Many of you remember that Sonic the Hedgehog got a new voice actor in Roger Craig Smith back in July. Roger revealed later that the Sonic voice actor for Alton Towers Resort was him. A lot of people out there weren’t too keen on the new voice, claiming that it’s too deep and too slow, but this was predicted to be the fault of editing work on the clips for the resort. Today, we can prove that the clips were indeed edited with the original high quality voice clips released by ArchangelUK on his Radio Redux shows, which you’ll notice are higher in pitch and a little faster than than those played at Alton Towers.
Folks over at the SSMB, Sonic Retro and SEGA Forums have had a good listen to the clips. So far, feedback is pretty good with most noting a significant improvement compared to past recordings. What do you guys think of the clips? Speak out in the comments.
Thanks to ArchangelUK for playing these and to Hero of Legend at the SSMB for getting a hold of them.
I like them a lot. I still like Drummond a bit more at the moment, but this is better than Griffith and once I hear him ingame, I may like him more than Drmmond.
Sounds AWESOME! 😀
A lot better 🙂 Sounds like a proper Sonic voice.
ah now thats much better =D
The quality on my download messed up, I can barely hear him. Damnit.
Much better. But I also would like to see his voice in game before I make a final decision. Here’s hoping we can get a clip of Kate Higgins as Tails. I would love to hear that.
Now that’s more like it I still like Jason more so I’m full time Griffith parttime Smith but why would they edit it slowly like like that in the first place especially sence Roger has played alot of deep voiced characters well the real test will be in soniccolors but for now I like this.
@HeroInferno:
That’s odd, perhaps I can send it to you another way?
As i’ve said before. Im gonna wait till colours comes out before i make a final decision on which Sonic voice i like the most.
And i’ll state again. Drummond is by far the worst.
Ok this sounds MUUUUUUUUUCH better
I fits him really good, there is still place for improvement though.
Unleashed level goodness. Now if these wouldn’t be so horrible one-liners. But I look forward to hear their voices in Colours.
Nothing new with Kate/Tails?
It’s good, but I still like Jason the best.
Ok, well it sounds much better but there something amiss about his voice, I doubt that in more dramatic moments, it will sound as good. I feel it just wouldnt sound right. Im probably jumping the gun here abit, but ah well.
These clips sounds like he on the beach >.< imagine him saying surf's up, and you might know what I mean .
Not bad. I think I can get used to it.
But I still want to hear Kate’s performance as Tails.
Does anyone have a link to her voicing a boy by any chance?
That sounds SO much better then the other recordings but it still needs more room for improvements.
Yes! Perfect! I like the voice, better than Drummond and Jason!
Still don’t like it. Sounds forced, and is too different from Ryan or Jason’s voices, who had a similar feel.
I really hope the other characters sound better than this, or that he improves majorly like Jason did… *sigh*
ahhh thats better. it doesnt hurt my ears to listen to him any more 😀
He sound better but his missing something in his voice.
He just don’t sound like sonic to me or doesn’t match my idea of how sonc should sound.
still not a fan.
Jason sounds awful when he first started as Sonic and it took him several years to improve and get Sonic’s voice right. Give Roger Craig Smith a chance to improve on his Sonic’s voice.
All american Sonic-voices sound the same to me 😐 I’d say its … erm … ok.
still can’t even begin to compare to Kanemaru-Sans performance and that Sonic seems to get a new voice every three games is starting to annoy me.
Cool, but im afraid to hearTail’s voice, the best was in adventure and even Heroes, after that, Tails sounds so girly.
I think this makes him sound younger than Ryan or Jason.
Much, much better 😀 I really do like it, but I need to get used to it……
I’m having trouble with the download website. Could it possibly be uploaded somewhere else? I keep getting a white screen when I click “Download This File”
To be honest, I don’t like it one bit! I mean the second one was ok, but, what was wrong with the original voice actor? I’ve been a fan of Sonic for a long time (especially Sonic X) and will be pretty disappointed to see Sonic’s Voice change. Like I said before, why change something when it’s perfectly appropiate as it is?
