50 replies to this topic

[Nintendoga]

*cough*

Sonic the Hedgehog has gone through many permanent changes over the years. Getting taller, Those GREEN EYES, Slimming down, and getting a new attitude. But I'll tell you what hasn't changed, the voice actors.

Whether you love 'em or you hate 'em, we've had many voice actors in the Sonic series, ranging from Steve Urkel to Ezio Auditore! But why not take a moment to look back on each of them, and credit them for their work as Sonic the Hedgehog. Whether they deserve it or not, is up to you guys! So let's begin with-

Jaleel White
AoSTH, SatAM, Underground

What an odd voice choice. everybody's minds were blown once we realized "Urkel! Steve Urkel is going to be the voice of Sonic the Hegdehog! What?" But truth be told, he isn't half bad.

I mean sure, whenever Sonic fucks up, you do get that feeling he's going to say "Did I do that!?" But he surprisingly keeps the voice sense away from Urkel, sometimes, I don't even hear Urkel, I hear....Sonic? He was the main star of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM), and Sonic Underground (Where he also voiced Manic and Sonia....ew).

Many fans consider him the best and true voice of Sonic, though whether it's because of their nostalgia goggles being glued to their eyes, or that Jaleel manages to make him sound cool with a bad attitude, is still unknown. (Though I think it's the latter)

Rumor: He was suppose to be the voice of Classic Sonic in Sonic Generations, but apparently Sega was unable to make this so. He is the voice of Sonic in a fan film that looks promising (At least he's going to finish it. BURN!)

Martin Burke
Sonic OVA

Um... not much is known about him. He was apparently the voice of Sumida in Dai-Guard, and Shiro Amakusa in Ninja Ressurection, but that's all I could really find of him. But hey, back on topic:

This one's....considered the black sheep of the VA's for many reasons, though mainly because of him making Sonic sound stuffy nosed, but it certainly isn't bad to say. He really makes Sonic sound badass and cool, though I don't know whether that's because of the writers, or him.

Uh...Fans like him I guess? Nobody ever really talks about him, so I dunno.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN



Ryan Drummond
Sonic Adventure, Sonic Shuffle, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, Sonic Battle?
Pretty much every Sonic game between 1998-2005

AW YEAH, THIS IS HAPPENING! Ryan Drummond is the notable for being the first video game voice actor for Sonic. And....he's meh.

He's got the energy, which I certainly enjoy, as well as the charisma and voice of Sonic. But there's something about him that puts me off for some reason. I dunno. He's was also the voice of....oh sweet jesus christ, there's too many for me to name one-by-one. So I'll just put the ones I think you guys will show some interest of care about (most likely not)

He was Metal Sonic in Heroes, Knuckles in Sonic Adventure, Spider-Ham in Spider-man Shattered Dimensions, and his most important role of all, the Pizza Boy in Twisted Metal 4.

The fans sure do like him though. And I mean REALLY like him. So much that they've pretty much sheltered out Jason and Roger, in hopes of their online petitions being noticed by Sega, and getting him back as the voice of Sonic.

This whole Drummond vs Griffith thing has really taken the fanbase's respect down alot, being ridiculed by others for argueing over pointless things such as voice actors. But look at it this way, that's only a minortiy of the fanbase, so please don't blame it on all of us, mostly the ones who don't care.



Jason GRIFFITH
Sonic X, Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic the Disaster, Sonic Unleashed, Smash Bros. Brawl, Other spin-offs I don't feel like mentioning right now.

Let it be known, for when a certain series aired, fans throughout the world cried their hearts out, with only one thing in mind....GRIFFITH!!!!

Okay let's be honest, Griffith was pretty bad early on. His work in Sonic X and Shadow were laughable, and downright OOC. Sonic sounded depressing, and....weird. To add more injury, it doesn't help that he the voice actor for both the main characters of both equally horrible games.

