No voice acting in Nintendo video games: What gives?

[treismac]

As video games become more and more like movies, Nintendo's refusal to use voice actors rather than text is baffling. I just came from Wal-Mart and my not quite literate six year old son had to have me read the text in the new WiiU Zelda game, which can't be a huge selling point for either parents of young children nor the children themselves. I know there are exceptions (Other M comes to mind), but they are the exception, unfortunately. Not using voice actors for flagship titles from such a large video game company is just cheap and, not to get on too much of a whining tangent, insulting. "We know hardcore Nintendo fans will buy ___ regardless of if we shell out money for voice acting, so why waste the money?"

Has this stuck out to anyone else? What reasons might the Big N have for this decision? For all of Nintendo's innovations they sure do stubbornly lag behind in more than a few areas of the industry.

[Tupin]

I've never gotten this with Zelda, especially. Do they know that there are games where the protagonist is completely silent and everyone else talks? I know they want Link to be essentially a self-insert for the player, but you can just imagine that you're actually Link if it's how you play.

Stuff like this isn't gonna change until the people at the top at Nintendo are gone, unfortunately.

[PreZZ]

Remember Metroid other m or the intro to mario sunshine? so awful!! I dont really care for voice acting in Nintendo games, and Zelda is way too hard for a 6 year old kid.

[Tupin]

Remember Metroid other m or the intro to mario sunshine? so awful!! I dont really care for voice acting in Nintendo games, and Zelda is way too hard for a 6 year old kid.
Give them access to a guidebook or something when they get lost and they're fine. Besides, comparing Other M to thousands of other games that actually have good voice acting and stories is an insult.

[The Adventurer]

Sounds like a good opportunity to sit with your kid and improve their reading skills while playing a game. You can do all the silly voices too!

[JSoup]

As someone who routinely starts a game by searching for a "turn shitty voice acting off" button in the options menu, I don't see the problem with the lack of voice acting.

[Rickstilwell1]

Yeah I'll second the reading part. Games that force you to teach your kids to read are better for them. The sooner they learn all the big words, the smarter they will become sooner. I learned to read quite young and games like Dragon Warrior really helped with that.

[Aussie2B]

I highly doubt it's a cost-cutting measure. It strikes me as an intentional design choice.

While I really love the voice acting in some games, I don't think EVERY game in existence needs to be fully-voiced, and I find it refreshing that Nintendo at least continues to release some games without voices. I kind of miss the days in which you'd simply read and use your own imagination as to how the character sounds and how the line is delivered. Sometimes that's even more immersive for me because bad acting, which is still prevalent in games in my opinion, especially in dubbed over Japanese games, really takes me out of the scene and the experience.

[buzz_n64]

I'm very glad that they minimize it. I hate the Mario and Yoshi voices. The GBA ports of many classic Mario games are made worse, at least to my ears when I hear shit like "lucky!" in Super Mario Bros. 2, and the Yoshi sounds when Yoshi jumps in Yoshi's Island.

[Leo_A]

Star Fox 64 has made me leery for 15 years now on Nintendo voice acting. But I wouldn't mind high quality voice acting where appropriate. I just hope that Link always reminds silent in Zelda releases like Gordon Freeman in the Half-Life franchise.

[Tanooki]

Cost nothing, it's entirely choice. Nintendo made it a choice years ago as they've been asked by the media about it before back in the Gamecube era when they clearly had the space versus N64 carts to do it. I remember a mix of reasons from not wanting to be stuck with something that not everyone will like (like how Sega regularly caught shit over voices in Sonic Adventure and later titles), people having creative minds to put their own voice to it, and just to promote reading too. Also for me and others, it's just easier and faster to speed read through something instead of having some slower paced windbag crap on about shit. I'll take any chance in a game to turn on subtitles so I can just interrupt rambling sentences once I've read the line.

[kupomogli]

Being Nintendo, I kind of expect something like this. First party titles from Nintendo tend to be rather cheap. Sure they look nice, but they also don't ever push the power of the hardware. Super Mario 3D World for instance. Sure it wouldn't be able to run on the Wii, but graphically it doesn't look too far off. It looks a bit better than Galaxy 2, but that's it, a bit better.