The 4Kids actors contract must’ve expired and they replaced the original voices (the Sonic Adventure/Heroes voices) cause Sega wants everybody to have the same voice actors in the games just in Sonic X.
Wow…
That f**ker nailed it…
That is the best Sonic voice I’ve ever heard. Do not tweak it.
Superchaos2585 @ I agree
.. Its better but.. that doesn’t sound like the sonic I know.. Jason pulled off sonic really well… this guy sounds like he is trying too hard and trying to sound like Jason and failing.. he sounds too young… and you can hear how he is trying to sound like Jason by how he finishes his words (I study the voice acting).. I can do a better sonic then him (Jason Sonic and sonic/Ryan) this depresses me..(makes video of all those lines and posts on youtube)
>_>
<_<
I still prefer Griffith
Eh, I guess he’s okay. Better than Griffith, anyway.
Hmm, so basically I was right when I posted this video a few weeks ago…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EBofLC6Q3I&feature=email
Although, he’s a great actor and this is for a theme-park hotel room. Don’t expect his acting to be this cheap in the game.
He’s done a voice a bit younger and higher pitch sounding before as Zagi in Tales of Vesperia, and in certain yells he sounds almost like it was Griffith voicing Zagi (And this was way before Roger had anything to do with Sonic). Even my friend thought it almost sounded like Griffith.
So, BlueBlurChrome, if Roger sounds like Griffith at all, hate to disappoint you… or..not(??) but he’s not trying to sound like him.
In Sonic Colors his grunts sound perfect. I’m sure all he’s gotta do is record liens for the scene and we’ll watch his super powers flow!
and it looks like we’re finally at the point where some say Ryan was the best, some say he was the worst, some say Griffith was the best and some say he was the worst. Meaning it’s evened now. =P Of chourse you don’t want your beloved actor replaced, but different people have different tastes and hey, multiple people get the chance to be the voice of Sonic…
..I for one hope Mardic gets a chance to voice as Sonic one day. And my friend PlatinumSpeed too. =) They’re awesome.
Hmm…Sounds really nice, now i won’t need to wait for the game just to hear the true results…But still, the game might have slightly different results. But still, not bad at all!
This is a huge improvement over Jasons Voice, in my opinion.
The up and down tone is gone, this sounds more down to earth.
sweeet, super stoked.
I still like drummonds voice the best, but im glad they got someone better.
I still say it would of made more since to just stick with drummond from the beggining, back then, There very little complaining about the voice actors.
Now the fanbase is totally devided, that tells me, Somebody somewhere screwed up.
better than jason,sounds near ryan quality =D
Really impressed. If he sounds even better in the games, then very impressed.
I have no beef with this voice, I had no beef with Griffith either… Drummond sure was great.
Sounds like Ryan Drummond crossed with Jaleel White. He’s pretty good. He actually makes Sonic sound like he’s young. I like it.
it actually sounds like griffith and ryan mixed together. griffiths sound with ryans attitude, dont yall think?
Beats Griffith by spades IMO. With proper dialogue, he could top Ryan.
Suddenly, I care about Sonic Colors.
@ MattZ19
I agree, but I hear a bit of Jaleel White’s young cookyness.
Roger is taking the best of everyone.
Now imagine him with real dialogue!
Sonic, checking out the consoles since 2010.
Can we have some more clips please? 12 seconds aren’t enough! 😛
I still think it’s a bit too deep, but not bad. Ryan’s still my favorite though. He captured that energetic young quality perfectly.
Am I the only one who thinks he sounds drunk or something?
I’m kinda upset they’re changing voice actors… Jason Griffith FINALLY nailed down Sonic in SATBK… and IMHO, was even better than Ryan Drummond in that game… It may have just been a fluke… but still, I think we should’ve waited a little longer.
