Your thoughts on Sonic's English VAs

[T-Min]

Inspired by a recent debate in Nintendoga's thread about SA3, I decided to make a thread to express our thoughts on the English voice actors Sonic has had throughout the years. Now, guys, be sure to stay civil, and actually explain your thoughts. Don't just say "lolthisguysuxRUINEDFOREVER" or "lolthisguyscoolBESTSONICVOICEEVAR." Put some thought into your posts, please, and you can use Youtube clips to back yourself up if you want. This thread is mainly about the VAs in the games, but you can discuss Jaleel White and Martin Burke here as well. STERRRRRAAANGE, ISN'T IT???

Anyway, I'll start with Ryan Drummond. While I think he has a great voice for Sonic (although that may just be because SA1 was my first Sonic game), for the most part, I think his acting was a bit...on the hammy side. Maybe it's mostly thanks to the lines they gave him, but with the exception of SA2 (and even in that game, I don't think he's that great), well...

It's even worse in Heroes, where he seems like he's almost screaming every line.

Next is Jason Griffith, and well...in Shadow and 06 he was even hammier than Drummond. I think I need only two words to back me up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVYTcTt-SoE

A lot of people say he got better starting with Unleashed, and while I would agree, I still don't think he was quite GOOD. Here's a clip from Unleashed. A bit better, but still kind of hammy in my opinion.

And finally, we have Roger Craig Smith, who made his debut in Sonic Free Riders. While I believe that Jason's and Ryan's voices fit the character better, I have to say that Roger Craig is my favorite simply because (to me) he sounds a bit more natural, and I think he's MUCH better at delivering lines.

Anyway, that's my opinion. What's yours?

[Kuzu]

Better get my hard hat, tis a war coming.

[Gaming Misfit]

ZOMG I STARTED ARGUMENT. =D

Anyways, I prefer Roger. He doesn't sound bad at all to me. He sounds like a hyper on the go college kid (the way I think Sonic should sound personally) with a sense of humor that isn't forced on you. Plus his voice went GREAT with Color's dialogue IMO. I think Ryan was better than most of his fellow voice actors in SA2, but he still wasn't anything really special. As for Jason, I think he's a bit high pitched and sounds just a TAD bit girly at times. I don't mind him though. He did okay.

[DC111]

Roger delivers lines with a lot of believability and has a lot of talent. But he doesn't SOUND like Sonic to me. Ryan and Jason both fit the bill quite well for Sonic. Maybe their voice ACTING is arguable, but their actual VOICES have the right quality to make it mesh with Sonic for me. Jason is probably my overall favorite because of his performances in the more recent games, though. Roger's got the talent, Ryan and Jason have the appropriate sounding voices.

...Junichi, however, has both.

[sonfan1984]

I prefer Roger. At first when they released the 4th cutscene last year, I didn't like his voice and thought it sounded weird. I was so used to Sonic's previous actors that Roger's voice caught me off-guard. I've learn to adjust to it when I kept watching the same cutscene over and over and then when I've finally played the game I'm already adjusted to it and now I love it and think it sounds great. I'm excited to hear more of his voice work in Generations since that seems like a much bigger game. These are the cutscenes from Colors where I'd thought he sounds great in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alhMGpz6EyM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOdzPZ5ZU9g

I liked the the 'deep' voice he provided for Sonic. It makes him sound really cool and handsome IMO and it's much easier on the ears. It's what attracted me to Ryan Drummond when he voiced Sonic in SA1, he gave Sonic this handsome deep voice then he crushed my dreams when he gave Sonic this really high pitch annoying voice in SA2 and Heroes. I'm going to be mad if Roger heighten his voice in Generations. Jason I liked him after Secret Rings.

Edited July 21, 2011 by sonfan1984

[Vertekins]

My stance on the matter is that it was a huge shame that they got shot of Jason after SatBK because his performance in that game proved that he had gotten a hell of a lot better in portraying Sonic and hence it was a pity that he wasn't Sonic's VA any longer because it would've been interesting to hear more of his greatly-tuned voice after SatBK. I felt such a sense of familiarity with Jason's Sonic voice later-on that it is the voice I envision in my "mind's voice" whenever I read fanfiction and Sonic speaks in said fiction.

Roger has very good voice acting competency but I'll side with DC and say that it doesn't...sound like Sonic. To me, Roger's Sonic voice is undoubtedly well acted and emoted but it's still not the tone I ever expected from Sonic. Sonic sounds like he's in his early twenties rather than fifteen and it's too....deep. I dunno, I always envisioned Sonic as having a more nasally voice than that. I never think of that voice coming from Sonic when I "hear" Sonic speaking in my mind but that could also be due to the newness of it.

