Best voice acting in retro games?

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

The natural counter to @Yousef's epic post.

What kind of retro games do you think had some really great acting at a time when this wasn't common at all? For me, the obvious candidate is the vastly underappreciated Strife.

Everyone in there did a superb job, and essentially carried the story, with particular memorable performances by the girl voicing Blackbird and the dude playing Masil (the Front's leader).

I really do recommend watching a playthrough of it just to grasp how great some of those performances were.

Here's the intro, though:

What about you? Can you think of any other great performances worth sharing?

 

[tropicalavera]

Does it count if I do an excellent job reading the dialog out loud whilst playing?? You should hear me reading Vagrant Story - my Shakespearean cadence embelishes the gravitas of the script.

 

[Tonberry]

I always thought the King's Quest games had excellent voice acting, particularly King's Quest 6. I really liked the performance of the character Saladin. The game has a really whimsical and romantic atmosphere throughout and much of the voice acting reflects this.

Timestamped link:

 

[moonbits]

Metal Gear Solid

 

[fake-kun]

I genuinely and unironically think Star Fox 64's voice acting is great. People call it cheesy, but I see it as enhancing the sci-fi action movie vibe the game is going for.

 

[Raidou Kuzunoha]

Killer7 and I will never shut up about it.

 

[Tonberry]

I genuinely and unironically think Star Fox 64's voice acting is great. People call it cheesy, but I see it as enhancing the sci-fi action movie vibe the game is going for.

YES!!!
I've always felt that it feels like a 70s sci-fi show, and those "A Fox In Space" cartoons just solidified that!

 

[Cu-Neo]

Christopher Randolph as Otacon is easily one of my favorite cast of all time. The ending in MGS1 where you escape with Otacon is perfect.

Is also incredible how he uses almost the same tone for Huey in MGS V but instead you want to punch huey in the face

 

[moonbits]

I genuinely and unironically think Star Fox 64's voice acting is great. People call it cheesy, but I see it as enhancing the sci-fi action movie vibe the game is going for.

hey Einstein im on your side

 

[Clippy]

Diablo

 

[Glimbo]

Koudelka. Played it a few years ago and was surprised.

 

[bjork]

The guy in Impossible Mission in 1984 having an accent, blew my mind (yes I know it's not a real guy, let me have this)

Oh, also: I didn't hear it until years later and I don't know the method they used to fit it on the disk, but Barbie on Commodore 64 has like a voice clip and I'm not sure which other C64 games did this:

 

[Strategist's iconStrategist]

FFXII, in particular Balthier (couldn't find a good clip of him). Not sure if it counts as retro, but close enough.

 

[Clippy]

FFXII, in particular Balthier (couldn't find a good clip of him). Not sure if it counts as retro, but close enough.

Considering it's almost two decades old (good lord) I'd say it counts.

 

[Tonberry]

FFXII, in particular Balthier (couldn't find a good clip of him). Not sure if it counts as retro, but close enough.

Yeah, Gideon Emery is great.

I remember thinking Dark Chronicle/Dark Cloud 2 had a surprisingly good cast at the time for being a japanese action RPG. Particularly the character Flotsam, he had insane energy.
IIRC Mark Hamill voiced the villain?

 

[jankusanagi]

Dino Crisis' voice acting was pretty great!

I also liked OG Resident Evil 2 and 3's voice work quite a bit.

 

[SNEESON]

The voice actors from Blood Omen : Legacy of Kain deserve awards IMO.

 

[DunkeyKong]

The voice acting for the Lego games are quite legendary
Especially this one

 

[Strategist's iconStrategist]

Planescape Torment had a GOAT voice acting cast too.

The cast included:
Rob Paulsen - The voice of Yakko in Animaniacs
Dan Castanella - Voice of Homer Simpson
Jennifer Hale - Veteran voice actress of about a hundred games.
Keith David - Well known character actor and voice of Goliath in Disney's Gargoyles.
Tony Jay - of Legacy of Kain fame (RIP)
and others...

 

[Ian Naxieas]

It's not super duper old, but Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. I don't feel like video game voice acting got better as a whole until the seventh generation consoles, so it was a good surprise. It's worth it for Fat Larry and Smiling Jack alone. Too bad it was the game that killed Troika, they had a lot going for them.

 

[gekiganwing]

Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure gave the world "Amazing Pirates" and "Amphibian Paradise." I love these songs.

 

[YuriSukiSan]

Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure gave the world "Amazing Pirates" and "Amphibian Paradise." I love these songs.

"Don't you know you're old enough to be his moth-theer!"

The natural counter to @Yousef's epic post.

What kind of retro games do you think had some really great acting at a time when this wasn't common at all? For me, the obvious candidate is the vastly underappreciated Strife.

Everyone in there did a superb job, and essentially carried the story, with particular memorable performances by the girl voicing Blackbird and the dude playing Masil (the Front's leader).

I really do recommend watching a playthrough of it just to grasp how great some of those performances were.

Here's the intro, though:

What about you? Can you think of any other great performances worth sharing?

It's cheating but I want to post this!

 

[Grumpy_Old_Man]

Oh well... Someone already mentioned VTM Bloodlines, so will proceed to discuss life with a stop sign.
Apart for that I really liked, the voice acting from Looking glass studios games back in the late 90 early 2000. Titles like System Shock series and the Thief series.

 

[Stookymalarkey]

Planescape Torment had a GOAT voice acting cast too.

The cast included:
Rob Paulsen - The voice of Yakko in Animaniacs
Dan Castanella - Voice of Homer Simpson
Jennifer Hale - Veteran voice actress of about a hundred games.
Keith David - Well known character actor and voice of Goliath in Disney's Gargoyles.
Tony Jay - of Legacy of Kain fame (RIP)
and others...

I'd say Tony Jay was better known as Megabyte on the show Reboot, but he still did a great job on Legacy of Kain. I just wish that game wasn't such a chore to play.

 

[Ikagura]

Maybe not great but still impressive for its era

I love how calm he sounds.