Super Smash Bros. series

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{{ImageCaption|File:SSB3DSAnnouncerGo!.jpg|File:Announcer Go SSB for Wii U.jpg|width1=x150px|width2=x150px|align=right|caption=In the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series, all matches officially start when the Announcer says "GO!"}}
[[File:UltimateAnnouncerGO!.jpg|thumb|In the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series, all matches officially start when the Announcer says "GO!"]]
The '''announcer''' ({{ja|ナレーション|Narēshon}}, ''Narration''), called '''narration''' in-game until ''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]'', is an unseen character whose voice is heard in all games of the [[Super Smash Bros. (series)|''Super Smash Bros.'' series]], exclaiming what has happened in the game. The voice is often heard in menus when selecting [[mode]]s and [[fighter]]s, as well as within a match to announce its start and end and other events like a player losing all of their [[stock]]s or [[Share stock|sharing stock]]. It also announces the winner on the [[Victory pose|victory screen]]. The only move in the series to involve the announcer in any way is [[Konga Beat]], [[Donkey Kong]]'s [[Final Smash]] in ''Brawl'' and ''Smash 4'', with the announcer saying "Ready? Go!" upon its activation. All of the announcer's voice clips can be heard in the [[sound test]].


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 announcer has been voiced by 14 actors to varying degrees, for each game in the series as well as for different regions and [[language]]s. The English voice actor is considered to be the "primary" one in each game and is used by default in [[NTSC]] versions, as well as in Japanese, albeit with some minor differences in his lines, including character names. The English voice actor for the announcer has also always voiced [[Master Hand]] and [[Crazy Hand]].
 
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 [[language]]s. 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==
==Announcers==
===''[[Super Smash Bros.]]''===
===''[[Super Smash Bros.]]''===
{{s|wikipedia|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 [[Character selection screen|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.
{{s|wikipedia|Jeff Manning}} was the first announcer in 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 [[Character selection screen|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; {{s|wikipedia|Frank Wölfen}} provides his voice in the German [[PAL]] version, and {{s|wikipedia|Jean-Marc Delhausse}} provides his voice in the French PAL version.
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. The Chinese version of the game, released for the {{s|wikipedia|iQue Player}}, reuses Manning's voice.


===''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]''===
===''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]''===
{{s|wikipedia|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.
Dean Harrington is the main announcer in ''Melee''. He takes on a different inflection than Manning; Harrington yells more similarly to an emcee at a boxing match, with 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 {{SSBM|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.
{{SSBM|Jigglypuff}} has different German and French announcer calls to match its regional names ("Pummeluff" in German, "Rondoudou" in French). Both come from ''{{s|bulbapedia|Pokémon Stadium 2}}'' and were originally done by Kai Taschner (German)<ref>''Pokémon Stadium 2'' credits (German version, under "Stadium Announcer")</ref> and Jean-Claude Donda (French).<ref>''Pokémon Stadium 2'' credits (French version, under "Commentaires")</ref> Both clips are lower in quality compared to the others, but have the same echo filter applied to them.


===''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]''===
===''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]''===
{{s|wikipedia|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 {{SSBB|Luigi}} as a playable character.
{{s|wikipedia|Pat Cashman}} is the main announcer in ''Brawl''. He 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 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 {{SSBB|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 Barrestein provides the German announcer, Carlos Lobo provides the Spanish announcer, Jean-Louis Faure provides the French announcer, Luigi Fantino provides the Italian announcer, and Choi Han provides the Korean announcer.


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.
Cashman was the oldest announcer, being 58 when he recorded his lines for the game.


===''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]'' / ''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]'' ===
===''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]'' / ''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]'' ===
{{s|wikipedia|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.
{{s|wikipedia|Xander Mobus}} is the main announcer in ''Smash 4'' and ''Ultimate''. 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. Some of Mobus's portrayals also bear similarities with Cashman's, such as a sinister tone when selecting {{SSB4|Bowser}} and {{SSB4|Ganondorf}}.
 
