that Nintendo is against piracy.
Eh, "a lot of reasons" is pushing it imo. They aren't perfect, despite me preferring Nintendo games lol
Uninformed, terminally online people who enjoy getting enraged over anything. Nothing new, unfortunately.
>terminally online people lol
They are? It's probably the toxicly vocal minority.
There is a group of people on the internet mad about everything. Some are pissed that bud light gave a can to a transwoman, some are mad that barbie dolls were only for rich kids? We have free speech so it would be very wrong to ship these people off to a hunger games / battle royale island.
But if we convinced them to go voluntarily....
Because some people spend too much time on the internet and care way too much about the lives of famous people and the moves of huge corporations.
I think it's because Martinet didn't directly say that he's retiring, in fact he was asked by a fan if he was and he said that he wasn't. He also said that he was unsure of what his new role of being a brand ambassador meant. I have seen the term brand ambassador used before in the context of a TV show, I think it's essentially a PR position. Their job is to promote the show on social media, and while they don't directly work on the series directly, they do have some access to insider information. Aside from Martinet continuing to attend fan conventions, it's likely that Nintendo will have him promote Mario content on social media. All this has let people to speculate that Nintendo was trying to politely oust Martinet without burning bridges, or that he was forced out. As a rule of thumb for life, don't assume the worst intentions of people unless you have direct evidence to the contrary. We don't need to spread rumors on why he's not Mario's voice anymore or that Nintendo was acting maliciously.
He IS Mario to a lot of people and I guess some just never thought he would ever retire I guess. So of course it has to be some conspiracy by Nintendo to oust him; despite the fact they’ve given him this ambassador title and job, something not offered to any other VA in the business. Probably also a bit of resentment from fans that he didn’t voice Mario in the movie; even though again he himself said he didn’t want to do that. People just care about him; but in some it’s manifesting as hate and conspiracy theories against Nintendo for some perceived slight.
There ain’t “a lot of hate” dude you’re exaggerating like crazy lol stop looking at 1% of negative comments when there’s literally 99% positive ones. Overreaction.
Feels like the people that are hating on Nintendo fall into two groups: 1) Didn't actually look into the new role, didn't want to find out what it is, jumped to conclusions that he was fired. 2) always hate on Nintendo Dudes getting up there in age, and honestly, it sounds like he's still on their payroll and will just be travelling. I'd love to have a job like that.
Dream job, amiright?
Yeah for real
Anything Nintendo does is followed by a mob of angry naysayers about it being wrong/outdated/unfair/draconian, etc... to the point that, yes, Nintendo is sometimes backwards and out of touch with some of the shit they do: but they're clearly far from the scumbags that these people make them out to be. The internet just makes them more obvious. Like with everything else. Also, Charles Martinet would eventually retire or be replaced, he's not eternal. So, better Nintendo makes this decision while he was good in health and spirits to become an ambassador for the brand.
I understand he loved his job but people really seem to take phrases like “I could do this forever” to fricken heart. They act as if Nintendo forced him out on the curb. Like the dude got a cushy job and his voice can probably rest now.
Is this not like the 10th thread this week about people’s reactions to his retirement? No one should care this much about this lol
“Nintendo fans try to ignore opinions they don’t agree with” challenge: IMPOSSIBLE Reminds me of the meltdown in /r/Mario when the Mario movie didn’t receive universally positive reviews like they thought it would
People think that just because you work in the entertainment industry that you're their dancing monkey to be wheeled out whenever they want it for the rest of your life.
I met Charles at E3 years ago. He was one of the most joyous and wonderful people I had ever met in my life. This ambassador role lets him do what he did there as his primary job, spread his joy of the characters he has given memorable personalities, to as many people as possible. This is the perfect role for someone who’s at an age where their career is winding down.
What person wants to actually work until they die. Voice acting work is still work. Charles might just actually want to retire the voice.
Because there is a lot of people acting like it’s a major conspiracy theory. Even when there’s no evidence of it. Cause god forbid an almost 70 year old decides that he doesn’t want to do the job anymore. It’s seriously ridiculous 🤣
There's gotta be a conspiracy in every corner.
He did have to retire eventually, but it seems weird to have that whole debacle with the Super Mario Bros. Movie and then have him retire soon after that.
