Voice Talents Behind X and Zero in PXZ
If there’s one thing I like most about Project Cross Zone so far, it’s the attention to detail. Everything about X and Zero appears to be modeled after Mega Man X4: their attacks, their game locale, even the artwork does a fine job of mimicking the style from then. It certainly helps that X4 is one of my favorites of the series, too.
Yet another area where Banpresto has done their homework is the voice acting, because the talents behind X and Zero are no strangers to the characters. According to the recent Famitsu article, X is being voiced by Takahiro Sakurai. Sakurai provided the voice of X in his more recent games Command Mission, X8 and Maverick Hunter X.
Meanwhile, Zero is voiced by none other than Ryotaro Okiayu. Okiayu has exclusively voiced Zero from X4 and on. He’s also voiced Proto Man, Shadow Man and Turbo Man in some of the classic series outings.
While I’m not terribly excited for PXZ as a game itself, it is of course neat to see the support of X and Zero and the detail they’re getting. I wonder what else will be used, in terms of characters, music and mechanics?
Tags: Project Cross Zone, PXZ, voice actor, X, Zero
Filed under: Mega Man News
Let’s hope if the game does come over state side the voice actors of X and Zero from X8 and Maverick Hunter X are used to. Wait, the voice actors and both those games “where” the same right?
hmmmm Jhonny Yong Bosch for Zero if english translated…
Bosch would be nice for a potential dub, but I’ll always prefer Lucas Gilbertson <3
As long X doesn’t sound like he did in during his cutscenes in the USA release of X4, I’m good. Having MegaMan sound like a girl in MegaMan 8 was bad enough, but X… Seriously, what was Capcom thinking then?
X sounded just fine with a girly voice to me, and he sounds fine now too. I’m glad X is back in action!
cr055x: I could do without X7′s, whose voice actor seemingly stopped reading about his character at the word “robot”.
JYB will voice both X and Zero.
JYB will voice every character in the game. Except Yuri Lowell. Troy Baker will cut people for that role.
But that’s implying we even get an SRPG over here. They’re not terribly popular in America.
@STM You must not be aware of the fanbase for the Nippon Ichi Software games. Their titles like Disgaea are pretty dang popular. There are other games too like the Fire Emblem series. People just don’t hear about them cause all the media wants to do is yap on and on about the latest FPS game from EA games or something like that. …and I’m sorry, but Jhonny Yong Bosch for the .Hack// characters and KOS-MOS? Yeaa…. No. Sorry, not going with that one. XD
Bosch would probably be Zero as Gilbertson is nowhere to be seen.
But I am curious as to who they would get as X? Ian James Corlett (does he even act anymore)? Certainly not Dr. Gatha as he’s unfortunately retired.
@STM: That would only be acceptable if we could see X, Ryu, and Ken using Triple Hadoukens and Triple Shoryoukens.
I hope they wouldn’t dub it.
Personally really hate dubs and Johnny Yong Bosch would be every voice actor.
Wait, Ryotaro Okiayu voiced Turbo Man? Since when did Turbo Man ever talk?
Did they talk in Power Fighters? Wait, was he even in Power Fighters? >_<
Eh I didn’t like Bosch as Zero very much. That guy voices tons of characters and hearing his voice everywhere gets stale. Nothing against Bosch himself though. Anyway, Lucas Gilbertson and Mark Gatha will always be X and Zero to me, so any new talent voicing them is going to require some getting used to for me.
I liked X’s voice in X7. He reminded me of Himura Kenshin. The two characters [Kenshin and X] are pretty similar, so it didn’t bother me at all. I liked the righteous indignation he had going.
But any of the previous voice actors would be fine with me. Except for X4 Zero… lol
Yuri Lowenthal for X. Calling it now. X would sound perfect with Yuri at the wheel, and him and JYB are kind of inseparable when it comes to most roles. If one voices a character, one’s not too far behind. I can see it happening, and I welcome the change.