But luckily he caught on and made him sound Sonicy again in Unleashed. And right as he was getting damn good, he was replaced.

Mainly Sonic and Shadow in the series, he also did such voices as that Foot Ninja you killed in TMNT game, and is currently Cilan, in Pokemon Black and White.

I already discussed the fan thing before, so I'll just skip it. But ironically Ryan and Jason are quite good friends IRL.

Roger Craig Smith (current Voice actor)
Sonic Colors, Sonic Generations, more spin-offs I could care less about, and Sonic Dimensions Next 3D Sonic game most likely.

Roger is pretty cool. When he was first revealed, many fans thought he would be too busy CHECKING OUT ALL THE CONSOLES to give Sonic a decent voice. But truth be told, he''s one of the best imo. He's energetic, charismatic, and unlike Ryan, has that deep voice for Sonic, which I love as it alludes to Sonic getting older.

He is also Ezio Auditore, Chris Redfield, and Sonic- oh wait....

Fans have gotten used to him, and I haven't seen much complaining about him which is good. Let's just hope he says with us for a little while longer.


So there you have it, through the bad and good, Va's have always tried their best for Sonic. And hey, if Sonic's career as a video game star doesn't work out, then maybe he can become a ventriliquist! Get it? Cause they have different voices and.......

DISCUSSION

[Vertekins]

No Kanemaru? :'(

Anyways, my favourite Sonic VA is undoubtedly Jason. Well, next to Junichi that is. Yeah his Sonic voice early on in earlier episodes of Sonic X and in Shadow the Hedgehog left much to be desired but man could he get down Sonic's calm, contemplative side so well and he got a lot better at it in the Storybook games.

Honestly, a little part of what made me like Sonic so much in those games was his voice, it was the perfect tone to put across that fantastic characterization. It made it even more believable. And you can tell that Jason actually cared about Sonic as a character and was interested in the series.

[Forrest Gump]

I honestly have to say, the only Sonic voice-actor I truly disliked was Drummond, he had a pretty good voice and all, but everything he said sounded so corny, which could've been due to the writers, but still. My most favorite Sonic voice has to be Griffith, when I think of Sonic the Hedgehog, I think of him having that voice, Griffith was really good towards his final days. (Unleashed and Black Knight.) Now Roger Craig Smith on the other hand, is probably my second favorite voice, he does a pretty good job as Sonic, in my opinion, but Griffith tops both of them.


Now, moving onto Classic Sonic...


Jaleel White is probably my favorite Classic Sonic, and if he were to have had a voice in Generations, I would've picked White over Burke, but that's mostly because I've always liked Jaleel White, and his performance as Sonic the Hedgehog, and I've never really liked Martin Burkes performance of Sonic, he just didn't sound like Sonic to me. (Also, I actually listened to Martin Burke as Classic Sonic before Jaleel White.)

There's my opinion.

Edited by Ultimate Symbiotic-Freddie, 18 April 2012 - 09:42 PM.

[Soniman]

Roger is the main man for me.

Right off from his debut, he had a good voice, at least to me. I didn't have to get used to it or wait for him to get better like Griffith.

I just like how mature he sounds, but not mature to the point where Sonic seems lifeless such as in Sonic X, he also has the ability to give Sonic a good amount of energy and quirkiness without phoning it in like Drummond. Not to mention he sounds far more comfortable in the role than the others did, it all sounds very natural.

He's still relatively new, and I would love to see how he would handle games with a more serious tone to see how good his range his, but regardless im loving his voice so far.

Come to think of it, it seems the big 3 of Sonic voice actor-y are like the 3 stages of adolescence.

Drummond as a hip young preteen-teenager that uses all the cool slang and whatnot, Griffith as an emotional though still somewhat silly late teenager, and Roger as mostly mature adult with a good sense of humor.

Edited by The Groosenator, 18 April 2012 - 09:54 PM.

[Azure Yakuzu]

The OP is fucking amazing.