Mobus also provided his voice in the [[Nintendo Direct#Super Smash Bros. for Wii U: 50-Fact Extravaganza|50-Fact Extravaganza presentation for Nintendo Direct]], explicitly introducing himself as "the announcer" and proceeding to narrate the video. He also portrayed the announcer in an [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLu7e8RZoYc overview trailer] for ''Ultimate'' in a similar manner to his performance in the 50-Fact Extravaganza. In this particular video, his voice is deeper than usual and has more of a "growl" when stressing key phrases.
 
Outside of Mobus's voice, four other announcers voice the announcer in the PAL release of ''Smash 4'', all of whom were retained from ''Brawl'': Achim Barrenstein (German), Carlos Lobo (Spanish), Jean-Louis Faure (French), and Luigi Fantino (Italian). However, they act slightly different than in ''Brawl'': Faure and Lobo's voices are more audible and energetic, Barrenstein plays more powerfully, and Fantino plays more playfully. The Dutch, Portuguese, Korean, and Russian localizations use the English announcer.
 
The Spanish and French announcers also provide voices for the Latin American and Canadian localizations respectively, with subtle differences similar to the ones seen in the English and Japanese versions; for example, [[Rosalina & Luma (SSB4)|Rosalina]] is called "Estela" and "Harmonie" in the respective PAL versions but retains her English name in the NTSC versions. The French announcer also tends to pronounce several character names such as {{SSB4|Bowser}} and {{SSB4|Toon Link}} in a closer way to English, while others such as {{SSB4|Jigglypuff}} and {{SSB4|Corrin}} retain the pronunciation in Parisian French. Meanwhile, the Spanish announcer also differs pronunciations in some way; examples include the differences of intonation for {{SSB4|King Dedede}}, and merged pronunciation of the C's and Z's with S's, such as {{SSB4|Zelda}} pronounced as "'''S'''elda".
 
In a series first, Mobus reprises his role as the English and Japanese announcer in ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' (as well as the voice for both {{SSBU|Master Hand}} and {{SSBU|Crazy Hand}}); he also provides voice clips specific to the Korean language option, while the Chinese options reuse his Japanese voice clips.


Mobus's announcer also appeared in the [[Nintendo Direct#Super Smash Bros. for Wii U: 50-Fact Extravaganza|50-Fact Extravaganza presentation for Nintendo Direct]]; he also voices the announcer in a few commercials for the games.
Some lines are also re-recorded between ''SSB4'' and ''Ultimate'': for example, "Computer player" has more emphasis on "-puter play-" in ''Ultimate'' than in ''SSB4'', and both "Victory" and "[[Tourney]]" are spoken in a drastically energetic tone in ''Ultimate'', compared to the ''SSB4'' versions being spoken in a reserved tone (similar to the latter's ''Brawl'' counterpart). Other lines, however, were reused, such as the names of the playable characters returning from the previous game.


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.
Additionally, the previous foreign language announcers retain their roles in ''Ultimate'' from ''Brawl'' and ''SSB4'' along with two new, unknown announcers for the Dutch and Russian language options. The Dutch announcer's portrayal somewhat resembles Pat Cashman's voice in ''Brawl'', with more relaxed voice clips similar to the French version. Meanwhile, the Russian announcer's voice is deeper and plays slower than those of the rest of the announcers.


He will reprise his role as the announcer in ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'', making it the first time an announcer has reprised his role in another ''Smash'' game, but it is unknown if there will be an option to change announcers.
Unlike the previous two announcers, Crazy Hand uses a radically different voice from Master Hand and the announcer, somewhat akin to {{h2|Koopalings|Iggy Koopa}}'s voice clips from the same games.
 
In another series first, ''Ultimate'' is the first game in the series to feature an alternate voice for the announcer in the same language, with {{SSBU|Kazuya}} having the ''Tekken 7'' announcer announce his victory on his victory screen instead, voiced by Josh Keller.
 
