History VocalEvolution / VideoGames

** Peach's voice in ''64'' was originally a lot deeper sounding. She sounded more like a regal princess, instead of the higher pitched and bubbly voice she has today. However, starting with ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBrosWonder', Peach's voice started getting a bit deeper due to her current voice actress Samantha Kelly getting older.

** Peach's voice in ''64'' was originally a lot deeper sounding. She sounded more like a regal princess, instead of the higher pitched and bubbly voice she has today.

** Christopher Randolph's portrayal as Otacon's father, Huey Emmerich, in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidV'' [[GenerationXerox uses the same kind of voice he used for Otacon]], but is one of his more nuanced voice roles in the series: even if he sounds the same as his son, Randolph's Huey manages to nail the subtle differences between the two characters [[spoiler:the most notable one being that while Otacon is a NiceGuy, Huey is a DirtyCoward JerkAss, and it definitely shows in the voice acting alone]].

** If you make a playthrough of the two ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' games for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2, you can notice how much David Gallagher, Riku's voice actor, changed. In the first game most of his lines are completely emotionless and dead-sounding (which can be partially justified by the fact the character was in the dark side). In the second he started putting some feeling into it, and in ''Re: Chain of Memories'', he sounds perfectly okay.

* [[SpeakingSimlish Animalese]] sounds different in every ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'' game. The most obvious change to international fans is likely between the UsefulNotes/NintendoGamecube title and ''Wild World''. ''Wild World'' uses an Animalese that sounds more like the Japanese version of the games (which is higher pitched) and sounds more like generic gibberish than text-to-speech. There's also a conspicuous difference between ''Wild World'' and ''City Folk'', where the latter's Animalese sounds like a combination of the Gamecube and DS versions: high-pitched but still discernable. ''New Leaf'' utilizes a version of Animalese very similar to that in ''City Folk'', with the added feature of changing the pitch and dialect based on each character's personality (similarly to how Joan, Farley, Luna, and guest player characters use unique variations of Animalese when speaking). ''New Horizons'' further changes it by giving larger villagers slightly deeper voices than smaller ones, even when they're the same personality type.

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'':

** Sonic's first voice, Ryan Drummond, changed things up a little too. He sounds calmer in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'', then more energetic and a tad deeper for ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes''. His voice in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' is essentially middle-ground.
** Sonic's third voice, Creator/RogerCraigSmith, gave Sonic a highly sarcastic and playful tone during the generally lighthearted games of the 2010s. ''VideoGame/SonicFrontiers'' would have Smith sounding much more mature and down-to-earth to accompany the more serious plot.

** Creator/YuriLowenthal's three characters ([[VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem Marth, Merric]], and [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade Eliwood]]) all used to sound about the same. Marth has retained his vocal register throughout his alts (barring his Groom and Young alts), but Eliwood gained a deeper pitch from Yuri starting from his Valentine's alt. Merric wouldn't undergo any vocal evolution until over four years after ''Heroes''' launch, when he gained his Resplendent, and with it, a more hushed tone to complement his humble personality.
** Creator/PatrickSeitz's voice as [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade Hector]] made Hector sound like he was significantly older than he really is and sounded a bit awkward. Each Hector alt since launch has had Patrick adjust the voice a bit to fit better into what each one is supposed to be; Valentines Hector is more energetic, Legendary Hector is more heroic to match the "Legendary Hero" angle, and the Halloween Hector is older sounding to reflect this being Hector as a father.
** Creator/GregChun's performances as [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones Ephraim]] and [[VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance Ike]] sounded very similar and didn't do much to differentiate the two characters. The alts they would get later on do a better job giving them distinct performances. Ephraim uses a higher pitched voice and speaks with more bravado and flair befitting his hot-blooded personality. Meanwhile, Ike speaks in a deeper/more neutral voice with lines that are usually more subdued and casual to reflect his more down-to-earth nature.

** Beside TheOtherDarrin in effect, Bowser's current voice actor Creator/KennyJames started out in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' with a booming, threatening tone to his GutturalGrowler voice, which almost never faltered to keep him a frightening villain. Over time, especially in any spinoffs, Bowser would retain the ultra-low growling voice, but progressively sounded more expressive and cartoony akin to his previous voice Scott Burns. By the time of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey'', he even [[spoiler:imitates Mario's "wa-hoo" cheer at one point.]]

** The voice acting in the remake of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', since all of the original voice actors except one recreated their roles from the first game. Vulcan Raven and Sniper Wolf sound more natural, Snake and Meryl have better chemistry and both handle emotional scenes more competently, Liquid's accent sounds more convincing, Naomi sounds more deadpan compared to her lively and seductive performance in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'', Otacon's characteristic hesitating speech pattern and improvised 'um's and 'er's was replaced with an overall slow speech pattern; and the intonation of several lines was noticeably changed (such as Snake saying 'Oh, I had to take out that helicopter' in a shy way rather than an arrogant way).

