History VocalEvolution / VideoGames

** In the English dub of first game, there was little to no difference between the voices of Noire and her SuperMode Black Heart. Over the next couple of games, Creator/ErinFitzgerald started giving Black Heart an increasingly deeper voice. The Japanese version also has Creator/AsamiImai changing White Heart's delivery from slightly livier than Noire's to a deeper tone.

** Creator/MikePollock's voice as Eggman has also undergone many great changes, from a near-exact match for the late Deem Bristow to menacing and serious in ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' to [[LargeHam hamming it]] UpToEleven in ''VideoGame/SonicColors'' and ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations''.

** 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 alot more pleasing.

** The first thing you notice in moving from ''Kingdom Hearts I'' to ''II'' is that Creator/HaleyJoelOsment has hit puberty. This is especially notable when playing Re:Chain of Memories, as it uses the first game's character model. It isn't so bad in II as Sora looks older, but young Sora with an older voice is [[VocalDissonance jarring]]. [[BlatantLies Everyone knows]] [[WildMassGuessing that he just happened to hit puberty sometime between running after Pluto in that grassy landscape and entering Castle Oblivion]].

* Creator/MattSloan's rendering of Darth Vader's voice in ''VideoGame/TheForceUnleashed'' was a rich baritone that was almost a dead ringer for Creator/JamesEarlJones. Fast forward to his performance in ''VideoGame/StarWarsBattlefront2015'', and Vader's voice has become noticeably higher and is possessed of a distinct echo that wasn't there before. This was because Sloan doesn't sound like that naturally (unlike James Earl Jones). His natural voice is quite high-pitched, he merely mimics Jones' speaking style and his voice is electronically deepened to a similar pitch, which wasn't done correctly here. In ''Videogame/StarWarsBattlefrontII2017'', he is back to sounding like he did in ''TFU''. In ''[[Videogame/LegoStarWars Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga]]'', he speaks with Jones' Mid-Atlantic accent.

* Creator/MattSloan's rendering of Darth Vader's voice in ''VideoGame/TheForceUnleashed'' was a rich baritone that was almost a dead ringer for Creator/JamesEarlJones. Fast forward to his performance in ''VideoGame/StarWarsBattlefront2015'', and Vader's voice has become noticeably higher and is possessed of a distinct echo that wasn't there before. This was because Sloan doesn't sound like that naturally (unlike James Earl Jones). His natural voice is quite high-pitched, he merely mimics Jones' speaking style and his voice is electronically deepened to a similar pitch, which wasn't done correctly here. In ''Videogame/StarWarsBattlefrontII2017'', he is back to sounding like he did in ''TFU''.

** In the English dub of first game, there was little to no difference between the voices of Noire and her SuperMode Black Heart. Over the next couple of games, Creator/ErinFitzgerald started giving Black Heart an increasingly deeper voice. The Japanese version also has Creator/AsamiImai giving White Heart a lower tone by ''VII'', while she had previously only sounded a bit livelier than her default form.

** In the English dub of first game, there was little to no difference between the voices of Noire and her SuperMode Black Heart. Over the next couple of games, Creator/ErinFitzgerald started giving Black Heart an increasingly deeper voice.

* In the early ''Franchise/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.]]

* In the early ''VideoGame/FatalFury'' and ''VideoGame/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.]]

** The voice acting in the remake of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' is pretty uniformly decried as being worse than the original; however, all of the original voice actors except one recreated their roles from the first game. While some of this is TheyChangedItNowItSucks (Vulcan Raven and Sniper Wolf are particularly improved, Snake and Meryl have better chemistry and both handle emotional scenes more competently, and Liquid's accent sounds more convincing), Naomi's totally deadpan voice (especially when compared to her lively and seductive performance in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4''); the absence of Otacon's characteristic hesitating speech pattern and improvised 'um's and 'er's to be replaced with an overall, slow speech pattern; dreadful LipLock to the point where they completely stopped bothering even trying to maintain lip sync after the torture sequence; and the intonation of several lines being botched so much as to remove all meaning (such as Snake saying 'Oh, I had to take out that helicopter' in a shy way rather than an arrogant way, which no-one would have noticed if not for the line being mentioned by Otacon in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'' as proof that Snake was a ''show-off'') are particularly jarring. Budget and casting issues were blamed for this - story goes that, other than Snake, they weren't going to use the original cast, and it was David Hayter who persuaded the company to bring back the original [=VAs=] - for enormously reduced pay. Although, to his own credit, he took a pay cut himself in order to accommodate the return of the original cast.
*** Mei Ling and Naomi in ''Twin Snakes'' suffer from a serious case of NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent, but Mei Ling's case suited her character better, since she was at least raised in the States for much of her life.