Mobus was by far the youngest of the ''Smash Bros.'' announcers, recording his lines for ''SSB4'' at the age of 21, and recording his lines for ''Ultimate'' at 25; by comparison, Manning was 43 in 1999, Harrington was 53 in 2001, and Cashman was 58 in 2008.


==Gallery==
==Gallery==
{|Class=wikitable style="text-align:center;"
{|Class=wikitable style="text-align:center;"
!width=25%|Jeff Manning (''SSB64'')!!width=25%|Dean Harrington (''Melee'')!!width=25%|Pat Cashman (''Brawl'')!!width=25%|Xander Mobus (''SSB4'', ''Ultimate'')
!Jeff Manning<br/>(''SSB64'', 1999)!!Dean Harrington<br/>(''Melee'', 2001)!!Pat Cashman<br/>(''Brawl'', 2008)!!Xander Mobus<br/>(''SSB4'', 2014 and ''Ultimate'', 2018)!!Josh Keller<br/>(''Ultimate'', 2021)
|-
|-
|[[File:JeffManning.jpg|x150px]]||[[File:DeanHarrington.jpg|x150px]]||[[File:PatCashman.jpg|x150px]]||[[File:XanderMobus.jpg|x150px]]
|[[File:JeffManning.jpg|x150px]]||[[File:DeanHarrington.jpg|x150px]]||[[File:PatCashman.jpg|x150px]]||[[File:XanderMobus.jpg|x150px]]||[[File:JoshKeller.jpg|x150px]]
|-
|-
|[[File:Mario SSB64.ogg]]||[[File:Mario SSBM.ogg]]||[[File:Mario SSBB.ogg]]||[[File:Mario SSB4.ogg]]
|[[File:Mario SSB64.ogg]]||[[File:Mario SSBM.ogg]]||[[File:Mario SSBB.ogg]]||[[File:Mario SSB4.ogg]]||[[File:KazuyaVictory.ogg]]
|}
 
=== Foreign announcers ===
====''SSB''====
{|Class=wikitable style="text-align:center;"
!Jean-Marc Delhausse (French)!!Frank Wölfen (German)
|-
|[[File:Jean-MarcDelhausse.jpg|x150px]]||[[File:FrankWölfen.jpg|x150px]]
|-
|[[File:French Announcer (SSB).ogg]]||[[File:German Announcer (SSB).ogg]]
|}
 
====''Brawl''====
{|Class=wikitable style="text-align:center;"
!Choi Han (Korean)
|-
|[[File:ChoiHan.jpg|x150px]]
|-
|[[File:Korean Announcer (Brawl).ogg]]
|}
 
====''Brawl'' onwards====
{|Class=wikitable style="text-align:center;"
!Jean-Louis Faure (French)!!Luigi Fantino (Italian)!!Achim Barrenstein (German)!!Carlos Lobo (Spanish)
|-
|[[File:Jean-LouisFaure.jpg|x150px]]||[[File:LuigiFantino.jpg|x150px]]||[[File:AchimBarrenstein.jpg|x150px]]||[[File:CarlosLobo.jpg|x150px]]
|-
|[[File:Vc narration gameset FR.wav]]||[[File:Vc narration gameset ITA.wav]]||[[File:Vc narration gameset DE.wav]]||[[File:Snd se narration Gameset ES.wav]]
|}
 
====''Ultimate''====
{|Class=wikitable style="text-align:center;"
!Dutch!!Russian
|-
|[[File:Vc narration gameset NL.wav]]||[[File:Vc narration gameset RUS.wav]]
|}
|}