Yeah, Roger, hands down. His tone may take some getting used to, but he's best by the best actor of the lot as his lines just sound so natural coming from his mouth(....sorry).

Honorable mention goes to Griffith, yeah he started off shaky, but by the end of his run(particularly from 2007 onward) he had Sonic down to a tee, and I was kind of sad to see him go to be honest.

[y cant solkia crawl]

I can't stand Roger as Sonic, he just doesn't sound fitting for Sonic, to me at least. I prefer Jason's cartoony voice.

except when he fucking laughs...

Edited by Solkia, 18 April 2012 - 09:59 PM.

[sonfan1984]

Right now I like Roger the best so much that he instantly replaced Ryan Drummond as my favorite after one game. Yes, I like the more mature 'deeper' tone he had in Colors. It just makes Sonic sound so badass and he was a nice blend of Ryan Drummond and Jaleel White. I was a bit disappointed when it sounded higher in Generations. But the fans wanted his Sonic voice to sound higher so meh. :\ Atleast it sounds more fitting and Sonic like now.
I still like Ryan but I'm not crazy about him anymore and have already moved on. I think I even like Jason Griffith more then him now. Yeah, Griffith started off pretty rough but he gotten so much better in the storybook games and Unleashed.

Edited by sonfan1984, 18 April 2012 - 10:15 PM.

[neezTHEhuman]

Who was Sonic's VA in brawl? Also I dig Roger Craig as Sonic. I'll admit it was a shock to the system to hear Sonic talk in such a deep voice in Colors compared to Drummond and Griffith but I've grown to like it a lot. RCS also has a chilled, relaxed delivery that's great for Sonic's personality in Colors: a hedgehog who doesn't take himself seriously and never gets psyched out by anything.

[sonfan1984]

Who was Sonic's VA in brawl?

It was Jason.

[mikeblastdude]

Roger Craig Smith is definitely, by far my favorite voice actor for Sonic. His voice just seems to suit Sonic's character so well, and it sounds so natural, and not forced like other voice actors (which I'll get to in a second). Roger pulls off the snarky jokes really well and, well, overall I just really like his voice for Sonic.

I also like Ryan Drummond's Sonic voice quite a bit. At times it was a bit overly-cheesy, although with scripts like Sonic Heroes', it's understandable. There were also a few bad moments ("Watch out! Your gonna crash! Ahhh!"), but overall I think Ryan did a pretty good job as Sonic.

I'm sorry guys, but, I have to admit that I'm not a fan of Jason Griffith. Whenever he voiced Sonic, his lines would always sound forced and unnatural. He also seemed to like to overemphasize practically every other word, which bothered me quite a bit. I'll admit he definitely got a lot better towards the end in Unleashed and Black Knight, but that's still not saying a whole lot.

This is probably based completely on nostalgia, but I have a huge fondness for Jaleel White's Urkel-esque Sonic voice. It fits the classic '90s Sonic perfectly. Probably wouldn't work too well for Sonic now though...

Edited by mikeblastdude, 18 April 2012 - 10:17 PM.

[Urban Flow]

I never liked Roger as a voice for Sonic. I have no Idea why. Probably because I could never get used to it. I was so used to Ryan and Jason's voice; When I heard Roger Craig.............I was like......."What?"

[Sonikku_Kiah]

I came into this topic with my flame shield, but it doesn't look like I have to use it here. *puts it down* Great!

Jason Griffith is my favorite Sonic voice actor. In fact, it was Jason's Sonic that I first heard after being away from the fandom for 15 years. When I first heard the voice, it found it being both calm and appealing, something I didn't recall Sonic sounding like before. And I guess I was drawn to it immediately, I don't know how to describe it. But the voice Jason gave Sonic sounded perfect to me, I loved it. I admit was rather upset when I learned that he wasn't voicing Sonic anymore.

