Internet briefly thinks it's identified Mario's new voice actor - until he says no
UPDATE: Kevin Afghani says, 'It's-a-me!'
UPDATE 13/10/23: Internet sleuths, you were so very close; the real new voice of Mario has finally been revealed, and it was indeed one of the two names left after narrowing down a leaked Super Mario Bros. Wonder cast list - just not the one everybody thought it was.
Kevin Afghani - whose previous roles include Arnold in Genshin Impact and Raditz in Dragon Ball R&R - has now confirmed he'll be providing the 'whoops' and 'wahoooooos' of Mario in Switch's upcoming Super Mario Bros. Wonder, following August's sad news that Charles Martinet would be hanging up his big red hat.
"Incredibly proud to have voiced Mario and Luigi in Super Mario Bros. Wonder.," Afghani wrote in a message confirming his casting on shared on social media. "Thanks to Nintendo for inviting me into the Flower Kingdom!"
The world will get its first proper earful of Afghani as Mario when Super Mario Bros. Wonder launches for Switch on 20th October.
ORIGINAL STORY 12/10/23: It's been a dramatic day for internet-sleuthing Mario fans; with Nintendo still tightlipped on who'll take over the role of the iconic plumber following Charles Martinet's acension to "Mario Ambassador", a fresh leak appeared to have finally revealed video gaming's current biggest secret. However, the actor in question - one Mick Wingert - has now thrown a bit of a spanner in the works by declaring that, no, it's not actually him.
To rewind a bit, all this started when (thanks VGC) an anonymous 4chan forum user shared images and details said to be from a US kiosk demo for Switch's soon-to-be-released Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Some of those images revealed previously unseen areas of the game, suggesting the leak was, in fact, legit - suddenly making an accompanying 20-strong unverified list of Mario Wonder voice actors a lot more interesting.
Now relatively sure of the list's veracity, internet sleuths began combing through the names - unhelpfully provided with no hint of the roles they're playing in-game - trying to figure out if one them might just be the new voice of Mario. To cut a long story short, after removing returning Mario series voice actors, indentifiable foreign language actors, and female actors, only two names remained: Kevin Afghani and Mick Wingert.
Sharp-eared Mario hunters soon discovered that Afgahni's online demo reel featured vocal work sounding extremely close to the English voice of the Wonder Flower. Assuming Afghani wasn't on doubling-up duties, that would just leave Wingert - who seemed perhaps the more likely candidate for a job that might also include voicing the likes of Wario, Luigi, and more, given his extensive cartoon and video game work over the years (in 2023 alone, he's appeared in Starfield, Diablo 4, and Dead Island 2).
So there we go! Mystery solved: Wingert is the new voice of Mario! Except...he says otherwise. In a statement provided to IGN, Wingert's agent revealed that while the actor is unable to confirm or deny his involvement in Mario Wonder, "he can confirm that he is NOT voicing Mario." So where does that leave us? Pretty much exactly where we started, unfortunately. Still, as they say, it's the journey and not the destination that matters - and, well, a journey has certainly been had today.
Unless there are more secrets from that mysterious kiosk demo still to be shared, it seems increasingly likely we won't have a definitive answer as to the indentity of new Mario until Super Mario Bros. Wonder's credits roll after 20th October. But, of course, that's not the only thing we have to look forward to when it arrives: Eurogamer's Christian Donlan was positively tickled by the game when he took it for a wonderfully weird spin earlier this week.