Announcer
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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
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
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 reaching full-on screaming. It is also less processed, losing the modulation, though it gains a slight muffled tone.
Pat Cashman
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
Mobus's announcer voice is nearly identical to Cashman's, being similarly deep and using the same processing effects. However, he speaks more enthusiastically, similar to Manning and Harrington. Mobus's announcer 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.
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.
- 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.
- 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 all games in 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. Another unused file is heard during the countdown to the end of the match starting at ten seconds, rather than five. Smash 4's announcer has also [stated https://twitter.com/XanderMobusVO/status/540454795795263489?s=09] that he had recorded a title shout, but that it did not make it in for some reason.
- 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.
- Brawl's announcer, Pat Cashman, was previously the announcer on the children's show Bill Nye the Science Guy.
- The announcer of Super Smash Bros. 4 is also the narrator of the Super Smash Bros. for Wii U 50-Fact Extravaganza, which showcased more than fifty new features the Wii U version has to offer including 8-Player Smash matches, as well as the spokesperson for the commercials for both versions. He also sang a rendition of the Pokemon Main Theme.
