Announcer: Difference between revisions
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Outside of Mobus's voice, four other announcers voice the announcer in the game's PAL release. It's important to note that all of these actors were retained from ''Brawl'': Achim Barrenstein (German), Carlos Lobo (Spanish), Jean Faure (French), and Luigi Fantino (Italian). The Spanish and French announcers also provide voices for the Latin American and Canadian localizations, respectively. The Dutch, Portuguese, Korean, and Russian localizations use the English announcer. | Outside of Mobus's voice, four other announcers voice the announcer in the game's PAL release. It's important to note that all of these actors were retained from ''Brawl'': Achim Barrenstein (German), Carlos Lobo (Spanish), Jean Faure (French), and Luigi Fantino (Italian). The Spanish and French announcers also provide voices for the Latin American and Canadian localizations, respectively. The Dutch, Portuguese, Korean, and Russian localizations use the English announcer. | ||
Mobus will reprise his role as the English-language announcer in ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'', but it is unknown if there will be an option to change announcers. | |||
On a side note, Mobus is by a wide margin the youngest of the ''Smash Bros.'' announcers, having recorded his lines at the age of 21; the previous three announcers were in their 50s at the time of their respective games' release. | On a side note, Mobus is by a wide margin the youngest of the ''Smash Bros.'' announcers, having recorded his lines at the age of 21; the previous three announcers were in their 50s at the time of their respective games' release. | ||
Revision as of 20:46, August 9, 2018
The announcer (also known as the narrator) is an unseen character that has appeared in all the games of the series. The announcer has no direct effect on gameplay, though his voice does act as an auditory signal for multiple events in the games, both within matches and within the various menus. Everything the announcer says is either informative or aesthetic. All of the announcer's voice clips can be heard in the sound test.
The identity of the announcer (real or plot-based alias) has never been revealed within any of the games, and his specific role in the series beyond mechanical has never been clarified, if there is one. The voice actor for the announcer has also always voiced Master Hand and Crazy Hand, but this relationship has never been elaborated on, if a deliberate relationship between the three even exists.
The announcer has been voiced by approximately 13 actors to varying degrees, for each game in the series as well as for different regions and languages. The English voice actor is considered to be the "primary" one in each game and is used by default in NTSC versions, which means he is also used in Japan.
Announcers
Super Smash Bros.
Jeff Manning was the first actor for the series, starting many of the trends that would later be followed by the future announcers; in addition to his booming style and various exclamations during gameplay, such as characters being selected, Jeff Manning started a trend where both the Announcer and Master Hand are voiced by the same person. Manning's voice has a significant filter applied to it, causing his voice to echo, as well as increasing the intensity of his voice; his actual delivery, however, is relatively calm, and he does not generally hold out words for long periods of time.
Outside of Manning's voice, two other actors provide the announcer's voice in different regions; Frank Wölfen provides his voice in the German PAL version, and Jean-Marc Delhausse provides his voice in the French PAL version.
Super Smash Bros. Melee
Dean Harrington is the second announcer in the series. He takes on a different inflection than Manning; Harrington yells more similarly to an emcee at a boxing match, with some his phrasing often lasting for long periods of time, as well as a generally more intense voice than Manning's. Like Manning, Harrington's voice has an echo filter applied to it; other filters applied to his voice, however, cause Harrington's voice to have a more muffled tone compared to the other announcers. With the introduction of Crazy Hand in the series, Harrington also began a trend where the announcer also voices Crazy Hand.
In the PAL version, when not set to English and choosing Jigglypuff, two different announcers will say "Pummeluff" or "Rondoudou" when the game is set to German or French, respectively. The identities of these two announcers are unknown.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Pat Cashman as an announcer ended Harrington's emcee style, and in general, his voice is considerably calmer in sound, more akin to Manning. Cashman's voice is not modified to the extent of Manning's or Harrington's, leading to a cleaner sound quality from him; Cashman also has a deeper voice than either of his two predecessors. Cashman's voice also features more personality from the announcer, such as his quizzical inflection when the player selects Luigi as a playable character.
Outside of Cashman's voice, five other individuals voice the announcer in Brawl, for the game's PAL and Korean releases. Achim Barrenstein provides the German announcer, Carlos Lobo provides the Spanish announcer, Jean Faure provides the French announcer, Luigi Fantino provides the Italian announcer, and Choi Han provides the Korean announcer.
Super Smash Bros. 4 / Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Xander Mobus is the fourth announcer in the series. He acts and sounds similarly to Pat Cashman in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, with his voice being deeper than those of Manning and Harrington, as well as having few filters applied to his voice. Compared to Cashman, however, Mobus's announcer is less relaxed and reserved, though he still does not act as intense as Harrington.
Mobus's announcer also appeared in the 50-Fact Extravaganza presentation for Nintendo Direct; he also voices the announcer in a few commercials for the games.
Outside of Mobus's voice, four other announcers voice the announcer in the game's PAL release. It's important to note that all of these actors were retained from Brawl: Achim Barrenstein (German), Carlos Lobo (Spanish), Jean Faure (French), and Luigi Fantino (Italian). The Spanish and French announcers also provide voices for the Latin American and Canadian localizations, respectively. The Dutch, Portuguese, Korean, and Russian localizations use the English announcer.
Mobus will reprise his role as the English-language announcer in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, but it is unknown if there will be an option to change announcers.
On a side note, Mobus is by a wide margin the youngest of the Smash Bros. announcers, having recorded his lines at the age of 21; the previous three announcers were in their 50s at the time of their respective games' release.
Gallery
| Jeff Manning (SSB64) | Dean Harrington (Melee) | Pat Cashman (Brawl) | Xander Mobus (SSB4, Ultimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
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Trivia
- The quote "Ready? Go!" is also used upon the activation of Donkey Kong's former Final Smash, Konga Beat in Brawl and Smash 4, making it the only attack in all of the series to involve the Announcer in some way.
- Jean-Marc Delhausse, who provides the French announcer in Smash 64, later reappeared as a voice actor in the fourth game, voicing Lucario in the French localization of the game. He also voices various Poké Ball Pokémon throughout the series.
- Carlos Lobo, who provides the Spanish announcer in Brawl and Smash 4, also voices Lucario in the Spanish localization of the game.
- Brawl contains unused, empty announcer files for what appears to be the announcer shouting the title's name; in the final game, there are no voice clips for this. Other unused files also feature the countdown at the end of a match starting at ten seconds, rather than five.
- Xander Mobus booked his role with the same microphone Kenny James (Bowser's current voice actor outside of Super Smash Bros.) gifted him, when he was performing theater alongside James. He recorded all of his lines for the game around April or May 2014.
- Xander Mobus is the first English announcer to reprise his role in a later Super Smash Bros. game.