==Trivia==
==Trivia==
*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 of the series to involve the Announcer in some way.
*''64'' and ''Melee'' are the only games in the series to have the announcer shout the game's title at the title screen.
*Jean-Marc Delhausse, who provides the French announcer in ''Smash 64'', later reappeared as a voice actor in the fourth game, voicing {{SSB4|Lucario}} in the French localization of the game. He also voices various [[Poké Ball]] Pokémon throughout the series.
**''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 [[Match timer#Final countdown timer|countdown at the end of a match]] starting at ten seconds, as opposed to five.
*Carlos Lobo, who provides the Spanish announcer in ''Brawl'' and ''Smash 4'', also voices [[Lucario]] in the Spanish localization of the game.
*So far, four announcers have voiced a character other than Master Hand and Crazy Hand.
*''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 [[Match timer#Final countdown timer|countdown at the end of a match]] starting at ten seconds, rather than five.
**Jean-Marc Delhausse, who provides the French announcer in ''Smash 64'', later reappeared as a voice actor in subsequent games in the series, voicing [[Lucario]], [[Ivysaur]], and various [[Poké Ball]] Pokémon in the French versions of the games.
*Xander Mobus booked his role with the same microphone [[mariowiki:Kenneth W. James|Kenny James]] ([[Bowser]]'s current voice actor outside of ''Super Smash Bros.'') gifted him, when he was [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkSGdDBpyvE performing theater alongside James]. He recorded all of his lines for the game around April or May 2014.
**Carlos Lobo and Luigi Fantino, who provide, respectively, Spanish and Italian announcement in ''Brawl'', ''Smash 4'' and ''Ultimate'', also voice Lucario in their respective localizations.
**Xander Mobus, who provides the English announcer in ''Smash 4'' and ''Ultimate'', also voices [[Joker]] in the English localization of ''Ultimate''.
*Xander Mobus booked his role with the same microphone {{s|mariowiki|Kenny James}} ([[Bowser]]'s current voice actor outside of ''Super Smash Bros.'') gifted him, when he was [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkSGdDBpyvE performing theater alongside James].
*In ''Super Smash Bros.'', German voice lines for "Captain Falcon", "Computer Player" and "Team Battle" are missing, so the game uses the English version instead.
*In spite of ''Brawl'' using a Korean announcer, ''Ultimate'' uses the English announcer and translates certain names into Korean (such as the {{SSBU|Ice Climbers}} being called "Eol'eum Tagi", the duo's Korean name from ''Brawl'', and {{SSBU|Rosalina & Luma}} having a new announcer call, which refers the former with her English name and the latter as "Chiko", its Japanese name), while using the Japanese translations (such as {{SSBU|Robin}} still being called Reflet) for others.
**''Ultimate''{{'}}s Korean version also mixes English and Japanese announcer clips to accommodate for the language's pronunciation; for instance, {{SSBU|King Dedede}}, {{SSBU|Simon}} and {{SSBU|Richter}} use English pronunciations, while {{SSBU|Lucina}} and {{SSBU|King K. Rool}} use Japanese. Oddly, {{SSBU|R.O.B.}}'s announcer call also uses his Japanese name ("Robot"), despite his English name being displayed in the Korean version.
*In ''Smash 4'', some lines in the German version, such as "Perfect" and "Replay Channel", sound [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7JB_TT2xO4&t=16m54s unusually different] compared to other lines.
*Oddly, the NTSC French version of ''Smash 4'' and ''Ultimate'' features several minor inconsistencies on the pronunciation of character names. For example, "[[Ice Climbers]]", "[[Roy]]", "[[Toon Link|Link Cartoon]]", "[[Robin|Daraen]]", "[[Koopalings#Larry Koopa|Larry]]", "[[Koopalings#Roy Koopa|Roy]]", "[[Koopalings#Morton Koopa Jr.|Morton]]" and "[[Ryu]]" are pronounced with an "R" which is more akin to the English R, while most other characters (even "[[Rosalina]] & [[Luma]]", with the former referred to as "Harmonie" in the PAL version) are pronounced with a typical "{{s|wikipedia|guttural R}}" in Parisian French, which is prominently used in the PAL version.
**[[Corrin]] is a rare case in that they have different pronunciations between regions in the French translation of ''Smash 4'', but use the same pronunciation as ''Smash 4''{{'}}s PAL version in ''Ultimate'' for both regions, albeit re-recorded.
*[https://youtu.be/sen_43HXOd4?t=1060 Xander Mobus stated] that despite being the announcer, he was always made unaware of both ''Smash 4'' and ''Ultimate''{{'}}s launch rosters or DLC until their release, since in order to prevents leaks, he records for multiple red herrings and random character names in order to obscure who is being included, such as naming titles, random characters that would never be considered, and non-video game characters. Whether or not this is true for other language announcers or before ''Smash 4'' is unknown.
**When recording for {{SSB4|Duck Hunt}} in ''Smash 4'', he was conditioned to believe he was reading it as the title of the NES game and assumed it was fake. He also believed that when recording for [[Snake]], that he was reading it as the animal rather than the character.
**[https://twitter.com/XanderMobusVO/status/664984767591411712 He also stated] he did not know Cloud would be in ''Smash 4'' until his announcement.
*Oddly, in ''Ultimate'', {{SSBU|Dark Samus}} and {{SSBU|Byleth}}'s announcer calls are slightly louder in the Japanese version, despite otherwise being the same.
*Jean-Louis Faure, the French announcer from ''Brawl'' to ''Ultimate'', is the first announcer in the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series in any language to pass away, on March 27, 2022.<ref>https://www.malcolm-france.com/actualites/articles/jean-louis-faure-la-voix-francaise-de-bryan-cranston-sest-eteinte/</ref>
 