Well… at least it’s nice to see the community (for the most part) isn’t at SEGA’s throat trying to change Sonic’s voice actor anymore…
@Aqualash
So voices make or break a game for you? If the game was total poop, but had great voices, you would play it?
People need to shut up about liking Drummond better….no one on this planet cares who you liked better, the man is not coming back….shut up.
I like this voice….its different, which is good. Its a new take on Sonic, he puts attitude into the voice, and it’ll be neat to see how he improves. I don’t want Sonic voice actors sounding EXACTLY the same as Drummond, because A: His voice acting in the most over-rated thing in the Sonic community, and B: Sonic fans need to hear, see and play new things to break them away from their Genesis and their baby bottles….seriously.
Not a fan. I agree with Chompy. Sounds forced, and completely unfitting to the style of voice I’ve grown accustomed to associating with Sonic. It doesn’t feel like a natural fit for the character, whether this guy is a decent VA or not.
God damn, I miss Jaleel. I would shit a brick made of pure joy if he ever got to do Sonic again. For real.
@MattZ19
I agree, it sounds like them mixed together, there were times i liked griffiths voice but personally it sounded too nerdy and had an annoying up and down tone, But roger doesn’t have that.
@Lanmanna
I can see aqualashes point, dont let this get to you aqualash! Its okay to be picky, people have to keep in mind Sound is a HUGE part of the game, Jasons voice can be so irritating to me that i would not purchase the game. Gameplay matters most, but to me they can make or break a game.
To some people its like if something has bad music, it throws off the whole feel of the game.
@Stan
I dont know you, but you sound like a total d*ck
People have made it quite obvious that they DO CARE about voices, personally it makes me feel good when i read about someone who likes ryan or jaleel the best, because i can relate to them.
So i care, dont go saying things like there facts when you dont even know.
A: Opinion, not fact.
B: It sounds to me that your talking down on the console that provided me with Sonic 3 and knuckles.
The best gaming experience of my life…Nobody here even mentioned the genesis that i see besides you btw.
Ryan could come back, theres a slim chance but there is a chance.
I could see SEGA using him for Sonic Adventure 3 at least.
After he was replaced he even had a meeting with someone at Sega about returning.
@Daniel you dont fool me you are nothing but a Griffith hater who makes up all these excuses to make yourself feeel better about syourself everytime someone praises Jason you have to make a damn paragraph about how awful he is Jason was not a bad actor and pportrayed Sonic pefrectly and Im gonna show you and all of you that
@ Daniel Butler.
Ryan coming back!? Are you still seriously entertaining that notion? They’ve just changed the voice actors to very high profile people, lol theres no way in hell they’re going to change him after only 1 game! You’d be barking mad to think that, absolutely barking.
I’ve been saying for weeks now, Rogers voice is pretty good and that the audio from Towers would not be the final cut at all due to a variety of factors, now that you’ve actually got some more treated VA samples, the fact that some people are still going off on one about Ryan or Jason returning is either blind fanboyerism or just refusing to wake up and face reality.
@ Daniel Butler
06 was basically an unfinished Adventure 3.
However we all know you love Ryan by now, you loose credibility if you go further, just as I did with waiting for Project Needlemouse info for like 3 months. (=
God I’m really glad I joined between Heroes and Shadow so Voice changing is not such a big deal for me.
Come on Sega, one cutscene of Colours with Sonic, Tails and Eggman.
@ Jordan
Can’t wait for that.
GASP! I\’m reading more praise than complaints for once! See? Now that we\’ve heard some high quality voice clips we\’re more keen on the change aren\’t we? I do agree some lines like \”Let pick up some speed!\” sound a tad bit forced, but everything else sounds top notch. Now for the other characters as soon as we get some clips.
Now THAT”S a Sonic Voice!
Thanks Roger. =D
@Jordan
I dont hate griffith as a person, I disliked his portrayol of Sonic.
Ive been with Sonic since day 1 like many of you, Just because i like drummond the best and want him back and never lose hope that one day he may return doesnt make me ignorant.