Nintendo couldn't even put in the effort for the 3D mode to be active anywhere in Pokemon X/Y except for battles, and even then it's some of the laziest 3D on the 3DS. Then there's Fire Emblem Awakening and the characters with no feet, and the reason isn't because it couldn't be done, but at first they didn't know how many joints they'd need for the body parts, and then after getting it done, they thought it'd be easier to just do without. Simply because it's easier and cost effective to not go back and fix it.

The games Nintendo pushes out isn't shovelware, well, some is, but they're all definitely low budget compared to most games.

[Rickstilwell1]

Being Nintendo, I kind of expect something like this. First party titles from Nintendo tend to be rather cheap. Sure they look nice, but they also don't ever push the power of the hardware. Super Mario 3D World for instance. Sure it wouldn't be able to run on the Wii, but graphically it doesn't look too far off. It looks a bit better than Galaxy 2, but that's it, a bit better.

Nintendo couldn't even put in the effort for the 3D mode to be active anywhere in Pokemon X/Y except for battles, and even then it's some of the laziest 3D on the 3DS. Then there's Fire Emblem Awakening and the characters with no feet, and the reason isn't because it couldn't be done, but at first they didn't know how many joints they'd need for the body parts, and then after getting it done, they thought it'd be easier to just do without. Simply because it's easier and cost effective to not go back and fix it.

The games Nintendo pushes out isn't shovelware, well, some is, but they're all definitely low budget compared to most games.

Exactly, and at the same time we read articles about how the "industry is going to crash because of corporations and too big of budgets for games." If anyone breaks the rule that those articles speak of it's Nintendo and some indie mobile game developers.

[The Adventurer]

Being Nintendo, I kind of expect something like this. First party titles from Nintendo tend to be rather cheap. Sure they look nice, but they also don't ever push the power of the hardware. Super Mario 3D World for instance. Sure it wouldn't be able to run on the Wii, but graphically it doesn't look too far off. It looks a bit better than Galaxy 2, but that's it, a bit better.


Hahaha. What is this?

Its like... if graphics aren't complex its must be 'cheap'. Never mind the aesthetic choice of game designers being the deciding factor in how games look.

EDIT: And further more, often times things that look 'simple' in final form aren't that simple to execute behind the scenes.

Like your Pokemon XY example. Do you know WHY the overworld lacks stereoscopic 3D? Because Game Freak was pushing the graphics capabilities of the 3DS to their Max and couldn't incorporate the necessarily graphic information necessary for 3D mode without sacrificing their graphical design for the game.

[kupomogli]

Like your Pokemon XY example. Do you know WHY the overworld lacks stereoscopic 3D? Because Game Freak was pushing the graphics capabilities of the 3DS to their Max and couldn't incorporate the necessarily graphic information necessary for 3D mode without sacrificing their graphical design for the game.

Battles in Pokemon X and Y have noticeable lag that sometimes drops to 15fps without the 3D even on, yet they had no problem including the 3D to an already lag ridden battle system. The reason why they didn't include 3D is because the world map is far larger and would have taken much more time, effort, and money. Chalk it up to Nintendo being cheap. Nothing more. The very first developer to have almost no 3D in the game and it's first party. Nintendo definitely setting a great example.

Pokemon X and Y are good looking games, but there are better looking games that have 3D throughout their entirety. Lords of Shadow Mirror of Fate(best looking 3D,) Resident Evil Revelations, SMT4, Tales of the Abyss, Dead or Alive Dimensions, Metal Gear Solid 3D(poor port though,) Mario Kart 7, etc.

*edit*

Oh, and Tales of the Abyss' 3D isn't very good, but that's besides the point. The game atleast has 3D throughout. They didn't just skimp out on the very feature Nintendo pushed as the selling point of the system.

[Aussie2B]

Uh, there's a reason why the 2DS launched at the same time as Pokemon X/Y. Prolonged use of the 3D mode isn't good for the developing eyes of young children, and a large percentage of the Pokemon demographic is young children. It doesn't make sense to have 3D throughout the entire, lengthy game when a ton of the players either won't have access to the 3D mode (because they have a 2DS) or aren't recommended to use it a great deal.

