Mario's new voice actor in Super Mario Bros. Wonder has publicly shared his thanks on social media.
The new voice has been revealed to be Kevin Afghani, whose most famous role to date is that of Arnold in Genshin Impact, an event-exclusive NPC. Afghani has confirmed that he is playing both Mario and Luigi in Wonder.
Yesterday, speculation was running rife about who was playing the plumbers following a datamine of the retail demo. And it was between two names — Afghani and Mick Wingert. Many suspected it was Wingert who was taking up the role due to similarities in Afghani's and the Talking Flower's voice, but Wingert's agents yesterday denied he was playing the iconic duo. And now we know that the new voice for both of the Mario brothers is Kevin. That doesn't rule him out of playing the Talking Flower, either!
The VA took to Twitter earlier today to thank Nintendo and publicly confirm that yes, he is the voice of both Mario and Luigi.
"Incredibly proud to have voiced Mario and Luigi in Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Thanks to Nintendo for inviting me into the Flower Kingdom!"
As the new voice of the plumbers in Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Kevin Afghani has big boots to fill, but from what we've heard in the trailers and the demos we've played, we're darn impressed. Of course, it's worth noting that he's only confirmed to be playing the role in Super Mario Bros. Wonder, so we'll have to wait and see if he returns for Super Mario RPG, and wait to find out who is voicing Wario in WarioWare: Move It!.
We can't wait to hear him in the full game when Super Mario Bros. Wonder launches on 20th October. Congrats to Kevin Afghani on scoring such an iconic voice-over role.
You can hear a quick snippet of the new voice of Mario as he rides the Inchworm Pipe in the story below.