I like what i like.
Before you go judging me, take the time and get to know me.
@Casanova
I understand that Ryans probably not coming back, but he was one of my voice acting heroes…Put yourself in my shoes, of course you would have hope of him returning.
Let me clear up some things.
I dont hate griffith, I just dont like his portrayol of sonic, I think he did fine as shadow for the most part.
Im excited about Roger Craig smith
I want Ryan to come back, and will always support that, but understand he probably wont.
Wow, it almost sounds like Jason mixed with Ryan in one to me. It’s different but it fits.
You guys need to give it a rest with the voice war, seriously.
@BlueChaos
Don’t worry, bro, there is no war. In wars, one side wins.This is just a bunch of kids whining about what they want, and fooling themselves into thinking it could happen. Take Daniel for example…he thinks there’s a chance Ryan will come back…he’s crazy, plain and simple. Ryan Clown-man Drummond isn’t coming back, and people will have to learn to live with the decisions Sega makes, because they’re the ones pulling in the big bucks, and we’re the ones who fork it over regardless of what they do. 😛
@BlueChaos.
The voice war will never end.
@Stan
Your a freeking ass, Im sorry but you are.
Oh yes, im crazy just because i think theres a chance someone that was already givin the role as sonic once could get the role again at some point in the future.
You dont even know me.
“This is just a bunch of kids whining about what they want, and fooling themselves into thinking it could happen.”
Who do you think you are, coming on here and insulting everyone as a group, Stop wasting your freeking time on here then.
Crazy things have happened before, For instance
When Family Guy got cancelled, I wanted it to come back and against all odds it did.
“even though i dislike most of the new episodes”
When My favorite band Blink 182 Split up back in 2004, many people were saying THERE NOT COMING BACK GET OVER IT, Now there working on a new album.
Ryan was givin the part once, and yes, the odds are against him coming back
but your not a some freeking god, you dont know for 100% sure hes not coming back.
Sh*t
there are allot of jerks on here…
Im just a Sonic fan, like all of you.
I have opinions, just like everyone else.
@Jordan Why dont you stfu? Ryan and Jason belong to the past. Just let it go.
It’s a little more deeper
I guess its just a matter of getting used to, but anyways he did a good job
C: i might enjoy it in the game
Dang i like sonic’s voice starting from sonic and the secret rings all the way to sonic all star racing =/
@Stan Well, it’s fine if they prefer one VA better than the other because it’s the way they want Sonic to be portrayed. But when they go too far and start exclaiming crap like, ‘Ryan/Jason is the best/sucks!!’ it’s just plain narrow minded. Wishing for Ryan to come back to voicing Sonic is just a waste of time. He was mediocre at best imo.
They can like whoever they want as long as they don’t go imposing their opinions on others as if they were fact.
@Gamer18 Yeah, I mean does any Sonic related war end?
“Wishing for Ryan to come back to voicing Sonic is just a waste of time. He was mediocre at best imo.
They can like whoever they want as long as they don’t go imposing their opinions on others as if they were fact.”
Nice OPINION ya got there!
\”But when they go too far and start exclaiming crap like, ‘Ryan/Jason is the best/sucks!!’ it’s just plain narrow minded.\”
Which is a HUGE problem with this fanbase. People are too narrow minded.
These clips sound great. I now have full trust in this guy. But for what fucking retarded ass reason did Alton Towers slow down the clips for the ride and the hotel room? They sound so much better untouched.
Yup that’s guy is perfect as Sonic he’s just as good as Jason & Ryan
Remember when Sonic didn’t talk and the fanbase was more concerned with bashing the other consoles.
I miss those days.
Coincidently.
It makes me feel old. Real old.
Honestly, I’m not sure what to make of Roger’s voice, but I know this much:
The moment I heard the clips, a huge grin spread across my face. This man is our new Sonic, whether we like him or not, so we might as well enjoy what talent he brings to the table with him, eh?