==References==
{{reflist}}


==See also==
==See also==

Revision as of 02:49, March 8, 2024

In the Super Smash Bros. series, all matches officially start when the Announcer says "GO!"

The announcer (ナレーション, Narration), called narration in-game until Super Smash Bros. Brawl, is an unseen character whose voice is heard in all games of the Super Smash Bros. series, exclaiming what has happened in the game. The voice is often heard in menus when selecting modes and fighters, as well as within a match to announce its start and end and other events like a player losing all of their stocks or sharing stock. It also announces the winner on the victory screen. The only move in the series to involve the announcer in any way is Konga Beat, Donkey Kong's Final Smash in Brawl and Smash 4, with the announcer saying "Ready? Go!" upon its activation. All of the announcer's voice clips can be heard in the sound test.

The announcer has been voiced by 14 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, as well as in Japanese, albeit with some minor differences in his lines, including character names. The English voice actor for the announcer has also always voiced Master Hand and Crazy Hand.

Announcers

Super Smash Bros.

Jeff Manning was the first announcer in 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. The Chinese version of the game, released for the iQue Player, reuses Manning's voice.

Super Smash Bros. Melee

Dean Harrington is the main announcer in Melee. He takes on a different inflection than Manning; Harrington yells more similarly to an emcee at a boxing match, with 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.

Jigglypuff has different German and French announcer calls to match its regional names ("Pummeluff" in German, "Rondoudou" in French). Both come from Pokémon Stadium 2 and were originally done by Kai Taschner (German)[1] and Jean-Claude Donda (French).[2] Both clips are lower in quality compared to the others, but have the same echo filter applied to them.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Pat Cashman is the main announcer in Brawl. He 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 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 Barrestein provides the German announcer, Carlos Lobo provides the Spanish announcer, Jean-Louis Faure provides the French announcer, Luigi Fantino provides the Italian announcer, and Choi Han provides the Korean announcer.

Cashman was the oldest announcer, being 58 when he recorded his lines for the game.

Super Smash Bros. 4 / Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Xander Mobus is the main announcer in Smash 4 and Ultimate. 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. Some of Mobus's portrayals also bear similarities with Cashman's, such as a sinister tone when selecting Bowser and Ganondorf.

