Samantha Kelly, the actor who voiced Princess Peach and other iconic names in the Mushroom Kingdom for 17 years, apparently only found out that she had been recast in the role on the same day that Mario Kart World and the Switch 2 came out.
"Thank you for so many years of friendship and joy," Kelly wrote in an Instagram ode to the character. "I'm sad that it's over, I truly would have wanted to voice Peach and Toad forever. Nintendo let me know yesterday that they decided to recast these roles. I'm grateful that I got to do these voices for so many years. Peach and Toad are such strong and beautiful characters that I pray they live forever no matter who voices them. So much love."
Kelly first stepped into Peach's pink heels in 2007 with the double whammy of Mario Party 8 and Mario Strikers Charged. She then continued to lend her voice to Peach, Baby Peach, Toad, Captain Toad, and sometimes Toadette in more than 70 projects spread across the last 17 years, seemingly ending with Mario & Luigi: Brothership. Talk about an iconic run.
Princess Peach isn't the only role who's been recast, either. Yesterday, we reported that Donkey Kong's long-time voice actor was also missing in the game's credits. And, of course, just a few years ago, the wondrous Charles Martinet gave his blessing to a new generation of actors to don Mario, Luigi, Wario, and Waluigi's caps.
We don't quite know exactly who's voicing Peach or Donkey Kong in Mario Kart World and beyond, though. You see, Nintendo doesn't list voice actors next to their characters in the credits, so your guess is as good as mine until the Big N says so itself.
In the meantime, check out the 15 best Switch 2 games so far, as well as our Switch 2 review.
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