Spoilers below — some late-game scenes from Pokémon Scarlet & Violet appear in this video!
Amongst all the criticisms and praise for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, one particular issue has come to the surface most recently: The lack of voice acting. The Pokémon series has never had voice acting, of course, but Pokémon Scarlet and Violet feels like it should. The increase in cinematic cutscenes means that we’re treated to a bunch of silent mouth-flapping that seems incredibly awkward without voice actors speaking the lines.
But YouTuber Dr. Bonehead has corralled a few of his voice-over friends to imagine a world in which the latest Pokémon games had full, professional-quality voice-over as well as audio work, and it adds a great deal of personality and emotion to the scenes portrayed.
But, yes, spoilers. Watch with caution!
We’re not sure how Game Freak would handle voice acting, although we have some precedent to examine. After all, there’s a whole voice-acted Pokémon anime, isn’t there? But the closest we’ve come to a voiced Pokémon game is this clip featuring Sword and Shield’s female protagonist, which is, um, very British:
Our old pal Jon Cartwright even gave voicing Nemona a go, although we don’t know if he quite nailed it:
So, what do you think? Would you want a voice-acted Pokémon game, or would it ruin it for you? Do you think Game Freak would pick a good voice cast? And who would Troy Baker play? Give us your thoughts in the comments below!