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Update: Oct. 13, 2023
It turns out a Genshin Impact voice actor is Mario’s new voice after all – but not the one we first thought. Kevin Afghani, who voiced Arnold the raven guide from the 2022 Summertime Odyssey event in Genshin Impact. Afghani is comparatively new in acting circles. His first credit was in 2020 as Spike in Anime Penguin: Red Snow, and he also voiced the Detective in two Cuphead shorts.
Incredibly proud to have voiced Mario and Luigi in Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Thanks to Nintendo for inviting me into the Flower Kingdom!
— Kevin Afghani (@KevinAfghani) October 13, 2023
Original story: Oct. 12, 2023
Some Super Mario Bros. fans think they figured out who the new Mario voice actor is, and it could be one of Genshin Impact’s voices – maybe. The news comes from a set of data mined from the Super Mario Bros. Wonder retail demo that’s currently running in some stores across the U.S., and by process of elimination, fans narrowed the candidates down to two actors (thanks, VGC).
The list includes several actor names and roles, but some of the role sections are blocked off. Assuming Nintendo didn’t cast a woman as Mario, that leaves two male voice actor candidates for the role: Mick Wingert and Kevin Afghani. Afghani sounds quite a bit like one of the talking flowers, and some of the dataminers credited him in that role as well. That leaves Mick Wingert, voice of Dottore in Genshin Impact, Koslow in Attack on Titan, and dozens of other roles in anime and video games.
Possible Mario Wonder cast leak datamined from the demo! Thanks to @/Mondo_Mega for compiling this information and posting it on Famiboards. pic.twitter.com/30oW0NYEcW
— Skipper93653 (@Skipp93653) October 12, 2023
There’s a slight catch, though. IGN’s Rebekah Valentine reached out to Wingert’s representatives, and they said “he can confirm that he is NOT voicing Mario.” Half a dozen loopholes or more exist for ways that statement could be true while Winget still voiced Mario for Wonder. Then again, Afghani could be doubling up as a flower and as the red-capped hero, or Nintendo could’ve anticipated something like this happening and intentionally left Mario’s voice actor out of the data.
Sharp fans noticed slight differences in Mario’s voice lines during the first Wonder trailer. Nintendo later announced Charles Martinet was retiring as Mario’s voice and moving into a Mario Ambassador role – a new position whose duties remain largely unknown – but the Big N didn’t say who replaced him for Wonder recording.
We won’t have long to wait until we know for sure, though. Super Mario Bros. Wonder launches on Oct. 20, 2023, for Nintendo Switch.
Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF