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.
The announcer announces varies things throughout the game, such as counting down before a match (except in Melee), stating the mode the player has selected, calling out the end of a stock match, counting down from 5 the end of a timed match, announcing Sudden Death, declaring the winner of a game, calling out a No Contest, and congratulating a player among completing a single-player mode, among other things.
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.
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 has the most processing done to it, having significant metallic reverb and a modulation effect.
- 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 Smash 4 also voice Lucario.
- 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. SSB4's announcer has also stated that he had recorded a title shout, but it didn't make it in the game.
- Brawl's announcer, Pat Cashman, was previously the announcer on the children's show 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 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).
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