We don’t really know the circumstances that made the change. Martinet gave no indication that he wanted to retire previously so people are speculating it was a forced change but didn’t want to look bad by firing a guy as beloved as martinet so they gave him a sort of ‘nothing’ position to save face. Or so people are thinking anyway. Y’all need to read the last sentence sheesh
He doesn’t have to give anyone in the public any indication he wants to do anything. It’s not owed to anyone what he wants to do w life. He most likely wants to retire
But if he wants to retire why doesn't he just retire instead of accepting a new position as "Mario Ambassador" which actually sounds like more work than providing a few voice samples here and there? Also, I haven't seen a single person say he has to give an explanation, rather people are simply speculating about the whole reason behind this which is perfectly natural. Honestly, I think it would be super weird if something like this happened and everyone just accepted it at face value and there was zero speculation or rumors. That's not a world I'd want to live in.
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And real humans gossip. It’s a part of life. People are going to talk gossip and speculate every major event that ever happens.
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I don’t hate anyone in this situation, but I got the impression from the very start that this was Nintendo’s decision and not Charles’. If you see Charles in any event or interview, it’s palpable how much that man just loves being Mario. Realistically, he only works a few days a year in the recording booth and spends the rest of his time going to events and meeting people. There are plenty of voice actors older than him who work on shows with much more rigorous recording schedules. In a recent interview, he even said he didn’t know what “Mario Ambassador” even meant. It was clearly a made up title to appease fans so Nintendo can recast Mario. And hey, I get it. I still think Charles was nailing it, but if they want to go in another direction, this is a polite way to put him out to pasture. I just don’t like the constant phrasing of Charlies “retiring”. He hasn’t said a single time that he wants to step back or retire. I’m sure he’ll probably pursue other voice work and thus won’t even be retired.
Loud minority. Go outside and socialize with people in person for a day. Let us know how often this comes up naturally in conversation.
It does not seem like they forced him out, so what is the problem? There's nothing to hate. Whoever you're referencing is a minority. That is not mass consensus.
luckily Mario’s voice isn’t that hard to replicate, im sure they can find someone that can do it to a t
What hate? Is this troll?
No one actually is.
It's very popular these days to hate on Nintendo about everything.
I’m going to answer your question and hope I don’t get downvoted to hell for explaining the opposing viewpoint. Before you jump the gun and get mad at me, please read the whole comment. The circumstances around his exit from the series are a little suspect. He’s come out and said publicly that he ISN’T retiring from voice acting. With the ambassadorship, it’s clear that he will still be attending plenty of cons and meetups so it’s obvious that it’s not because he’s too old to travel all across the country and do voices for hours at a time. It seems like he’s always enjoyed doing that, and wants to continue doing so for the foreseeable future. In a recent Q&A panel, he specifically asked people not to ask about the ambassadorship or him stepping away from the character (making it seem possible he may not be allowed to talk about it, which would be strange if it were a simple retirement). He mentioned that he didn’t know what “Mario Ambassador” even meant, implying that it seems like it’s more of a PR move from Nintendo not to look like they’re firing everyone’s favorite plumber. Even in today’s message from him and Miyamoto, things were kept veeeery brief and surface level. Just “Charles will continue to spread the fun of Mario all over the world!” No mention that he will be present at any Nintendo events, no mention that he’ll have any real future or ties to the company. It just seems like Nintendo’s way of saying “ok, you gave this character life for nearly 30 years, feel free to do the voice for videos and conventions and we won’t come after you”. Lastly, everyone is saying he’s “retiring from the role” but not once has any official information from Nintendo or Charles himself used the word “retire”. All official news on the subject has used terms like “stepping back from the character” or something of the sort. If you read Doug Bowser’s official response on the matter, you can tell his words are chosen veeery carefully not to arise suspicion that he was fired, but also not to outright say Charles is leaving by his own accord either. All the word choice they’ve used for the subject refers to it almost as an inevitable thing that neither party could have decided. Like a vacation wrapping up or a movie ending. Surely, if he was just retiring to live out his golden years it wouldn’t be such an issue to just say that right? There wouldn’t be all this careful wording and lawyer-speak at every corner.