Ryan's voice suited Sonic like a horse and carriage but it could get annoying in Heroes due to high pitched-ness. Great tone and passion but the acting doesn't match.

I still have a great fondness for Jun'ichi's Sonic because it's both sublimely well acted, insanely adorable and extremely appropriate.

[BlazingTales]

I've never been too fussed over the voice cast. Yeah, I somewhat prefer Ryan's voice over Jason's, and Jason's acting over Ryan's, but overall I think their talents and weakness even out to create two very nice actors for Sonic. However, even though I'm not too bothered by what voice actor Sonic does and does not have, I absolutely adore Roger Craig Smith take on the character.

I'll be honest, when that first Colours cutscene was released, I wasn't so sure I would get used to the drastic voice change. However, I found myself easily adjusting once I finally saw Smith's full work. His voice emulates the cocky-but-good-hearted attitude Sonic is known for, but without going overboard. In my opinion, it sounds fantastic.

His acting is pretty great, too. I mean, look at this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alhMGpz6EyM

In this one cutscene alone, you can hear Sonic go from gawking over the size of the park, to being surprised by the sudden ambush, to being genuinely concerned about his best friend, to feeling anger towards Eggman for mind-controlling Tails, to bragging over winning the "bet", to acting disappointed when Tails alerts him they did not bet... and so on. That is talent.

It also probably doesn't help that I was a fan of Roger's past work even before he became Sonic's voice.

[Dejablue]

Oh no. I'm going to need special armor just to lurk in this topic.

I like them all. Even that guy who only voiced Sonic once in the OVA. SSTRRANGE ISN'T IT!

My favorite has to be Jaleel White. You can imagine how ga-ga I felt when I found out he's voicing Sonic in that fan movie. Whenever I read Archie, Jaleel's voice is still in my mind.

Roger to me sounds like the guy who's announcing the next radical kewl totally awesome new show Coming Up Next on some Saturday Morning time slot. But with a deeper voice. I'm not used to it but give it time and I won't care either way.

Ryan started out perfect but got too high pitched near the end of his run.

Jason started out good, hit a rather odd and unfortunate pit of badness in the middle, and then pulled off some really good performances in his last couple of games. I'm gonna miss him.

Edited July 21, 2011 by Dejablue

[DC111]

Sonic looks adorably ridiculous in the still for that cutscene.

I never thought Roger didn't have talent. He does a great job. It's just that him as SONIC is still something I'm getting used to.

[sonfan1984]

Sonic looks adorably ridiculous in the still for that cutscene.

Yeah he does. He got pokeable eyes. :3

[DC111]

Ryan Drummond is my favorite. He brought a flame to Sonic that can't be re-lit for me personally.

Also, he was used in today's video

3:04 Ryan can clearly be heard making 2 grunts. I'm sure they are just old clips used by mistake.

Didn't catch that. Not sure about the first grunt, but the second one is certainly Ryan.

DAMMIT I meant Jason. ._. *mentally neg-reps own post*

Edited July 21, 2011 by DC111

[Vertekins]

Ryan Drummond is my favorite. He brought a flame to Sonic that can't be re-lit for me personally.

Also, he was used in today's video

3:04 Ryan can clearly be heard making 2 grunts. I'm sure they are just old clips used by mistake.

That ain't Ryan it's Jason. The second voice clip is The the EXACT same voice clip used in '06 when Sonic slides after a sweep kick. You can hear it here at exactly 0:09 in.

Whilst the he first voice clip sounds exactly like one of Sonic's grunts when he does a homing attack in '06, once again performed by Jason.

I swear, I've heard enough of Sonic's annoying grunts in '06 to know them when I hear them even when they're used in other media because of how annoyingly distinct they are

Edited July 21, 2011 by Verte

[Ferno]

Nah, Jason's "hiya!" sounds a little higher and a tiny bit more stretched out (in true "Jason" style,) to me.

Of the two grunts, the first sounds like when Sonic jumps in SA2, and the second sounds like something from Heroes, though I forget where.

v@Tiranno: I would +1 but I'm all out.

Edited July 21, 2011 by Inferno

[Unknown User]

v@Tiranno: I would +1 but I'm all out.

Here, I done it for you...I think?

[Vertekins]

The clip (at least my ears) I hear from today's video is from Sonic Heroes when Sonic slides at 20 seconds:

Whoa! The sliding voice effects in both games sound absolutely remarkable in their extreme similarity. TBH, I find that the voice in the Generations clip is slightly more identical to Jason's sliding clip in '06 but it's still very uncannily close to the one of Ryan's in Heroes during sliding.

[Dejablue]

what do you guys mean by todays video? excuse my crushing ignorance.