I always found X4 to be overrated. X5 had better gameplay and story during the PS1 era of X games and Iris was not as great as people make her out to be.
As for the voices, for a dub version I’d give it a toss up between wanting Gilbertson or Bosch (leaning more towards Bosch) as the voice of Zero. As for X, since Gatha seems to be done with voice acting (damn shame too), I’d have to say they should get Richard Cansino to voice him.
I’m huge on voice acting (I’m actually doing a little voice acting myself) and I’d have to say since Mark Gatha is now a doctor and obviously won’t be doing the role, that I think the best replacement for him would be Chris Patton. If you listen to his voice-over work in Full Metal Panic, he sounds a lot like Mark Gatha. I think he’d be a great replacement.
As for Zero, while I really miss Lucas Gilbertson, (my personal favorite Zero VA) Johnny Yong Bosch is a good replacement. Sure a lot of people are tired of hearing his voice everywhere but he sounds…somewhat similar sometimes to Lucas. And he pronounces japanese named attacks really well and gives them lots of energy.
That’s just my take on them though. Just be glad Zero doesn’t have a terrible english voice actor like from X4 anymore. You can’t deny JYB has talent, he just gets cast in too many things. :/
@DurffPhones: If that guy from X4 had gotten any better at VA work, I would love to have him on board. In my opinion, all of them are Zero.
Sweet voices to hear.
@Glitcher: In Battle & Chase (Quick Man’s ending).
The first thing that came to mind when seeing this was, of course, the thought of a localized version using X4′s voice actor(actress?) for X. Which would amuse me actually. “It’s time to get serious!”
Curses….that is just so awesome! Bamco/Namdai is awesome for securing the VA’s.
Gilbertson would be the first choice for Zero. But Bosch would be nice. NOW X, hmmmmm. Anybody who sounds like MHX and X8 X is fine with me, as long as it isn’t X4 X.
Whoever voiced X in the MMZ series would be my personal preference.
Well see the Person who voiced X in MHX and MMX8 is Mark Gatha who also played as Domon Kasshu in G Gundam.
Takahiro Sakurai? That’s Sasori’s (of Naruto Shippuden) seiyuu. Wow. and funny how X’s partner Zero is voiced by Sasori’s English voice actor, Johnny Yong Bosch. I really hope this game comes to the states.
Mark Gatha And Lucas Gilbertson… D:
@HeatPhoenix
If this game is released in the U.S. it’s inevitable that it will be dubbed. And what do you have against English voices anyway? I personally like like dubs and nowadays they are becoming better than their Japanese counterparts. And if you can’t do a better job yourself, then don’t judge.
I really don’t like it when people bash because it’s for the same reasons; Japanese isn’t better just because you can’t understand what the characters are saying. Besides, in order to determine what constitutes as good acting in that language, one must speak or at least understand the nuances that go with it. In other words, what sounds like good Japanese acting is probably poor in performance.
Either way, if the game makes it here, just change the voice options; no need to complain, simple as that. No matter what you say, dubs will never disappear, because at the end of the day, most of us would prefer to understand what is being said than reading a bunch of text on the screen. Like someone once said, :if I wanted to read, I’d pick up a book. Not a controller.”
@KK The Prophet: X5 may have had better gameplay (arguably), but X4 was more FUN. LOL. X5 was way too frustrating to me.
Consistent japanese voiceover casting? Industry standard. Unless someone dies or retires, you’re practically locked into the role.
Consistent english voiceover casting? Depending on who’s directing the project, it’s extremely hit or miss. (I’m looking at you, Ape Escape.)
But since Capcom likes to play musical voice actors with some of their franchises, who knows? I’d like to try of their characters. Maybe I could fill in for Dr. Gatha, or even give JYB a break since the man only does everything.
Ah, if only.
@LBD
Glad to know I’m not the only one who thought Peter Von Gomm was atrocious in X7.