As for Fire Emblem, when Awakening was being developed, it wasn't exactly a flagship series for Nintendo anymore. Sales of each new release had been dwindling and dwindling, and had the sales of Awakening not been so great, it would've been the last Fire Emblem. The main reason it's such a well-received game is because the developers wanted, at the very least, for the series to go out with a bang. If they let one tiny, insignificant detail slide under those conditions, when they were putting so much effort into everything else, I can hardly blame them. It's not at all a matter of "omg nintendo is so cheap and lazy lol".

[Koa Zo]

Remember, reading is fundamental.

[Tanooki]

Come on now kupo there is an insider with Nintendo, he must be with all these big facts getting in the way of all the rational arguments here. This thread must be over because clearly Nintendo is cheap and that is that, nothing else ever comes into play with them other than cutting corners and sacrifices because they don't want to invest the time, money or effort into their work. :)

Funny how this went from voice acting into overall cheapness bashing isn't it? Even in their bigger days of the Wii and all their other non-first place profitable years they always have stuck to what I said in my post about voices and it makes sense. To start applying that to design decisions over the capabilities of the hardware, the learning curve of that hardware, or the target audience is just baiting a fight. Perhaps it would be best to stay on topic and make another thread dumping on their choices in design where it can either be ignored or debated.

[Gameguy]

I usually prefer games to not have too much voice acting, it's something less to screw up. There are games with good voice acting, but so many more with lousy acting.

[kupomogli]

Uh, there's a reason why the 2DS launched at the same time as Pokemon X/Y. Prolonged use of the 3D mode isn't good for the developing eyes of young children, and a large percentage of the Pokemon demographic is young children. It doesn't make sense to have 3D throughout the entire, lengthy game when a ton of the players either won't have access to the 3D mode (because they have a 2DS) or aren't recommended to use it a great deal.

So because they released 2DS it's fine that they just half ass their attempts on 3D now, the very selling point of the console in the first place? Super Mario 3D Land and New Super Mario Bros 2 will potentially have as much playtime as Pokemon X and Y for a kid and both are in 3D.

Leaving the 3D off one game isn't going to stop children from using it on other games on the system.

[Aussie2B]

Just because Nintendo chose to do one thing with Pokemon doesn't mean they're going to do the same thing with all future games.

But Tanooki makes a good point, this topic is about voice acting in Nintendo games. The use of 3D on the 3DS has nothing to do with anything here, besides your own random Nintendo bashing, so I'm not going to humor your trolling in this topic any further.

[kupomogli]

Not trolling the topic. The same reason Nintendo avoids voice acting in all of their games is the same reason that they cheap out on development costs everywhere else. So I think I'm very much on topic. If it was a die hard Nintendo fanboy saying such you guys wouldn't say anything, or maybe you would. There'd still be people saying him/her are trolling the topic because they don't agree with what they say. There are too many apologists in the video game community that back their favorite brand regardless what the flaws. Anyone who says anything different than the majority, the majority being fans, is trolling the company.

These same apologists have no problem being sheep and bashing EA because everyone else does. The company produces great games, yet any time they mess up and make a mistake, the entire video game community is there to bash them, but anytime their preferred company does wrong, they're there to drop down on their knees and suck some hypothetical dick.

[The Adventurer]

Not trolling the topic. The same reason Nintendo avoids voice acting in all of their games is the same reason that they cheap out on development costs everywhere else. So I think I'm very much on topic. If it was a die hard Nintendo fanboy saying such you guys wouldn't say anything, or maybe you would. There'd still be people saying him/her are trolling the topic because they don't agree with what they say. There are too many apologists in the video game community that back their favorite brand regardless what the flaws. Anyone who says anything different than the majority, the majority being fans, is trolling the company.

These same apologists have no problem being sheep and bashing EA because everyone else does. The company produces great games, yet any time they mess up and make a mistake, the entire video game community is there to bash them, but anytime their preferred company does wrong, they're there to drop down on their knees and suck some hypothetical dick.

You keep throwing the words 'cheap' around like they are accepted truth , without offering anything except circumstantial evidence (limited voice acting, simple colorful graphics) to back the claim. Your really full of yourself. And your 'everyone else is a sheep' ravings are clear evidence of that.

