50 Worst Videogame Voice Acting Moments

Greg Tito

PR for Dungeons & Dragons
Sep 29, 2005
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50 Worst Videogame Voice Acting Moments



If you've been playing games for any length of time, it is likely that you've experienced some of the worst voice acting ever recorded by human beings.

An assiduous YouTube poster, dirtFilledCoffin, has compiled audioatrocities.com [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulbotKa5LnM]. The list of clips in the video is by no means exhaustive, but it is definitely worth a listen to truly appreciate bad acting in all its glory. Here are some of my favorites:

49. Shenmue II, "I didn't ask to be photographed." Pause, pause, pause. "WHAT DID YOU SAY?"

40. Shining Force III, in an effeminate voice, "Now, bear my arctic blast!"

38. Tenchu Stealth Assassin, "Your arrows are like you, weak and twisted. I fear them ... NOT!"

29. Countdown Vampires, cute female voice "It hurts a bit, but [suddenly happy]I can walk."

22. Chaos Wars II, "Now I think I've got my head around this different dimensions business, but HOW DO I GET BACK TO TOKYO?"

18. WinBack: Covert Operations, "Tom left a message. He wrote it on the floor in his blood." Answering authority figure "In his blood? Way to go, kid!"

11. Disaster Report, "I have to stay alive and write this article before I die." "Ok" [Author's note: This is what it's like in the office here at The Escapist.]

3. Mega Man 8, drunken old man says "When we find that meteor, we'll find Dr. Wowee [Wiley]."

These are just a few of the gems in the video. You really should listen to them all. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulbotKa5LnM]

It's difficult to say whether these bits are bad because of the actors or the sub-par writing. It's a combination of both, really. Many of the games on the list are Japanese imports, so it is safe to say that these clips are the result of poor culture/language translation on top of poor acting. Forgivable, sure, but it makes for a good chuckle or two.

Audioatrocities.com [http://audioatrocities.com/index.html] is a self-described online museum with for awful voiceover acting in videogames from the Turbo Graphx 16, the first console with CD quality sound, to the present day consoles. The site appears to be in the growing stage, with only about 60 games listed with each having 10 or 20 soundbites of truly deplorable acting. The list is heavily skewed to Playstation and Turbographix 16 titles at the moment and I'm sure they would welcome any submissions.

With so many Hollywood stars voicing videogames, I'd like to say that voice acting has improved significantly from when most of these games were made. That isn't exactly true, unfortunately. I'm sure you have encountered some terrible acting in 2009. Pretty much anything from Wet or whatever comes out of Welch's mouth in Star Ocean IV come to mind. What are some the amazingly abhorrent voice acting lines you've heard recently in games?

(Image [http://www.flickr.com/photos/kit_mal/360711564/])

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SharPhoe

The Nice-talgia Kerrick
Feb 28, 2009
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_zuul said:
worst videogame voice acting moments?

every jrpg ever
...I won't get started. I just won't.

OT: I'm actually surprised Chaos Wars didn't get more places in this countdown. I've heard excerpts from that game, and I wanted to cry from laughing so hard.

I love #35, 'cause it sounds like The guy almost flubbed his line.
 

_zuul

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Nov 9, 2009
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Amnestic said:
_zuul said:
worst videogame voice acting moments?

every jrpg ever
Wrong.

Just this one:


ok i did lol.

but you only win by technicality.
i was wrong, i forgot annoying dialog is universal
 

CrysisMcGee

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Sep 2, 2009
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I have been fortunate. Myself, I have not run across any games on PC that have horrible voice acting. I'm not sure why, but to me it seems PC gaming as a whole has better voice acting on average.

That aside, I would like to say MGS4. Based on simply the videos I've seen, the voice acting seems sub-par. Along with the bad writing.
 

_zuul

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Nov 9, 2009
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CrysisMcGee said:
That aside, I would like to say MGS4. Based on simply the videos I've seen, the voice acting seems sub-par. Along with the bad writing.


IF YOU WON'T BE A PRISONER OF FATE, THEN FULFILL YOUR DESTINY

lolwut.


also i skipped about every cutscene when i played mgs4. the horror, the horror...
 
Aug 25, 2009
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Metal Gear.

Metal Gear?

Metal Gear!

All right so it's more bad script, but the absolute over the topness of most of MGS dialogue makes me chuckle
 

w-Jinksy

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May 30, 2009
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are we forgetting the most idiotic line ever delivered?

"BROOOOOTHERRRR!!!"

its not really the line but the way its delivered and i mean the one from the original mgs.
 

SharPhoe

The Nice-talgia Kerrick
Feb 28, 2009
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HardRockSamurai said:
...how the hell is ^that^ not on the list...
Random argument man said:
It's even bad in japanese...
The reason that's so bad is because the laughing is SUPPOSED to sound forced. Tidus is trying to get Yuna to simply laugh off her troubles, and he gives an exaggerated demonstration of how to laugh as a bit of a joke.
 

Otterpoet

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Jun 6, 2008
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Keepsake (for the PC) should have been there somewhere. Truly some of the worst voice acting EVAR. http://www.gametrailers.com/video/trailer-keepsake/8906

Nathaniel (the guy in the trailer) constantly sounds like he's about to die from a Sominex overdose and the character Mustavio's accent is so over-the-top that I'm amazed the Italian Anti-Defamation League didn't sue them :p