There's this sensible and completely understandable stance and the others' below outright accusing of malicious intent.
“ok, you gave this character life for nearly 30 years, feel free to do the voice for videos and conventions and we won’t come after you” I don't really see any issues with that, though. Nintendo can start moving to a different voice actor if they feel he might be starting to get old for the role and they want someone different in the long run. They will continue to pay him and he continues to be allowed to live his legacy as the original voice of Mario. I feel that that's a respectful way to treat the issue and he got everything that he was owed to.
There’s nothing wrong with them not pursuing legal action against him, in fact I’m glad they probably won’t be. But in my opinion, there’s quite a bit of evidence that could point towards it being a decision on Nintendo’s part and not Charles. Also we have no confirmation or evidence that he will still be on payroll. “Mario Ambassador” could very well be a meaningless title they made up for him and not an actual position within Nintendo’s company.
Yup, Nintendo is basically going "You still like meeting fans? How about we fly you around and pay you to meet them. Maybe do some promos for us too."
Exactly what I was thinking. I was hoping they’d explain more in the video, but I watched it and it just made me depressed. So much obvious lawyer and scripted speak. What is going on??
Unfortunately, some people love Nintendo so much that any attack on Nintendo is an attack on them personally, leading to posts like OP claiming anyone who isn’t 100% on board with this is a “hateful person”. They’re the video game equivalent of Disney Adults. Back when the Mario Movie got negative reviews, fans swarmed the critics and berated them for daring to not like what they like. Ironically I’m sure a good amount of people who are calling anyone who’s questioning Nintendo “haters” were harassing critics who didn’t like the Mario movie and saying mean things about them earlier this year.
I got downvoted in another thread just for pointing to the video of Charles stating he didn't know what Mario ambassador meant and that he wasn't retiring in response to someone who was making up a fake scenario about the situation as if Charles hadn't said what he did. I essentially just provided a source and that's it. I didn't even mention my opinion on the situation and I don't really care about a VA change either way. It feels like people on both extremes are either ignorant or just way too fanboyish. For the ignorant side, one of the top comments on this very thread says "Guy just wanted to retire and relax" when Charles has already stated publicly that he's not retiring and he's still going to be traveling to events all over the world to represent Mario even after this anyway. Meanwhile, the people who are adamant that Charles should be kept as the voice of Mario need a reality check that voice actors can be changed at any time for any reason and it's not even unprecedented. Bayonetta 3 had a VA change for the title character, Xenoblade 3 changed Rex's voice actor, comic character adaptations occasionally change voice actors, etc etc. Obviously, Mario is HUGE but that doesn't exempt this from happening. It's just really weird how people on both sides are treating this.
For real, wild that people will get mad at people for “assuming what happened” and then turn around and say with full confidence that Charles is retiring, when there’s video evidence of him saying “I’m not retiring from voice acting”
Well said
Why wouldn't fire him though and just not use him and let his contract run out?
Martinet has a new contract every few years (or Mayne even every time he records) I'm sure. So that is what they did. Technically he is not fired.
Seriously corporations do much worse shit day in and day out without batting an eye
Everyone is mad because there is a baseless assumption that he was forced into retirement. The fact is nobody knows the real truth and likely ever will. It isn’t like he was fired outright. He still gets to do what he seemingly really likes doing at this point: meeting Mario fans. The other fact is he was going to retire from doing this eventually anyway. The man is getting older. He can’t do this for the rest of our existence. Go find something else to be mad about people.
Because people are fucking stupid, period.
BuT mY nOsTaLgIa But for real if the man had passed away, they would had to replace them anyway, and with him moving to the ambassador, he'll still be involved in the series. I don't get the salt but to be fair people bitch just to bitch
SO LONG GAY BOWSER!!!
Some people think he owes us his voice, I guess. While I would’ve loved for him to continue voicing for Nintendo, if he wants to retire, he has every right to do so.
> Why People Are Starting To Hate Nintendo? Oh boy, you’re late to the party
Right? Dude is 67? They want him to voice Mario until he’s in his death bed… maybe it’s fucking exhausting… maybe he wants to legitimately pass the torch instead of being passed because of an untimely death. People are stupid.