[Tanooki]

Not trolling the topic. The same reason Nintendo avoids voice acting in all of their games is the same reason that they cheap out on development costs everywhere else. So I think I'm very much on topic. If it was a die hard Nintendo fanboy saying such you guys wouldn't say anything, or maybe you would. There'd still be people saying him/her are trolling the topic because they don't agree with what they say. There are too many apologists in the video game community that back their favorite brand regardless what the flaws. Anyone who says anything different than the majority, the majority being fans, is trolling the company.

These same apologists have no problem being sheep and bashing EA because everyone else does. The company produces great games, yet any time they mess up and make a mistake, the entire video game community is there to bash them, but anytime their preferred company does wrong, they're there to drop down on their knees and suck some hypothetical dick.

No what you are saying up there is pure 100% trolling and off topic. You're bundling a bunch of personal beliefs based on wild opinion and packaging and displaying it like irrefutable fact. Do you have any hard evidence of such practices other than the fact they admittedly will put out a less powerful system to keep it within budget and not sell at a loss? I have no idea if you're a die hard Nintendo fanboy or not, so my comment had zero bearing on it, but clearly I guess you're not saying that so consider me surprised. It's not being an apologist taking quotes from both Nintendo and their third parties over the years that delve into the design principles on games and hardware, it's on record. They clearly have a vision with various things that are popuar or hated by the public, and in your case it appears to be hated. They want a cheaper system. They want people to have some imagination and want to have games characters speak through actions and emotion in their games (like Zelda) instead of using a voice after other first party disastrous (sonic) results. These are known things, it's not guessing and sucking up to kiss Nintendo's ass. If they were so infallible I wouldn't own a PS3 to get a fix from that, they're just not perfect but I won't damn them based on stupid opinion.

[BricatSegaFan]

hypothetical dick.


Lol this made me laugh

[Tron 2.0]

I thought nintendo avoided voice acting because of this ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HrJpGJJCzM

[kupomogli]

You're bundling a bunch of personal beliefs based on wild opinion and packaging and displaying it like irrefutable fact.

The whole, you didn't state it was an opinion, so it means you're trying to force fact on everyone!!!!!!! Should I go through your posts and quote all your opinions that you didn't state as such and point out that everything you're stating is irrefutable fact? Get the dick out of your mouth and use some common sense. Just because I'm saying something bad against Nintendo, doesn't mean it's a fact. Most of what I say is an opinion, as is most of what everyone that makes any post on the internet.

The Fire Emblem statement is the only one where I pointed out an actual fact. I didn't state that it was a fact but this was the only comment I made pointing out that it was statement from Nintendo. So common sense would mean I'm speaking of it as such. Why do I have to show proof of what the developer said? Do your hands not work when it will slander Nintendo in any way? You can't Google "why are there no feet in Fire Emblem" to come up with hundreds of different sources quoting the developer that they just decided they wouldn't.

Searching for this in Google took me all of two seconds.


Kusakihara: (Laughs) Well, they're there...they're just...omitted a little bit. The idea was to add a unique sort of deformation to the characters. As for why it ended up like this... At the start of the project, we weren't entirely sure how many bones and joints we'd be able to use in each character model. As it is now, there's a joint at the knees, and then there's nothing below that for the ankles and the feet. This makes it a bit easier to apply animation to models as well. We found out afterward that, with the 3DS, we had more than enough CPU strength available to flesh out the models a bit, add real ankles and so on. We were like "Well, if there's a next time, maybe there'll be more ankles..." (laughs)

Straight from the developer. They could have fixed it, they just didn't bother. No developer is going to come out and say they're cheap, so that's on the reader to decide.

Everything else was just pointing out the obvious. It's laggy in battles on Pokemon without 3D, yet they added 3D in battles but not everywhere else. Easy to come up with the assumption that they're just being cheap with the 3D when it's not everywhere else in the game.

[BlastProcessing402]

Prolonged use of the 3D mode isn't good for the developing eyes of young children,

This is actually most likely not the case (http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Nintendo-3DS-Handheld-Gaming-Charlie-Scibetta-Pediatric-Ophthalmologists,news-9607.html). Though Nintendo is still gonna be in cover your ass mode and claim under 7 shouldn't use it, just to head off absurd lawsuits, same as all those damn warnings about epilepsy they used to make everyone sit through for a while.