** In ''{{VideoGame/Persona 3}}'', the otherwise SilentProtagonist has a few vocal lines (all of them in battle, usually when summoning a Persona). In English, he's voiced by Creator/YuriLowenthal in a fairly high-pitched voice akin to his [[KidHero usual roles]], just slightly huskier than normal. When ''VideoGame/PersonaQShadowOfTheLabyrinth'', the first game to feature the ''P3'' protagonist speak freely, Lowenthal's take on the character was drastically changed, with him now having a slow, deep, almost lethargic voice, as another Lowenthal-dubbed character, [[{{VideoGame/Persona 4}} Yosuke Hanamura]], is also in the game.
** In ''{{VideoGame/Persona 4}}'', the otherwise-silent protagonist has occasional battle lines, like the hero from ''Persona 3''. In the English dub of ''4'', his English voice actor, Creator/JohnnyYongBosch, also voices Tohru Adachi, and Yu's battle lines and Adachi's own voice sound similar in ''4.'' For Adachi's appearance in ''VideoGame/Persona4ArenaUltimax'', where Yu is no longer silent and speaks freely, Bosch altered his voice to be higher pitched to keep it distinct from Yu's own voice - this distinction was kept in ''VideoGame/Persona4DancingAllNight''. A similar thing happened when the game was adapted to [[Anime/Persona4TheAnimation an anime series]] - see the anime folder above for details on it.

* ''VideoGame/StarFox'':
** In the Japanese version of the ''VideoGame/StarFox'' franchise, Falco and Slippy's voices (Creator/HisaoEgawa and Kyoko Tonguu) have played them since ''VideoGame/StarFox64,'' and both of them have changed notably; Falco's voice is far deeper and mannish, while Slippy's voice is far less feminine than it was in ''64.'' Also, Leon's voice (played by Shinobu Satouchi) is low and smooth in ''64,'' but high and slightly flamboyant in ''VideoGame/StarFoxAssault'' and ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Brawl''. Likewise, compare Mike West's performance as Fox [=McCloud=] in the English release of ''64'' with his reprisal in ''Zero'' and onward. He puts forth a lot more emotion and effort into the role resulting in a performance that comes off as a very noteworthy improvement compared to 1997, and even [[ActingForTwo pulling his weight in voicing not only James McCloud once more]], [[TheOtherDarrin but also providing his own take on Andrew Oikonny and Wolf O'Donnell]]. Same goes for Lyssa Browne and her reprisal of Slippy Toad and Katt Monroe in ''Zero''. Her much-improved performance as Slippy, while still on the high side, and her more pleasing for the ears performance as Katt are nowhere close to how flat (Katt) and grating (Slippy) they were two decades prior.
** Creator/KenjiNojima only played Fox for two games (''VideoGame/StarFoxAssault'' and ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Brawl''), but already there is a noteworthy difference; it is slightly higher and more accented in the latter than the former.

* ''{{VideoGame/Neptunia}}:''

** Pamela Hayden's voice for Bianca also became much more helium pitched and cheery in ''[[VideoGame/SpyroEnterTheDragonfly Enter The Dragonfly]]'', compared to her take in ''[[VideoGame/SpyroYearOfTheDragon Year of the Dragon]]'' which was more low and deadpan. They don't even sound like the same actress.

* In the early ''VideoGame/FatalFury'' and ''Franchise/TheKingOfFighters'' games, Satoshi Hashimoto gave Kim Kaphwan [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT3zLbjTwq0 a rather youthful voice]] (outside of his epic Taekwondo-related screams). Around the time KOF 96 and 97 were released, Hashimoto gave him [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWpGxkbi1nI a quite deeper tone]] and kept it that way later, most likely to distinguish his Kim voice from his Terry Bogard one and reflect the fact that [[OlderThanTheyLook he (Kim) is actually in his 30's]]. Kim's newest seiyuu, Kazuhiko Nakata, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7xb21gflSw has kept the tradition.]]

* When VideoGame/AkatsukiBlitzkampf was released for the arcades as ''[[UpdatedReRelease Akatsuki Blitzkampf Ausf. Achse]]'', some characters got updated voice tracks that followed this trope. i.e., [[TheHero Akatsuki]] still possessed a deeper than usual voice but the delivery was more intense compared with the calmer-sounding original one, whereas [[BigBad Murakumo's]] initial TenorBoy voice became somewhat higher-pitched and quite louder. It's kinda funny since both Murakumo and Akatsuki were voiced by the same seiyuu.

