SEGA confirms Sonic Frontiers will feature the full usual voice cast
The Sonic franchise has had a bit of a, shall we say, tumultuous relationship with its stable of voice actors this year. Though the series hasn’t seen any major shake-ups of its talent since 2010’s Sonic Free Riders – and even before that, the 4Kids folks got a pretty decent six-year stint – it seemed to finally be coming to pass earlier this spring. The first domino fell when Roger Craig Smith, longtime voice of Sonic himself, announced on Twitter that he’d be departing the role for undisclosed reasons; putting an abrupt end to a storied gig that had seen him portray the Blue Blur in several games, the cult classic Sonic Boom TV series, and even Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph.
Voice actor uncertainty
Fans who had grown up with Craig Smith in the role were understandably distraught by the news, especially as it had seemed to come completely out of left field. Many speculated (as we did, actually) that there had been some sort of fallout behind the scenes at SEGA. Perhaps the higher-ups fancied cheaper actors, or maybe there’d been a bust-up that led to ‘creative differences’ – industry code for ‘we can’t stand ’em.’ Sadly, Rogergate was only the beginning of what proved to be a very tense time for Sonic fans.
Not long after, Tails’ actress Colleen O’Shaughnessey announced she had absolutely no clue whether she’d be back in future projects; Amy Rose’s voice Cindy Robinson declared she was “shipping out”; and fan-favourite Dr. Eggman performer Mike Pollock, in his typical New Yorker snark, declined to offer an answer one way or another to desperate fans, preferring to just sit back and stir the pot, popcorn in hand.
Ultimately, a lot of these concerns were quashed. Pollock, Craig Smith and O’Shaughnessey all confirmed their reinstatement eventually (Robinson has yet to do so, but she’s also a fairly safe bet, as you’ll soon see) suggesting that whatever had initially burned those bridges with the boys in blue had been patched up. We may never know what happened, but hey – the gang was back. Even so, it’s easy to appreciate why players remained skeptical about how Sonic and his technicolour compadres would sound upon the announcement of his new outing, Sonic Frontiers. Frontiers, incidentally, being one of the worst-kept secrets in recent gaming history. I’m not kidding. This thing was plastered all over Reddit this time last year.
Official statement on Sonic Frontiers voice cast
Luckily, they needn’t worry. As NintendoLife reports, the full post-2010 Sonic voice cast will be returning for Breath of the Hedgehog. During the season finale of SEGA’s recurring ‘Sonic Official’ livestream, social media manager Justin Thormann had the following to say:
“One big thing I should mention, the entire voice cast is returning for Frontiers. We’ve got Roger as Sonic, we’ve got Colleen returning as Tails, everybody’s come back. Cindy is Amy – Amy’s voice is actually what you heard in the trailer. I know some people online were a little confused about that, but it’s confirmed from me – that’s Amy. So all of the gang is back, they sound amazing – everybody is bringing their ‘A game’ on this one.”
See, I told you Cindy was a sure thing. I’m a spoilery git, ain’t I?
This is about as blatant a confirmation as it’s possible for fans to get on this matter; and I must admit it is rather comforting to have the ol’ crew back together for what looks like it could be a radical, refreshing (if not Zelda-esque) new direction for everyone’s favourite rodent.
How about you? Are you pleased, reassured or otherwise assuaged by this Frontiers news? Let us know!
Via, NintendoLife.