[Melru]

So off-topic but that video was just so, so cool. Man, I felt the love. I certainly did.

Anyway, on Voice actors.... I also fall in the camp that really likes Roger's voice acting. Definitely the strongest, he just knows how to adjust the voice to fit situation like a.... like a playful-yet-serious tone. At first I didn't know what to think of the deeper voice but I certainly grew to like a lot more than Ryan and Jason. Maybe it was after listening to Jason for a long time that I feel like Sonic works a bit better with a higher pitch, but damn, like I said, Roger grew on me.

Hammy is probably the best way to describe Ryan and Jason, lol. I've never known how to describe it, can't believe I've never used the term for it before. Like, I like their voices, I think it probably fits better than Roger, but the acting itself was just so funny, haha.

[Milo]

Amy's current VA needs major improvement. I couldn't tell the difference between her VA and Cream's VA, they BOTH sounded like Minnie Mouse.

[Dr Jackstraw]

Roger is god

fucking ezio, sonic, and CHRRIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSS

[Rynnec]

Amy's current VA needs major improvement. I couldn't tell the difference between her VA and Cream's VA, they BOTH sounded like Minnie Mouse.

If Cindy Robinson made Amy sound a little bit more like her

then that'd be perfect. As it is right now? bleh.

As far as Sonic's VAs go, I think Roger's the best. No questions asked. Ryan was...alright, and Jason improved toward the end, but Roger just nailed the role right off the bat.

[sonfan1984]

If Cindy Robinson made Amy sound a little bit more like her

then that'd be perfect. As it is right now? bleh.

Yes, that's the kind of voice I was hoping that Amy will have. If her voice sounds close to that then I'll be so happy. ^^

Edited July 21, 2011 by sonfan1984

[TheDanimator]

Ryan: The best in my opinion, some people say he had bad acting but my argument to that is that in SA 1 and 2 he had to drag out his lines to fit the lip sync, and the lines given to him were often times cheesy also. Also, the Sonic adventure titles had huge sound issues where the music would override the voices. I also dont see how anyone can deny that he sounds the most like Junichi. He was the first major voice of Sonic in the games and was replaced without much reason and disrespectfully. In my eyes he will always be the best voice of Sonic in the games.

People need to stop thinking he had bad acting just because of the dubbing process, his acting was fine. If you disagree, prove it by showing me a clip you think was bad that wasnt because of a script or dubbing issue. (If you want to debate about this PM me, I dont want to start problems on the boards)

Jason: He never did it for me. Some say he sounds like Ryan...I just dont hear it at all.

I used to hold ill will against him but hes not the one to blame. Voice direction obvioulsy played a role. Either way I have trouble playing games that he voices Sonic in because half the fun to me is playing as Sonic and when Jasons voicing him...It just doesnt feel like Sonic to me most of the time.

Roger: Excellent Sonic voice, a little below drummonds but im glad I can feel like im playing as my childhood hero again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVVVudAV1IQ

I just dont get how this is bad acting...

Edited July 21, 2011 by TheDanimator

[Nepenthe]

I'll just quote myself from that old voice actor topic I had:

I prefer Ryan to Jason for his voice even though the latter has the advantage of infinitely-better voice direction. Roger trumps both, being a better actor and having a range that Jason simply doesn't have as easily evidenced by his okay work on Shadow (FFS, get David Humphrey back) and dismal work on Jet; Free Riders and Colors are like night and day, the staple cheesiness versus a welcome level of cartoon casualness, but they both work.

I have little attachment to Jaleel now. He has the advantage of funny dialogue, especially in AoStH, but his voice can easily become obnoxious, especially with Urkel in the back of my mind. Ironically, I think Martin is a better fit for classic Sonic, mostly because he's so bombastic, with a nasally douchebag tone that makes him sound fittingly up himself. He's such a guilty pleasure that he's absolutely perfect for the role.

[Kuzu]

Ryan: The best in my opinion, some people say he had bad acting but my argument to that is that in SA 1 and 2 he had to drag out his lines to fit the lip sync, and the lines given to him were often times cheesy also. Also, the Sonic adventure titles had huge sound issues where the music would override the voices. I also dont see how anyone can deny that he sounds the most like Junichi. He was the first major voice of Sonic in the games and was replaced without much reason and disrespectfully. In my eyes he will always be the best voice of Sonic in the games.

People need to stop thinking he had bad acting just because of the dubbing process, his acting was fine. If you disagree, prove it by showing me a clip you think was bad that wasnt because of a script or dubbing issue. (If you want to debate about this PM me, I dont want to start problems on the boards)

[Marcello]

Drummond is still my favorite. His voice was perfect for Sonic. And his acting... I saw nothing wrong with it.