** 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.

** And then there's Mario's brother, done by the same actor. Martinet's Luigi has always been lower pitched and more down to earth than Mario's voice, but as Luigi's characterization became apparent, the voice changed to fit. His voice was quite deep and confidant in games like ''Mario Kart 64'' and ''Mario Golf''. Starting with ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2 Super Mario Advance]]'' and ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion'' Luigi's voice became nasally, skittish and a bit timid and had drifted slightly higher. [[note]]Though ''VideoGame/MarioKartSuperCircuit'' and ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosMelee'' reverted back to his N64-era voice, his deeper, nasal voice finally stuck from 2002 and onward.[[/note]]

** Creator/GregChun's performances as [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones Ephraim]], [[VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance Ike]], and [[VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar Eldigan]] sounded very similar and didn't do much to differentiate the three 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. 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, and Eldigan booms with [[BadassBaritone a voice that is pitched the lowest of the three]] and better reflects his fierce, yet loyal and understanding character.

** Creator/GregChun's performance as [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones Ephraim]] and [[VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance Ike]] sounded very similar and didn't really do much to differentiate them. The alts after their release do a better job giving them distinct performances: Ephraim uses a high pitched voice and speaks with more bravado and flair befitting his more noble background, while Ike speaks in a more neutral/deeper voice and his lines are usually more subdued and casual to reflect his commoner history.

** Plutia's Japanese voice has become noticably higher-pitched over the years. This could be due to her being OutOfFocus for a couple of real life years after her first appearance, so it's possible that Creator/KanaHanazawa forgot how she originally voiced the character.

** 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.

* ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTenseiPersona'':

* Creator/MattSloan's rendering of Darth Vader's voice in ''VideoGame/TheForceUnleashed'' was a rich baritone that was almost a dead ringer for Creator/JamesEarlJones. Fast forward to his performance in ''VideoGame/StarWarsBattlefront2015'', and Vader's voice has become noticeably higher and is possessed of a distinct echo that wasn't there before. This was because Sloan doesn't sound like that naturally (unlike James Earl Jones), he merely mimics Jones' speaking style and his voice is electronically deepened to a similar pitch and it wasn't done correctly here. In ''Videogame/StarWarsBattlefrontII2017'', he is back to sounding like he did in ''TFU''.

* ''Franchise/MassEffect'' - the biggest single change is probably Tali, whose voice is a lot higher (and less accented) in the first game than the following two. Also, whether you're talking about Creator/JenniferHale or Mark Meer, Commander Shepard's voice changes noticeably as they become less of an EscapistCharacter and [[ShellShockedVeteran more jaded.]]

** Comparing [[Creator/JasonGriffith the voice of]] Sonic from ''Anime/SonicX'' and ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'', it's hard to believe that he had the same voice actor back then. Even fans who liked him before the evolution noticed and approved.
** His 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.

** Cindy Robinson's take on Amy was initially a rather squeaky Minnie Mouse-ish falsetto type voice. As games progressed, and especially following her work on ''WesternAnimation/SonicBoom'', her voice sounds much more relaxed and younger sounding, closer to how previous actors portrayed her. Between ''VideoGame/SonicLostWorlds'' and ''VideoGame/SonicForces'', Amy's voice in the games switched to match her ''Sonic Boom'' voice.

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemHeroes'', 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 and Marth a lighter pitch to differentiate them.

** The first thing you notice in moving from ''Kingdom Hearts I'' to ''II'' is that HaleyJoelOsment has hit puberty. This is especially notable when playing Re:Chain of Memories, as it uses the first game's character model. It isn't so bad in II as Sora looks older, but young Sora with an older voice is [[VocalDissonance jarring]]. [[BlatantLies Everyone knows]] [[WildMassGuessing that he just happened to hit puberty sometime between running after Pluto in that grassy landscape and entering Castle Oblivion]].

** And then there's Mario's brother, done by the same actor. Martinet's Luigi has always been lower pitched and more down to earth than Mario's voice, but as Luigi's characterization became apparent, the voice changed to fit. His voice was quite deep and confidant in games like ''Mario Kart 64'' and ''Mario Golf''. Starting with ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion'' Luigi's voice became nasally, skittish and a bit timid and had drifted slightly higher.

** Cindy Robinson's take on Amy was initially a rather squeaky Minnie Mouse-ish falsetto type voice. As games progressed, and especially following her work on ''Sonic Boom'', her voice sounds much more relaxed and younger sounding, closer to how previous actors portrayed her.