It took me a while to get used to Roger Craig Smith, but I must say I like him. The deeper tone he used for Sonic in Sonic Colors caught me off guard and I found it very unfitting. I remember when Sonic Wrecks and Sonic Retro showed that 4th cutscene so we could hear Sonic and Tails' new voices for the first time. Hearing Sonic with a deep voice drove me crazy! I couldn't stand it at first, but it eventually grew on me. Raising the pitch in Sonic Generations sounded much better IMO, sounding much more like Sonic. But in Mario & Sonic at the 2012 London Olympic games Smith sounds off on occasion. He is an excellent actor, being extremely talented and I hope he will stick around as Sonic for many years to come.

Sure nostalgia screams out when I think of Jaleel White's Sonic, but he was the first to give Sonic a voice with a ton of personality that many of us came to know and love. Too bad he didn't voice Classic Sonic in Sonic Generations...that would of been amazing! As much I love White's voice for Sonic, I don't think it would work well today.

Martin Burke was okay. It wasn't the worst that I heard. I can't say too much about him either.

I know I am of the minority, but Ryan Drummond was my least favorite voice actor for Sonic. I liked the energy he gave Sonic, but it was just that something about his voice seemed off. I can't put my finger on it. It just didn't sound like Sonic to me with the voice that Drummond gave him; it sounded very annoying to me. I'm sorry.

[Generations (Chaos Warp)]

Dang, this topic is so sexy my eyes melted from the OP lol.

Roger is my favourite. Even though the tone.............takes getting used too, he's still the best actor in terms of actual acting to make up for it. And Colours was his best performance IMO, in Generations he sounds like he's....forcing it so to speak. Trying too hard.I don't know, maybe it's the lines they gave him?

Edited by Chaos Warp, 18 April 2012 - 10:56 PM.

[Gregzilla]

Jaleel White.... he sounds terrible as Sonic by today's standards, and even then he sounded pretty cheesy. Even as a 6-year old I cringed at some of his lines. But to be fair, that obnoxious voice was coupled with some questionable writing. Probably my least favorite.

Martin Burke, while probably the most radically different voice for Sonic, I find fairly enjoyable for some reason. I would never want him to be an actor in the games, but for the OVA's more smartass-y rendition of Sonic I thought he did a pretty good job. I wouldn't really even compare him to the others in terms of how much I like them.

Ryan Drummond is probably my favorite - which is sad, because his career as Sonic ended before he could be given many good scripts (some could argue that none of the games he was in have good scripts, but I thought SA2 had okay dialogue). His acting sounds awful because he was given cheesy lines and poor direction. But he's my favorite because his voice just naturally sounds like what I would expect coming out of the blue blur. His voice is naturally high-energy, exciting, and full of attitude, and whenever I imagine Sonic's voice in my head it's always Drummond's voice. I'm not saying he's the best actor of the bunch, but his voice will always be the true Sonic voice to me. My fave.

Jason Griffith... I'll be honest, I really didn't like him as Sonic for the most part. When he first started out he was awful, and though he has improved throughout the games, I don't think I see as much improvement as most others do. His range of emotions just seems kinda limited compared to other actors, his voice often came off as annoying (especially when he laughs), and there just wasn't a lot of variety in his line delivery. Towards the end he definitely got better, having a bit more attitude and personality, but I still don't think he was ever that great. He started out terrible, and evolved into simply "good." I'd say he's my second-least favorite. Does a pretty good Shadow, though!

And finally we have Roger Craig Smith. I really like this guy! He definitely fits the voice already, and he can only improve from here. Unlike Griffith, whose voice took a ton of getting used to, Smith's voice seemed perfectly natural as Sonic almost right from the start. He sounds much more high-energy than Griffith, and unlike Drummond he is actually given some pretty good dialogue. Drummond is still my fave, but Roger Craig Smith is a close second.