@Daniel Butler: Mate, you’re free to like who you like, but mentioning Ryan at every single tiny opportunity is getting really tiresome. Please, pack it in. I want Hirokazu Yasuhara to come back and design another Sonic game – that doesn’t mean I have a right to annoy everyone by bringing Yasuhara up every time there’s a news story about Yojiro Ogawa.
You’ve said your piece. You said it six months ago, and almost every day since. We know. Please, give it a rest.
Spam spam spam… it feels like I’m reading spam. xD
I think I’m the only one who actually liked all the voice actors for Sonic and found them fitting for the specific eras and styles of Sonic they portrayed! OvO
Sure I may like one more than the other. But I’d never be obsessed or bash other voices. How can I want my favorite to be the voice so badly knowing others have different but equal opinions regarding a different actor? That’d make me feel mighty selfish.
I may also be the only one INTERESTED in Sonic constantly changing voices, always hearing a fresh, new style of the hedgehog.
Personally, I somewhat agree with Stan. I wouldn’t say it in such a mean way, but can’t we regard Jaleel, Ryan and Jason as a mere “I liked that one” and leave it at that? If any or all of them return one day and some day, awesome, but let it do it’s thing. Otherwise, embrace the future. I love the classics and the genesis, but I’m ready for more and something new and not so simple. As Stan said, they kind’ve ARE a baby bottle for a lot of fans.
It just worries me because I wonder how some of these people interract socially in real life. ^^;
But otherwise, I think the majority can agree that the voice currently sounds alright, the games look nice, and Sonic Fans = Sonic Friends. =3
Spam spam spam…. I feel like eating some Spam. 😛
Drummond’s voice was pretty good, and Griffith has gotten far better inthe past year or so. I think it’ll take a bit to get used to this new guy, but he’s doing a great job so far. 🙂
Now that i think about it….. sonic’s voice seems maturing with time too lol
Starting with Jaleel which was much high pitch, to roger….
Sonic Is hitting puberty :’)
jk
Bleh! Why does everyone keep making the puberty joke? xP
Going through puberty would be like his voice switching from sounding like Tails or Mickey Mouse to sounding like Jaleel White, not from a higher pitch already-cracked voice to slowly getting deeper. xD I mean.. they’re ALL voiced by grown men. XP
@ Ax
Well, it can become higher pitched, but also lower pitched in puberty.
Also Roger once voiced a fat child pig which was incredible high-pitched.
I knew he’ll make a good Sonic voice. Hopefully the script is better this time.
What pig character was this?
The one in Chicken Little.
Here a list with Roger’s most roles:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Craig_Smith
Well, it went from higher pitched jaleel white…”who could sometimes sound lower pitched”
to Ryan drummond who sounded lower pitched in sonic adventure “sometimes higher pitched”
then Ryan drummond changed to higher pitched in SA2 “sometimes he would do lower pitched lines still”
then to Jason who was all over the place “in the sonic x episodes ive seen he sounded higher pitched and then in many of the games he was really low pitched at times”
Roger kinda sounds in the middle like Ryan did in the first Sonic Adventure.
To me at least
I absolutely love the new voice. I already liked the way his voice sounded in the Alton Towers video but it just sounds phenomenal here.My favorite line was “Let’s pick up some speed!”.I could just imagine Sonic saying that before using boost or some other speed related move.Thanks guys for putting this stuff up here for us to hear. 🙂
…
Well it’s not HORRIBLE. He’ll grow into it, he’s a pretty talented guy, I think.
;_; *fist raises into the sky* Now THAT is a voice of a hedgehog.
