Announcer
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The announcer (also known as the narrator) is a voice playing the role of a referee in the Super Smash Bros. series. Different voice actors fill this role in each game in the series.
The announcer announces varies things throughout the game, such selected modes, characters, the countdown before a match (except in Melee), counting down from five at the end of a Time match, the end of matches, Sudden Death, the winner of a game, No Contests, and congratulating a player among completing a single-player mode, among other things.
Master Hand is voiced by the same person as the announcer, as well as Crazy Hand following his debut in Melee. This has lead to the common fan theory that Master Hand himself is the announcer, befitting Master Hand as he is the creator and organizer of the Super Smash Bros. universe.
Announcers
Super Smash Bros.
Jeff Manning as the announcer began the 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 the most processed, having significant metallic reverb and a modulation effects.
- Frank Wölfen (German) [PAL]
- Jean Marc Delhausse (French) [PAL]
Super Smash Bros. Melee
Dean 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.
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.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Pat Cashman ended 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.
- Achim Barrenstein (German)
- Carlos Lobo (Spanish)
- Jean Faure (French)
- Luigi Fantino (Italian)
Super Smash Bros. 4
Xander Mobus has a nearly identical announcer voice 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 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.
In addition to his roles in the game, Xander Mobus narrated the Super Smash Bros. for Wii U 50-Fact Extravaganza, and was the spokesperson for the game's commercials.
The Dutch, Portuguese, and Russian localizations retain the English announcer.
- Achim Barrenstein (German)
- Carlos Lobo (Spanish) - voices both European and Latin American localizatoins
- Jean Faure (French) - voices both European and Canadian localizations
- Luigi Fantino (Italian)
Gallery
Jeff Manning (SSB64)
Dean Harrington (Melee)
Pat Cashman (Brawl)
Xander Mobus (SSB4)
Jeff Manning (SSB64)
Dean Harrington (Melee)
Pat Cashman (Brawl)
Xander Mobus (SSB4)
Trivia
- The French and Spanish voice actors for the announcer in Brawl and SSB4 also voice Lucario.
- The quote "Ready? Go!" used upon the activation of Donkey Kong's Final Smash, Konga Beat, being the only attack in the series involving 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. Other unused files are heard for the countdown to the end of the match starting at ten seconds rather than five. SSB4's announcer has also stated that he had recorded a title shout, but it didn't make it in the game.
- Pat Cashman was previously the announcer on Bill Nye the Science Guy.
- 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 has made numerous Smash-related appearances outside the series' official media. He sang a rendition of the Pokémon Main Theme, was interviewed for 1upTV and NintendoNewsByMii twice, and did additional guest appearances for Did You Know Gaming?, The Completionist, and GamnesiaTV (providing announcer-like vocal impressions on GamnesiaTV as well).
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