Mobus also provided his voice in the 50-Fact Extravaganza presentation for Nintendo Direct, explicitly introducing himself as "the announcer" and proceeding to narrate the video. He also portrayed the announcer in an overview trailer for Ultimate in a similar manner to his performance in the 50-Fact Extravaganza. In this particular video, his voice is deeper than usual and has more of a "growl" when stressing key phrases.

Outside of Mobus's voice, four other announcers voice the announcer in the PAL release of Smash 4, all of whom were retained from Brawl: Achim Barrenstein (German), Carlos Lobo (Spanish), Jean-Louis Faure (French), and Luigi Fantino (Italian). However, they act slightly different than in Brawl: Faure and Lobo's voices are more audible and energetic, Barrenstein plays more powerfully, and Fantino plays more playfully. The Dutch, Portuguese, Korean, and Russian localizations use the English announcer.

The Spanish and French announcers also provide voices for the Latin American and Canadian localizations respectively, with subtle differences similar to the ones seen in the English and Japanese versions; for example, Rosalina is called "Estela" and "Harmonie" in the respective PAL versions but retains her English name in the NTSC versions. The French announcer also tends to pronounce several character names such as Bowser and Toon Link in a closer way to English, while others such as Jigglypuff and Corrin retain the pronunciation in Parisian French. Meanwhile, the Spanish announcer also differs pronunciations in some way; examples include the differences of intonation for King Dedede, and merged pronunciation of the C's and Z's with S's, such as Zelda pronounced as "Selda".

In a series first, Mobus reprises his role as the English and Japanese announcer in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (as well as the voice for both Master Hand and Crazy Hand); he also provides voice clips specific to the Korean language option, while the Chinese options reuse his Japanese voice clips.

Some lines are also re-recorded between SSB4 and Ultimate: for example, "Computer player" has more emphasis on "-puter play-" in Ultimate than in SSB4, and both "Victory" and "Tourney" are spoken in a drastically energetic tone in Ultimate, compared to the SSB4 versions being spoken in a reserved tone (similar to the latter's Brawl counterpart). Other lines, however, were reused, such as the names of the playable characters returning from the previous game.

Additionally, the previous foreign language announcers retain their roles in Ultimate from Brawl and SSB4 along with two new, unknown announcers for the Dutch and Russian language options. The Dutch announcer's portrayal somewhat resembles Pat Cashman's voice in Brawl, with more relaxed voice clips similar to the French version. Meanwhile, the Russian announcer's voice is deeper and plays slower than those of the rest of the announcers.

Unlike the previous two announcers, Crazy Hand uses a radically different voice from Master Hand and the announcer, somewhat akin to Iggy Koopa's voice clips from the same games.

In another series first, Ultimate is the first game in the series to feature an alternate voice for the announcer in the same language, with Kazuya having the Tekken 7 announcer announce his victory on his victory screen instead, voiced by Josh Keller.

Mobus was by far the youngest of the Smash Bros. announcers, recording his lines for SSB4 at the age of 21, and recording his lines for Ultimate at 25; by comparison, Manning was 43 in 1999, Harrington was 53 in 2001, and Cashman was 58 in 2008.

Gallery

Jeff Manning
(SSB64, 1999)
Dean Harrington
(Melee, 2001)
Pat Cashman
(Brawl, 2008)
Xander Mobus
(SSB4, 2014 and Ultimate, 2018)
Josh Keller
(Ultimate, 2021)
JeffManning.jpg DeanHarrington.jpg PatCashman.jpg XanderMobus.jpg JoshKeller.jpg

Foreign announcers

SSB

Jean-Marc Delhausse (French) Frank Wölfen (German)
Jean-MarcDelhausse.jpg FrankWölfen.jpg

Brawl

Choi Han (Korean)
ChoiHan.jpg

Brawl onwards

Jean-Louis Faure (French) Luigi Fantino (Italian) Achim Barrenstein (German) Carlos Lobo (Spanish)
Jean-LouisFaure.jpg LuigiFantino.jpg AchimBarrenstein.jpg CarlosLobo.jpg