@Eggman123/Daniel Butler
My point is Sonic has never had a voice that didn’t sound deep enough to obviously not be confused as a female’s voice like it would had he not gone through puberty like Tails. That’s the reason girls often voice little boys anyways =P All they gotta do is not use a “girly” speech pattern of an accent. xD
I mean come on! Sonic’s voice is only a LITTLE higher pitch than the average male voice. Ryan Drummond and Roger Craig Smith have REALLY deep voices. Most of the time, voices that deep are for bulky or tougher characters (Shadow, Big, Vector)
But all of this is over my swirly eyes (@_@ see? Swirly!) because people keep making a puberty joke. At least it’s just a joke. Cuz if anyone were serious, it’d just be stupid. And if it ever happened to Tails… oh lawd! xD
Which reminds me, how come no one complained when it happened to Knuckles? I like his voice now but I could’ve lived with his previous voice style, only slightly deeper than Sonic’s. After all, he’s a LOT like Sonic anyways! xD
Sounds decent. Definatly in on it.
As for anyone still talking about the people whose 5 year contract expired: Cool Story, Bro.
“Ryan Drummond and Roger Craig Smith have REALLY deep voices.”
No way man, Ryan’s voice was by far the highest out of the 3 (him, Jason, and Roger). Have you played Heroes recently? 😛
Jason’s was deepest (man, and it got deep) and I’d say Roger’s is fairly deep, just not as deep as Jason’s.
Just saying. 😛 I wish Roger would make his voice higher.
@Just A Comment
i think he meant either his normal voice or his voice in Sonic adventure 1
I’m only gonna say this once yes this voice is good I like it very much but alot of people I talkto agree a 12 second clip does not decide his performance the real test will be in Sonic Colors in November so I’m hoping the outcome is great especially sence this isint the sonic room voice.and second I ca care less if Kason returs if he meraciously does great if not then ok all I’m saying is that he was EXCELLENT as Sonic a legend despite the constant fan bitching and he to me will always be my favorite Sonic I’m just saying he IS NOTa bad actor I have seen roles he has done that surprised even me and I will defend him as Sonic. So like I said before I’m full time Jason part time Roger
@Just A Comment
No. lol You misunderstand. I mean Ryan Drummond’s REAL voice, not his Sonic voice! :3
Jason Griffith’s voice is the highest, and his acting goes off when he makes it higher to voice as Sonic, but when he voices Sonic closer to his real voice his acting is better.
Ryan Drummond’s Sonic voice is fake as his real voice is completely different and sounds like Knuckles (you can hear his real voice when he plays as Knuckles in Sonic Shuffle).
Roger’s real voice is also very deep and even a little rough, more like Espio or Chris from Resident Evil 5 (who Roger voices). That’s what I meant! 😀
And on a side not, Roger CAN do a higher voice. He did sound like Griffith almost (With a different acting style) as Zagi from Tales of Vesperia. But I’m confident that Roger’s pitch will go up and down deepending on expression like EVERYONE’S voice. lol
@Just A Comment Um, excuse me?
Ah! My bad.
Yes, you are right about that. 😀 Sorry for the confusion!
My ears…MY EARS
If similar ones are being used in Colours, I’ll never look at Sonic the same way again D:
hey look at this new LLZ screens with new gimmicks in the sonic 4 JP Site
http://sonic.sega.jp/SonicTheHedgehog4/
Bleh, they should have just stuck to Jason Griffith.
As soon as I heard the clip, I smiled. It’s not perfect, but We’ll get used to it.
Or we can just repeatedly play the Adventure series and Sonic Unleashed.
@Joe Higashi
It’s lucky then that Sonic Team have got the guys who wrote the story for Madworld doing this one then- they should give Sonic and co. some more believable line!
*Walks in the room*
*Sees all the posts*
…
*Backs out slowly*
OK this is GOOD but i like Jason and Ryan and Roger to i mean it Roger have a DEEP voice and Jason High and Ryan Middle voice 😉
Better than the original “consoles” voice.
I think I’ll get used to it. All I’m gonna say.
Am I the only person who has liked all of Sonic’s voice actors? Well, maybe save for the VA from Sonic the Movie…
I don’t like it at all, I was just getting used to Griffith. Maybe once I hear a little bit more he’ll fall into place.