I find it ironically hilarious how people here are claiming and joking that JYB is in “everything”, yet completely ignore that Steven Blunt is used in just about any media. Did you people honestly forget that he did TWO voice roles for MvC3? I can list many more who are “overused”, but I bet people would get upset.
By the way, it’s not Japan doesn’t cast the same people for their games and anime. Just look up the demotivational poster for Takahiro Sakurai, it speaks volumes.
I meant Steven Blum and it’s not like Japan doesn’t cast the same people. Stupid typos.
It’s perhaps the only time I can think of when X seemed to display more emotion by not saying anything.
@Murkman
He might’ve just needed more experience yea, but I don’t know… I really wasn’t feeling him as Zero. The pitch was too high in my opinion. And the guy from X7 was way too deep when he wasn’t performing grunts for attacks.
Just my personal opinion.
It would certainly be interesting to have the X4 VA’s again but I’d prefer somebody else.
@Nytetrayn
I swear, Von Gomm sounds like he’s just reading off the script when he records. Context be damned!
@Anon
I could never get sick of Blum. He was the MC for Toonami. Hearing him while watching all those awesome cartoons had the Pavlov effect.
My thing with JYB is a personal joke, since the man’s been a power ranger, a mocap actor for an awesome character, is credited as the voices of Vash the Stampede, the Persona 4 protagonist, and Zero.
Dude’s got my dream resume.
@(Un)BalNz’D
I’m a fan of Blum myself; he’s been in the business for a very long time and I feel that his range has improved over the years. He could play anyone from a young, hot-blooded rebel (Kazuma of S-Cry-Ed), to an older veteran warrior like Wolverine.
While some may think that JYB is overused from that resume, I think Dameon Clarke is pretty comparable to him; the man started out as an actor and was hired by FUNimation to provide the voice of Cell in DBZ. He’s even in MvC3 as Spenser. Also, there are actors who have narrated for Television series’ on TLC, like Roger Craig Smith who is showing up a LOT these days. I suppose because of Johnny’s Power Ranger status he’s more recognized.
If people were to look the Wikipedia pages of Steven, Johnny and Roger, obviously they’d be credited to over 100 roles, and that’s not a bad thing as I’m sure famous Japanese pop stars like Aya Hirano have many anime roles to their name. Then there’s Canda with talented folk such as Scott McNeil and Paul Dobson. I just wish more people would realize that it’s not only America who has their share of voice actors that are frequently cast for anime and game roles.
By the way, JYB does have one hell of a resume. Plus, he has his very own Indie band where he’s the lead singer. Pretty impressive if I do say so myself.
@Anon
Scott’s my hero. His performances as Wily and ProtoMan are what inspired me to voice act, along with Ian James Corlett’s Goku and MegaMan.
Since I grew up with a lot of 90′s animu with english vocal tracks and a dad who was a huge hockey buff, Canada seemed like a pretty cool place. I mean, they even had Terrence and Phillip.
I lot of the voices I’ve developed over the years were based on Canadian actors; the first group of people I’ve tried emulating were from Ocean Studios.
Off the top of my head, my influences include:
Paul Dobson, Micheal Donovan, Wayne Doster, Lucas Gilbertson, Jeffrey Watson, and Terry Klasson (from Canada).
Christopher Sabat, Patric Zimmerman, Arin Hanson, Casey Casem and Cam Clarke (from the U.S.).
Lastly, Masahiro Nonaka (from Japan).
Honorable mentions (a.k.a. people I cannot imitate but wish I could) include:
Maddie Blaustein and Robin Atkin Downes
I’m currently working on trying to develop a sound that’s between JYB, and Daisuke Namikawa. If you’re interested, I actually have a thread at the forums dedicated to my MegaMan-based projects where you can catch a small glimpse of what I sound like.
(Bringing back Sakurai & Okiayu)
Though I personally preferred Morikubo’s voice for X, Sakurai is indeed the closest option for X.
As for Okiayu, well it’s Okiayu. I’ll leave it at that.