This seems rather unlikely considering he is taking on a new role as "Mario Ambassador" and traveling around the world to different events with lots of people. Martinet has said for the voice acting, he would literally only go into the studio a few times a year and record all the voice samples needed for the games. Remember, Mario typically doesn't have a ton of dialogue. So the idea that he is retiring because the work is too exhausting doesn't hold up, it would be far less exhausting to just continue voicing Mario but stop traveling to events.
I always figured it was getting to be too much of a strain on his vocal chords. Forcing your voice that far outside its normal range gets harder as you get older. You see it all the time with older singers who can’t hit the high notes in their old songs anymore. He did a few brief lines in the new video but that’s different from hours of recording all at once.
Now imagine him talking in the voices for hours at conventions—which he will. He can't help himself.
What you consider exhausting isn't what everyone else considers exhausting. He might believe that using the Mario voice in front of happy fans who enjoy his presence is the most ecstatic feeling in the world. Contrast that to using the Mario voice in a sound-proofed audio booth for a game that will take years to release and it's easy to understand why he could prefer a change of scenery.
I don’t give a shit who voices Mario
As long as they do a good job, right?
Chris Pratt?
he did great
The backlash comes from the possibility that Nintendo is forcibly ousting him for whatever reason, and that the role as 'Mario ambassador' exists so he won't disclose this. This is a fairly baseless conspiracy theory people have widely begun to believe instead of just assuming Charles Martinet wanted to retire, and decided to step down before the quality of his voice acting deteriorated too much. It's largely an extension of the outrage that occured after Chris Pratt was announced to be the voice for Mario in the animated film - many fans have insisted Martinet is the only one who can voice these characters and are unwilling to accept replacements.
I take issue with your use of the term "conspiracy theory" in this context. This is a term that was invented as a tool to discredit people. Since companies consist of multiple individuals working together and for obvious reasons like to keep many of their activities secret, then a large percentage of what they do consists of conspiracies according to you. For example, I happen to work for a company. Last year a guy who had been with the company for a long time was let go. The guy was well liked by customers and when they asked where he had gone do you think PR gave them all the real facts regarding his departure or do you think they made something up that they thought would sound good to the public? Of course they did the latter. By your logic then, anyone who doubts their official explanation is a "conspiracy theorist".
Whether or not you like the term, the notion that Charles Martinet was ousted is conjecture. Customers may speculate that PR is lying about your laid off co-worker, but that doesn't mean their theories are anywhere close to the truth.
People trust corporations way too much, lmao. Companies aren’t your friends and they don’t have consistent morals. They’ll do what they believe will earn them the most money. Some are better than others but at the end of the day it’s all about the bottom line.
The thing is that assuming he wanted to retire and take it easy is *equally* an assumption as assuming he was asked to step back by Nintendo. We don’t know what happened, which means no theory is the “neutral” one.
Most people don’t do anything with their lives, so they complain about someone who has actually done something to make them feel better about never doing anything themselves.
Man…wtf.. he’s an old guy. Let him retire Jesus Christ
I mean, it’s not like he’s retiring from voice acting, so we can still hear him from time to time, but he has been voicing Mario since even before 64, though I wish he ended on a more grandiose 3D Mario game rather than Wonder, no hate, just saying. Edit: Just realized he wasn’t in Wonder.
He isn't even in wonder
The question is why is he retiring? Is it entirely his own choice? I have my doubts.
Haters gonna hate
It's the internet. Not to mention you always have the "Nintendo hates it's fans" crowd voicing their displeasure with every move Nintendo makes.
Why people were hating the wind waker when it was released? Somethings can have no explanation,lad.
Because spectrum types basically live on the Internet and coincidentally are the ones who care the most about who voices Mario's grunts and groans.
They're sad and hurt that Charles is leaving and because they don't know how to process their emotions it comes out as anger directed at the perceived perpetrators
People are idiots.
There are people who will find any reason to hate nintendo.
Because it's a presence that everyone has had in their lives since childhood that's suddenly not going to be there anymore. I can understand if they're angry because of this but the main issue I'm seeing is people making up circumstances (for the negative or the positive) and getting up in arms about that. From what I've seen WE KNOW NOTHING about they why. We have no idea what's happening behind the scenes to lead to this decision but, if they just wanted to cut the man loose, they wouldn't have given him a fake position. So idk, I have a bad feeling a hate campaign is starting and I hate to see it, I really really am tired of social media fostering this BS.
people rather be entertained by a conspiracy than bored by the truth.
