Pokémon Legends: Z-A is the latest monster-taming RPG in the series to forgo voice acting. As these games have become more cinematic, it’s become pretty jarring that these characters don’t have voices when they speak. Z-A has fully animated scenes in which characters’ mouths flap as they speak, but no sound actually comes out. As such, fans have been making their own voice dubs of the series for years, and there are some pretty good ones out there. There’s also a deeply unserious one by Final Fantasy XVI and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 actor Ben Starr playing Naveen from Legends: Z-A completely straight with his usual broody delivery.
In a recent episode of the Kit & Krysta Podcast, Starr “auditioned” for the role, with co-hosts Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang acting alongside him as the protagonist and Taunie. Starr, hilariously, makes no attempt to capture Naveen’s youth and pretty much whips out his gravely Clive voice from Final Fantasy XVI. If you’ve ever wanted to hear Starr be a broody simp for a Pokémon streamer, here’s your chance.
It’s a funny bit and I have to applaud the artistic choices made with a mostly straight face here, but it does underline that a lot of the character of these games can be dialed up and enhanced with a good voice actor in the booth. Legends: Z-A definitely shows that Game Freak has the writing chops to execute some really funny, memorable scenes and jokes despite not including voice acting, but every time I hear a fan try to embody these characters, I just wish the games had that same spark we get in projects like the Pokémon anime or the Detective Pikachu games. Legends: Z-A takes a baby step toward this future by giving your main character Link-like grunts and yells when they do some actions, but they’re one person in a city full of heroes and villains that I’d love to hear speak instead of just reading. Don’t get me started on that weird scene in Sword and Shield where a whole concert was happening just for a character to pantomime the performance instead of singing. Though that’s also allowed fans to interpret that character’s musical chops, as well.
