Metroid Prime
Clark Wen, audio director of Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 2 Echoes, revealed that Samus' voice in the game was deemed too sexy by Nintendo. Wen recounts a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the game's audio.The information comes from an interview conducted by podcaster Reece Reilly. Wen explains that most of the soundtrack was created using synthesizers. One of the most complex elements to manage, however, was Samus' voice, or rather his grunts. Wen, speaking of Metroid Prime, said: "I think the voice was an important detail for Nintendo, because we originally made some recordings for Samus' voice, mostly temporary sounds to use to make sure that the impacts suffered. by Samus when he was damaged they were recognizable during gameplay. "
Metroid Prime" We asked one of the designers to make some grunts and screams. They weren't definitive sounds, but a few weeks later we put them in the game and we got some feedback from Nintendo EAD about Samus' voice: they said the voice was too sensual and sexy. They are very particular about the vocal sounds, in general: I was happy to let them handle it. They recorded various actresses for the voice of Samus and after a few months we received the recordings and chose the one we thought was the best "for Metroid Prime, says Wen.
Comes spies too The team doesn't know exactly who Samus' voices are in Metroid Prime. The voice was made by "JH" and, according to fans, it's Jennifer Hale: Wen thinks it's her too, but can't confirm it. The voice of Samus's death, on the other hand, is made by "VM". The Japanese team has never indicated any other details.
Retro Studio obviously had to follow Nintendo's directives, but was still able to act freely. For example, composer Kenji Yamamoto proposed a guitar-based track, but Retro Studio rejected the proposal.
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Random: Nintendo Rejected Samus Voice Acting In Metroid Prime For Being 'Too Sexual And Sensual'
Image: NintendoPodcaster Reece Reilly – AKA: Kiwi Talks – has been discussing the development of past Metroid games with the people who made them for some time now, having previously chatted to the likes of Mike Wikan and Bryan Walker. More recently, he sat down with Clark Wen, who was Audio Director on Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes.
As you can imagine, there's a lot of ground to cover, because the Metroid Prime trilogy has become very influential when it comes to shaping the soundscape of the entire Metroid series. Wen reveals that almost all of the soundtrack was done using synthesizers, while elements such as the Morph Ball and Echo Visor were inspired by magnets and sonar respectively. The Space Pirates, on the other hand, originally spoke in Russian, but Wen eventually settled on Yorùbá (one of the principal languages of Nigeria) and reversed the dialogue, as well as emphasising syllables.
One element which proved to be particularly tricky to nail down was the voice of Samus – well, her grunts, to be specific.
Wen explains:
I think voice was kind of a touchy thing with Nintendo, because originally we had done some recordings for Samus' voice, more like a temporary kind of placeholder sound because we really wanted to make sure the impacts when Samus took damage was recognisable in the gameplay. So we got one of the designers to do some placeholder grunts and screams. It was never meant as a final audio pass, but a few weeks after we got them in the game, we heard feedback from [Nintendo] EAD about Samus' voice, and they were saying it was too sexual and too sensual sounding. [laughs] They're very, very particular about vocal sounds in general, so I was happy to let them take the reins and they ended up recording several actresses for Samus' vocals, and we got them back a few months later and we ended up picking out the voice we thought worked best.
Wen also discusses whether or not it is Jennifer Hale (of Mass Effect fame) who supplied Samus' grunts and sighs in the Prime games. Hale never received credit for the role, but many fans think it is her vocal talents we hear in all three Prime games, as well as Metroid Prime Hunters. Wen admits that he's not completely sure that's the case (he's 90 to 95% sure), as the only initials on the audio files were 'JH'. The death vocal, he reveals, was recorded by a different actress (with the initials 'VM'), due to the fact that he wanted it to sound more akin to the sound in Super Metroid.
It's interesting to note that although Nintendo clearly had the most say in the direction of the game's audio, Retro Studios was able to push back when it had to. Metroid composer Kenji Yamamoto pitched a soundtrack that was very guitar-based – something Wen describes as 'Steve Vai meets Sun Ra'. Retro Studios rejected this initial pitch.
Wen now runs his own award-winning audio studio Exile Sound and has worked on the likes of Guitar Hero and Call Of Duty in recent years. When asked about his reaction to the latest Metroid entry, Metroid Dread, Wen admits that initially, he thought the audio and sound design was 'terrible' but after playing it for a while, he came to realise exactly what the team was aiming for, and now feels the end result is more agreeable.