Also, in terms of what fans want, I always thought the bitching about the VAs pretty funny in recent times. Like this:
(Griffith replaces Drummons)
Me: NO, GET DRUMMOND BACK!
Fans: YEAH GET DRUMMOND BACK! GRIFFITH SUCKS, DRUMMOND FOREVER!
(Smith replaces Griffith)
Me: Hey, this guy is pretty good! Definitely an improvement for Sonic's voice.
Fans: NO, GET GRIFFITH BACK! SMITH SUCKS, GRIFFITH FOREVER!
Me: What.

[Vertekins]

Jason Griffith... I'll be honest, I really didn't like him as Sonic for the most part. When he first started out he was awful, and though he has improved throughout the games, I don't think I see as much improvement as most others do. His range of emotions just seems kinda limited compared to other actors, his voice often came off as annoying (especially when he laughs),

But...but...his laugh was really adorable in that Sonic Unleashed meat bun fight video;



When Chip gets his head stuck in the vase...just awesome

[mikeblastdude]

Also, this topic lacks mention of the amazing voice acting talent in Sonic's Schoolhouse.

[C.J]

My favourite Sonic VA is Jason, I know he didn't give the best performances in his early days ( most [parts of Sonic X and Shadow) it was a little bit of a rough start (I didn't hate him though) but after sometime I felt he improved quickly in the later season of Sonic X. He got even better later on especially in games like Unleashed, Rivals 2 and both storybook games, I thought he had a perfect tone of voice, how he got Sonic's calm/caring side but also brought his cocky/enthusiastic side at the same time too which was great, he had such strong emotion and like Verte part of me also liked Sonic because of his voice. One thing I also really like is how Jason captured Sonic's darker side as the Werehog in Unleashed, I thought he was also perfect for that role too. You could really tell he cared for Sonic as a character too, I thought his Sonic voice was very unique too. I still miss him and I think he did a brilliant job and I still wish him the best for other roles and media he will be doing now and in the very near future to come. Ryan Drummond wasn't the best VA, He did a terrible job in SA1 and Shuffle, he lacked emotion and he was also weak, the way he said his lines were laughably bad :/ but then he improved in SA2 which I think is his probably best performance, not the best but still better than previous ones and he was okay in Heroes too. I think Roger is a great actor but I'm just not too used to his Sonic voice yet, I don't like it so much, but I still think he's a great actor.

Edited by C.J, 21 April 2012 - 01:58 PM.

[Azure Yakuzu]

Screw it, I wanna talk about everyone else too.


Kate Higgins is best Tails; He no longer sounds like a robot trying to imiate a kid's voice, nor does he sound an 8 year old girl, he just sounds like a young boy, as it should be, and even better he sounds nothing like Sakura so I don't have to hear the Narutards with their bitching.


To be honest, I'd like Knuckles a lot more if he had a deeper voice, the higher pitched voice they've been giving him as of late just doesn't fit in my opinion, I mean come one the obligatory "tough guy" character needs a deep voice dammit, let's take a look at Roy Mustang(Another role his VA has) shall we:



You can't tell me that Knuckles would sound AWESOME with that tone of voice, its just so......commanding. So yeah, deep voiced Knuckles please.

[sonfan1984]

To be honest, I'd like Knuckles a lot more if he had a deeper voice, the higher pitched voice they've been giving him as of late just doesn't fit in my opinion, I mean come one the obligatory "tough guy" character needs a deep voice dammit, let's take a look at Roy Mustang(Another role his VA has) shall we:

You can't tell me that Knuckles would sound AWESOME with that tone of voice, its just so......commanding. So yeah, deep voiced Knuckles please.

I'd thought Knuckles voice is already too deep as it is.

[King Sombrero]

I never cared nuch for Drummond and liked Griffith from Secret Rings onward. Smith though, was great from the first game. Didn't feel like I needed to get used to him at all. I'm also glad that there wasn't (as of yet) another pathetic VA war like with Drummond vs Griffith. Smith is awesome.