Summary
WarioWare: Move It’s credits have revealed that Kevin Afghani is the new voice of Wario. Mario’s greedy, foul-mannered evil counterpart has often shared a voice actor with him, asthe legendary Charles Martinet played Wariosince the originalMario Kartback in 1996. Before that, Wario was voiced by James H. Sawyer Sr. in commercials for his first video game appearances inSuper Mario Land 2: 6 Golden CoinsandWario Land: Super Mario Land 3.
Wario would be recast again earlier this year, as Charles Martinet announced that he was stepping down from voicing Mario and the other classic Nintendo characters he helped bring to life for over 30 years in favor of a new role asan ambassador for theSuper Mariofranchise. Fans had since been left wondering who would replace him as the voice of gaming’s most recognizable mascot and other members of his supporting cast, until it was revealed that Kevin Afghani will be playing both Mario and his brother Luigi starting with the recentSuper Mario Bros. Wonder.
It looks like Kevin Afghani will be replacing Charles Martinet in yet another famousSuper Mariorole, asNintendo Lifereports that he is voicing Wario in the upcomingWarioWare: Move It. This news comes from a screenshot of the game’s credits, which lists Afghani’s name at the very top. While this credits list doesn’t specify the characters each actor is playing, it can be assumed that Afghani is voicing Wario as he is the first name players see.WarioWare: Move It’s opening cutscene has already been released, and the GameXplain YouTube channel recently posted a video comparing the new Wario voice to Charles Martinet’s performance in pastWarioWaregames.
Before taking over for Charles Martinet inSuper Mario Bros. Wonder, Kevin Afghani was known for smaller web projects like the Mashed YouTube channel and MasakoX’sDragon Ball R&Rfan series. He also voices Arnold in the English dub ofGenshin Impact, with fans noting a similarity between his voice there and the talking flowers that help players inSuper Mario Bros. Wonder. So far,Mariofans have praised Afghani forhis performances as Mario and Luigi, which could be heard as far back as the initialSuper Mario Bros. Wonderreveal trailer in June.
While the credits listing forWarioWare Move Itdoesn’t outright name Kevin Afghani as the new voice of Wario, it’s quite fitting that he is filling in for at least three of the iconic roles that Charles Martinet helped make famous. Now that he is seemingly voicing Wario inWarioWare Move It, the only Martinet character left in need of a new actor isLuigi’s evil doppelganger Waluigi- and fans are already suspecting that Kevin Afghani will step into the role whenever the purple-clad troublemaker appears next.
