Announcer

File:Match Start (Smash 3DS).jpg

In all games of the series, every single match officially begins when the announcer says "GO!"

An announcer (also known as the narrator) is a voice that plays the role of a referee in the game. Different voice actors fill this role in different games in the Super Smash Bros. series.

Actors and comparisons

Jeff Manning (Super Smash Bros.)

Manning's performance as the announcer foreshadowed a majority of the trends that would be followed by the three later incarnations of the announcer. His style is set apart through being the most "intense" of the announcers, being most prone to screaming lines rather than simply yelling. His voice also has the most processing done to it, having significant metallic reverb and a modulation effect.

Dean Harrington (Super Smash Bros. Melee)

Harrington continues Manning's style of voice, often yelling in a form similar to that of an emcee at a wrestling or boxing match. Harrington's voice, however, generally isn't as over-the-top as Manning's, with more refined enunciation and the yells never reach full-on screaming. It is also less processed, losing the modulation, though it gains a slight muffled tone.

Pat Cashman (Super Smash Bros. Brawl)

Cashman's announcer ends the emcee style, and in general, his voice is considerably calmer in sound. Cashman's voice is much deeper than either of his two predecessors, with similar intonation to a cartoon narrator, using booming declarations instead of enthusiastic shouts. His voice processing has also been significantly toned down, using only a simple echo.

Xander Mobus (Super Smash Bros. 4)

Mobus' announcer voice is nearly identical to Cashman's, being similarly deep and using the same processing effects. He also announces many of the veteran's names in a similar tone as Pat Cashman in Brawl, such as Mario, Link and Luigi. However, he speaks more enthusiastically, similar to Manning and Harrington. He is also significantly more verbose than his predecessors, having a much larger amount of lines and a significant role in his game's promotional materials.

Audio comparison

• 

  Jeff Manning
  SSB64

• 

  Dean Harrington
  Melee

• 

  Pat Cashman
  Brawl

• 

  Xander Mobus
  SSB4

• Jeff Manning
  SSB64

• Dean Harrington
  Melee

• Pat Cashman
  Brawl

• Xander Mobus
  SSB4

Gallery

• 

  The announcer counting down to the start of the match in every game except for Melee.

• 

  The announcer counting down the final five seconds of the match.

• 

  When "TIME!" is called, that signals the end of the match or a minigame.

• Stock Battles (Game!).jpg

  When "GAME!" is called, that signals the end of a stock match.

• 

  If there is a tie, then the announcer will call Sudden Death to break it.

• BowserJr.Pose1WiiU.png

  The announcer declaring the winner of the match.

• 

  If the match ends in a No Contest, then the announcer will call out "No Contest!".

• All-Star Mode Clear (Ryu).jpg

  When the player finished Classic, Adventure, or All-Star Mode, then the announcer will call "Congratulations!".

Trivia

• In the PAL versions of Super Smash Bros. and Brawl (though strangely, not Melee), the announcer speaks whichever language the game is set to.
  • The only difference in narration in the PAL version of Melee when not set to English is when selecting Jigglypuff. Two different announcers will say "Pummeluff" or "Rondoudou" when the game is set to German or French, respectively.
  • In Super Smash Bros. 4, this is also true of the French, German, Spanish and Italian localizations; the Dutch, Portuguese and Russian localizations retain the English announcer.
    • There are two different localizations for both the Spanish (European versus Latin American) and the French (European versus Canadian) languages. However, the Spanish and French announcers are still played by the same respective actors, with only some characters' names and terminology changing (much like the difference between the Duck Hunt and Duck Hunt Duo voice clips for the English announcer).
• In the PAL version of Super Smash Bros., the French announcer is voiced by J.M. Delhausse and the German announcer is voiced by Frank Wölfel.
• In the French and Spanish versions, the announcer shares a voice actor with Lucario.
• In all games on the series, Master Hand has been voiced by the same person as the announcer; following his debut in Melee, Crazy Hand has also been voiced by the same actor. This has lead to the common fan theory that it is actually Master Hand himself narrating, fitting with the in-game concept of Master Hand being the creator and organizer of the Smash universe.
• The quote "Ready? Go!" is also used upon the activation of Donkey Kong's Final Smash, Konga Beat, making it the only attack in all the series to involve the announcer in some way.
• Brawl contains unused, empty announcer files for what appears to be the announcer shouting the title's name, as was the case in the original and Melee. In the final game, there isn't any voice clip for this. Other unused files are heard during the countdown to the end of the match starting at 10 seconds, rather than 5. Smash 4's announcer has also stated that he had recorded a title shout, but it didn't make it for some reason.
• Brawl's announcer, Pat Cashman, was previously the announcer on the children's show Bill Nye the Science Guy.
• Xander Mobus, the announcer of Super Smash Bros. 4, also narrated the Super Smash Bros. for Wii U 50-Fact Extravaganza, and was the spokesperson for the game's commercials.
  • He also sang a rendition of the Pokémon Main Theme, was interviewed for 1upTV and NintendoNewsByMii (first interview, second interview), and did additional guest appearances for Did You Know Gaming?, The Completionist, and GamnesiaTV (providing announcer-like vocal impressions on GamnesiaTV as well).
• Xander recorded all of his lines for the game around April or May 2014.
  • He also booked the role, with the same microphone Kenny James (a voice actor for Bowser) gifted him, when he was performing theater alongside James.