Charles Martinet acknowledges that he currently doesn't understand what is meant by his role as "Mario Ambassador"

Last month, Nintendo announced that Charles Martinet, who had been the voice of Mario for over 25 years, was stepping down from his voice acting role and would instead take on a new role as the Mario Ambassador.

However, as noted by Nintendo Everything at the Galaxycon event in Austin, Texas over the past weekend, Martinet mentioned during a Q&A panel that he was not entirely sure what this new role actually entailed, and he emphasized that he had not made a decision to retire.

"Now, as you may have seen in the news, I have become a Mario Ambassador," Martinet told his fans in attendance.

"I don't know what that means yet. I haven't retired, so to speak. I don't know how... but I'm an Ambassador. And as we move forward into the future, I will learn - we'll all learn - what exactly that means.

"But for now, you know, I'll be 'ambassading,' as I always am. I'm always an ambassador of Nintendo and Mario at all these events because I just cherish every moment of it, and I hope that your love for the game continues and grows the way mine does."

Martinet asked the audience not to ask any more questions about his new role, stating, "I don't know anything about it yet," so the rest of the Q&A session was similar to others, focusing on his role as the voice of Mario.

Speculation about Martinet's role as Mario gained momentum in June following the announcement of several new Mario-themed games, including Super Mario Bros Wonder and WarioWare: Move It.

Both of these trailers featured soundbites from characters traditionally voiced by Martinet, but some believed they didn't quite sound like him, to the point where 'Charles Martinet' became a trending topic on Twitter following the announcements.

Nintendo finally confirmed on August 21 that Martinet would be stepping down from this iconic role, stating, "It has been an honor working with Charles to help bring Mario to life for so many years, and we want to thank and celebrate him."