[buzz_n64]

http://replygif.net/i/187.gif

[JSoup]

I don't have any skin in this argument, but...


Why do I have to show proof of what the developer said? Do your hands not work when it will slander Nintendo in any way?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burden_of_proof

[kupomogli]

I don't have any skin in this argument, but...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burden_of_proof

Yeah, there's innocent until proven guilty, but I think in scenarios like this, it's not that the people don't know such and such has been said, it's someone making the statement that they want proof just to save face for their favored company or take a swing at someones credibility. Like someone isn't going to come back and post something that takes literally two seconds to find.

I think Nintendo has been proven many times over that they're not innocent. Don't worry Tanooki, you see how I put "I think" at the beginning of my post. It implies opinion. No need to cry like a bitch that I'm forcing my opinions on you as fact. You and Press_Start would be good friends.

[SuperEliteGamer]

Because Nintendo.

[Tanooki]

Stop trolling, seriously. I know you don't think much don't say that. :P

As the guy said you're making up the stories, you got the burden of proof. I could give two shits if Nintendo is evil incarnate or the patron saint of whatever god you may worship. But pulling out wild unprovable garbage of being cheap as the reason they don't use voices despite old claims they've made before doesn't help your case. I know you're shoveling an opinion, but the way you're pushing it isn't productive. Do as you wish, this is really getting pointless when you and elitegamer just circle jerk each other in various threads to stir the pot as it's getting boring.

Anyone who paid any attention to the FE development on 3DS knows the foot story, what's your point? They thought they could only go so far, late in development they say they could have feet, but instead of delaying the game, it just went out. It's not like it's a game breaking bug or something that'll ruin the enjoyment of the title, it's pixel feet. No need to make it out like some 9/11 implosion conspiracy theory ah-ha moment.

[kupomogli]

Anyone who paid any attention to the FE development on 3DS knows the foot story, what's your point? They thought they could only go so far, late in development they say they could have feet, but instead of delaying the game, it just went out. It's not like it's a game breaking bug or something that'll ruin the enjoyment of the title, it's pixel feet. No need to make it out like some 9/11 implosion conspiracy theory ah-ha moment.

No feet bothered enough people for the developer to make a statement about it.

See, and your post proves that's why it doesn't matter if I was to show proof or not, because as a typical fanboy, you just pull the wool over your eyes and brush the issue away like it's nothing. Sure the no feet thing isn't game breaking, so it's not a major issue, but I could bring up literally anything and it would be a non issue to you.

*edit*

Look what I found.


This goes to show that EA really is the king of rehash, do little new, and only upgrade the engine eventually when it's required to get away with it longer.

Because Nintendo has released so many new ips, they certainly don't reuse the same gameplay engine over and over. I mean Super Mario 3D World is no where near similar to Super Mario 3D Land. Mario Kart 8, 7, Wii, DS, Double Dash, etc, are completely different games. Not even close to be similar. Super Mario Galaxy as well. Mario Party. The list goes on. EA however has released Mirror's Edge, Dante's Inferno, Army of Two, The Saboteur, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, and Dead Space. Just a few new ips that they have funded and published.

[Daria]

...and Zelda is way too hard for a 6 year old kid.

I just find this quote really amusing considering I beat Zelda (nes) when I was six years old.

[Tanooki]

No douchebag, youre so caught up in throwing around the fanboy tag you are blind to the fact I really honestly dont give a shit if they have feet or if anything Nintendo puts out talks or not. Im not blind to what is or has been going on, I just reported what I saw, and other than that I dont give a fuck. I dont have any vested interest in Nintendo living or dying, I dont work for them, know anyone who does, and I dont own any stocks either. I really dont give a crap. Youre just so content in having anyone agree with you that when someone doesnt you get hot, shitty and defensive about it.

Your weak attempt at sarcasm digging up my dislike of EA to make a hollow point is laughable. Im not going to engage anymore of your bullshit in this thread any further as you seem to feed off it.

[SparTonberry]

Because Nintendo probably thinks we don't want to hear about how Link can't wait to bomb some Dodongos.

(and they're probably right)