Ultimate

Dutch Russian

Trivia

  • 64 and Melee are the only games in the series to have the announcer shout the game's title at the title screen.
    • 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, as opposed to five.
  • So far, four announcers have voiced a character other than Master Hand and Crazy Hand.
    • Jean-Marc Delhausse, who provides the French announcer in Smash 64, later reappeared as a voice actor in subsequent games in the series, voicing Lucario, Ivysaur, and various Poké Ball Pokémon in the French versions of the games.
    • Carlos Lobo and Luigi Fantino, who provide, respectively, Spanish and Italian announcement in Brawl, Smash 4 and Ultimate, also voice Lucario in their respective localizations.
    • Xander Mobus, who provides the English announcer in Smash 4 and Ultimate, also voices Joker in the English localization of Ultimate.
  • 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.
  • In Super Smash Bros., German voice lines for "Captain Falcon", "Computer Player" and "Team Battle" are missing, so the game uses the English version instead.
  • In spite of Brawl using a Korean announcer, Ultimate uses the English announcer and translates certain names into Korean (such as the Ice Climbers being called "Eol'eum Tagi", the duo's Korean name from Brawl, and Rosalina & Luma having a new announcer call, which refers the former with her English name and the latter as "Chiko", its Japanese name), while using the Japanese translations (such as Robin still being called Reflet) for others.
    • Ultimate's Korean version also mixes English and Japanese announcer clips to accommodate for the language's pronunciation; for instance, King Dedede, Simon and Richter use English pronunciations, while Lucina and King K. Rool use Japanese. Oddly, R.O.B.'s announcer call also uses his Japanese name ("Robot"), despite his English name being displayed in the Korean version.
  • In Smash 4, some lines in the German version, such as "Perfect" and "Replay Channel", sound unusually different compared to other lines.
  • Oddly, the NTSC French version of Smash 4 and Ultimate features several minor inconsistencies on the pronunciation of character names. For example, "Ice Climbers", "Roy", "Link Cartoon", "Daraen", "Larry", "Roy", "Morton" and "Ryu" are pronounced with an "R" which is more akin to the English R, while most other characters (even "Rosalina & Luma", with the former referred to as "Harmonie" in the PAL version) are pronounced with a typical "guttural R" in Parisian French, which is prominently used in the PAL version.
    • Corrin is a rare case in that they have different pronunciations between regions in the French translation of Smash 4, but use the same pronunciation as Smash 4's PAL version in Ultimate for both regions, albeit re-recorded.
  • Xander Mobus stated that despite being the announcer, he was always made unaware of both Smash 4 and Ultimate's launch rosters or DLC until their release, since in order to prevents leaks, he records for multiple red herrings and random character names in order to obscure who is being included, such as naming titles, random characters that would never be considered, and non-video game characters. Whether or not this is true for other language announcers or before Smash 4 is unknown.
    • When recording for Duck Hunt in Smash 4, he was conditioned to believe he was reading it as the title of the NES game and assumed it was fake. He also believed that when recording for Snake, that he was reading it as the animal rather than the character.
    • He also stated he did not know Cloud would be in Smash 4 until his announcement.
  • Oddly, in Ultimate, Dark Samus and Byleth's announcer calls are slightly louder in the Japanese version, despite otherwise being the same.
  • Jean-Louis Faure, the French announcer from Brawl to Ultimate, is the first announcer in the Super Smash Bros. series in any language to pass away, on March 27, 2022.[3]

References

  1. ^ Pokémon Stadium 2 credits (German version, under "Stadium Announcer")
  2. ^ Pokémon Stadium 2 credits (French version, under "Commentaires")
  3. ^ https://www.malcolm-france.com/actualites/articles/jean-louis-faure-la-voix-francaise-de-bryan-cranston-sest-eteinte/

See also