* In the early ''VideoGame/FatalFury'' and ''Franchise/TheKingOfFighters'' games, Satoshi Hashimoto gave Kim Kaphwan [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT3zLbjTwq0 a rather youthful voice]] (outside of his epic Taekwondo-related screams). Around the time KOF 96 and 97 were released, Hashimoto gave him [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWpGxkbi1nI a quite deeper tone]] and kept it that way later, most likely to [[TalkingToHimself distinguish his Kim voice from his Terry Bogard one]] and reflect the fact that [[OlderThanTheyLook he (Kim) is actually in his 30's]]. Kim's newest seiyuu, Kazuhiko Nakata, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7xb21gflSw has kept the tradition.]]

* When VideoGame/AkatsukiBlitzkampf was released for the arcades as ''[[UpdatedReRelease Akatsuki Blitzkampf Ausf. Achse]]'', some characters got updated voice tracks that followed this trope. i.e., [[TheHero Akatsuki]] still possessed a deeper than usual voice but the delivery was more intense compared with the calmer-sounding original one, whereas [[BigBad Murakumo's]] initial TenorBoy voice became somewhat higher-pitched and quite louder. It's kinda funny since [[TalkingToHimself both Murakumo and Akatsuki were voiced by the same seiyuu.]]

* When VideoGame/AkatsukiBlitzkampf was released for the arcades as ''[[UpdatedReRelease Akatsuki Blitzkampf Ausf. Achse]]'', some characters got updated voice tracks that followed this trope. i.e., [[TheHero Akatsuki]] still possessed a [[BadassBaritone deeper than usual voice]] but the delivery was more intense compared with the calmer-sounding original one, whereas [[BigBad Murakumo's]] initial TenorBoy voice became somewhat higher-pitched and quite louder. It's kinda funny since [[TalkingToHimself both Murakumo and Akatsuki were voiced by the same seiyuu.]]

*** [[VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar Eldigan]] and [[VideoGame/FireEmblemEchoesShadowsOfValentia Lukas]], two more of Chun's characters in ''Heroes'', also sounded a lot like each other at the outset. Lukas' voice remained the same when he gained his picnicker alt, but Eldigan underwent some vocal evolution of his own for his masquerade/To Stay Dreaming alt. There, he booms with [[BadassBaritone a voice that is pitched significantly lower]] than Lukas', does not retain any of the rasp that Lukas' voice has, and better reflects his fierce, yet loyal and understanding character.

** Christopher Randolf's portrayal as Otacon's father, Huey Emmerich, in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidV'' [[GenerationXerox uses the same kind of voice he used for Otacon]], but is one of his more nuanced voice roles in the series: even if he sounds the same as his son, Randolf's Huey manages to nail the subtle differences between the two characters [[spoiler:the most notable one being that while Otacon is a NiceGuy, Huey is a DirtyCoward JerkAss, and it definitely shows in the voice acting alone]].

* [[SpeakingSimlish Animalese]] sounds different in every ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'' game. The most obvious change to international fans is likely between the UsefulNotes/NintendoGamecube title and ''Wild World''. ''Wild World'' uses an Animalese that sounds more like the Japanese version of the games (which is higher pitched) and sounds more like generic gibberish than text-to-speech. There's also a conspicuous difference between ''Wild World'' and ''City Folk'', where the latter's Animalese sounds like a combination of the Gamecube and DS versions: high-pitched but still discernable. ''New Leaf'' utilizes a version of Animalese very similar to that in ''City Folk'', with the added feature of changing the pitch and dialect based on each character's personality (similarly to how Joan, Farley, Luna, and guest player characters use unique variations of Animalese when speaking).

** The Japanese voice of Ansem, Creator/AkioOhtsuka, was similar in that his [[LargeHam hamminess]] in the first game was more grating than entertaining (Billy Zane is preferred even by Japanese players), but in ''Re: Chain of Memories'', he seemed to know what he was doing more and sounded a lot more pleasing.

** Creator/YuriLowenthal's three characters ([[VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem Marth, Merric]], and [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade Eliwood]]) all sounded about the same. When Valentine Eliwood and Groom Marth came out, Yuri gave Eliwood a deeper pitch in order to match Eliwood's more brave attitude, and Marth a lighter pitch to match Marth's more softer personality.

** Also, Creator/RichardEpcar in a podcast interview stated that he felt he gave a weak performance as Ansem in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' due to the voice direction he was given restraining him as trying (and failing) to imitate Billy Zane's glorious [[LargeHam hamminess]], and stated that he felt his performance in ''Re: Chain of Memories'' sounded much better and sinister-sounding. Fans seem to agree. Also in ''II'', Epcar voiced Terra-Xehanort with a much more youthful-sounding voice than he used for Ansem, but in subsequent appearances he plays them both the same.