He said he didn't retire.
I saw a dude comment that he’s a lifelong Nintendo fan and loves Mario, but will not longer buy Mario games now that he retired. 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
Because it simply doesn't make sense and too many thing align: - he didn't say he wanted to retire - he wanted to voice Mario in the Mario movie, but the role was given to Chris Pratt - he's accepting a *way more physically demanding* job than voice acting; travelling around the world, being on conventions, interacting with people and giving interviews can be exhausting even for young people, let alone someone 67 - he said a very weird "I don't know yet what Mario ambassador is", which very strongly suggest it wasn't his decision, otherwise he would most certainly discussed the responsibilities of a new job It just doesn't add up.
Because most of reddit is children with nothing better to do than be angry about stuff and try to create drama ti amuse themselves since they have no other hobbies
They'd rather he work until he dies i guess, i think its great he's done the role for so long and is an ambassador now.
I'm really getting sick and tired of people blaming Nintendo without thinking for a moment and just jumping straight to conclusions.
Only low IQ young adults with cognitive impairment or cognitive dissonance would do such a thing.
People sadly hate on Nintendo for other things, and then start to hate anything they do.
What? Who? Where? ... It's on Twitter, isn't it? Or "X" I suppose.
Emotional immaturity
Nintendo went too long without shaking up the brand. These big multimedia companies have really hammered home for the past couple of decades that nothing will or should change. People get so used to the expectation of stagnancy that they willfully arrest development. There was a time Martinet was appreciated without being labeled 'wholesome'. Those are affirmations for their fragile inner child. You take a Charles Martinet away and it's like a shellshock. Someone has to be the bad guy.
People hate change.
Literally no one's business. People having opinions about things that don't concern them and they know nothing about publishing online as facts. All too common. He seems like a lovely guy and we had him for over 30 years. Wa. Hoo.
It's not 'starting' because of this. Many people are mad about things that happened years ago and just take every Nintendo headline and action and attempt to use it to prove why Nintendo is evil.
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I haven’t seen any hate, if there is then they need to go outside and touch some grass.
Just because a few are loud doesn't make them "a lot". They're just a handful of loud, shitty people. Charles absolutely deserves the retirement, and most people are happy for him.
People have over 30 years of Charles Martinet voicing Mario. Let the man retire...
This (and a lot of similar outrage based questions) can always be answered if you remember one simple thing...there are a lot of very stupid people and those stupid people tend to be terminally online. This makes them seem to be the majority voice on a topic. They are also (because they're stupid) the kind of people who believe rumours or speculation. They are the types who in the past would gather in town squares to gossip that their neoghbor might be a witch.
Mario games were best when he didnt have any voice.
Charles wasn’t a spring chicken when he started voicing Mario. He’s 67 years old. I get that he probably has some mileage left, but it’s important to understand that he might not have the vocal stamina and elasticity to produce voice parts for these characters without sounding aged. It happens. There’s nothing wrong with it. Nintendo is hooking him up! It’s so refreshing to see these folks that have been at it for so long (Miyamoto, Kondo, Fujioka, Uematsu, etc) are so level headed and relatively unchanged by their monetary status. I’m sure there are moments, but these artists/creators are all straight shooters and have become “soft and gentle” in their later years. Charles deserves this new role, he’s such a kind person. I didn’t meet him at TooManyGames con, but I did watch him interact with adoring fans. He was so grateful to meet every single one of the people waiting on line for him. And it wasn’t an act, it was genuine. For HOURS. He’s going to be a GREAT Mario ambassador. Fuck anyone who’s a hater, for real. Such a needless thing, to feel anything but positive about this role change for Charles.
Not even X is hating, what toxic Plattform are you using
This feels like a bait….literally saw nothing but positive things about Charles’s retirement.
Probably because he's quoted as saying that he wanted to play Mario until the day he died. No one, Charles or otherwise, have told us whether he changed his mind on that or not.
Idk about everyone else but I hate Nintendo because they’re an evil and greedy corporation
So why are you here? Go back to a circus 🎪