Speaking role of Samus Aran

While Samus Aran has generally been a silent character in the Metroid series, multiple games have given her a speaking role of some sort. This ranges from an audible voice being heard when she is hit, to brief phrases, and in the case of Metroid: Other M, extensive dialogue. Multiple actresses have lent their voice to Samus over the course of the series. Samus speaks only in text in Metroid Fusion, Metroid: Zero Mission and Metroid Prime: Federation Force.
==Super Metroid==
Super Metroid was the first game in which Samus had an audible voice. A female moaning sound (incorporated into the in-game jingle Samus Aran's Final Cry, which plays during the Game Over sequence) was discovered by Super Metroid dataminers in 2021.https://tcrf.net/Super_Metroid#Unused_Audio The sound, and an edit that alters its pitch and speed to better match the in-game cry, can be heard below:
The developer interview in the Japanese strategy guide reveals that Minako Hamano recorded a short voice track to be heard as Samus died. This, along with a brief glimpse of Samus's nude body during the Game Over sequence, were reconsidered, in the voice's case because it sounded "too sexual". Thus, the voice was apparently removed and Tomoyoshi Yamane added the black Casual Outfit to Samus. Sakamoto claimed in the same interview to have a special version of the ROM with the original death sequence.Nintendo Official Guide Book for Super Metroid, as translated by the Metroid Database. Whether the female moan described above represents Hamano's recording is unknown.
Aside from this, heavy breathing sounds presumably emitted from Samus can be heard in the game's Samus Data Screen, with them being sped up briefly when a save file is selected. She is also heard breathing during the final battle with Mother Brain, after being significantly weakened by the Laser Brain Attack.
===Super Metroid advertisement reel===
Keiko Toda voiced Samus in a promotional reel for Super Metroid, which played in Japanese game stores. This represents the first time Samus had a voiced role with dialogue.
==Metroid Prime series==
Samus first received a voice in the game Metroid Prime, although she had no in-game dialogue: instead, she only utters various effort noises when damaged, a scream when killed, and rarely, breathing when at low energy or in an extreme climate. Dialogue for Samus was considered, but not added as Retro Studios felt it did not suit the game.Interview: Clark Wen. Shinesparkers. June 2, 2018. Retrieved June 2, 2018. Placeholder recordings from one of the designers were used for Samus at first, but they were deemed too sexual by Nintendo EAD. Afterwards, EAD had a dozen actresses record vocals for Samus and sent them to Retro Studios, where audio lead Clark Wen chose the ones he liked best.Kiwi Talkz. "#112 - Clark Wen Interview (Metroid Prime, Sound Design, Kenji Yamamoto, Mixing, SFX, Game Audio )". YouTube. October 23, 2021. Retrieved November 5, 2022. (starts at 30:50) The foley sounds were reused in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Metroid Prime Hunters and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. Notably, new sounds were present in the latter, suggesting a new actress was hired or previously recorded grunts were used as well.
Nintendo Power claimed that Jennifer Hale provided Samus's voice for the Prime games, and she has acknowledged recording for Samus in interviews. However, the credits make no mention of her. Responding to questions about Hale's involvement in a 2018 interview, Wen revealed that the recordings he used in the final game included the initials of the actress in the filename from his ProTools session, "JH", which he was reasonably certain stood for Jennifer Hale. However, he used Samus's death scream as recorded by a different actress as he and the Retro team wanted one with a higher register for it, to match the scream in Super Metroid. The initials for that actress are "VM". After several years of unconfirmed speculation that "VM" stood for Vanessa Marshall,Wen, Clark (exile5ound). "That's a great guess! It certainly could be 😀" 5 Jun 2018 5:44 p.m. Tweet. https://twitter.com/exile5ound/status/1004101714843131905 Marshall herself finally confirmed it in a tweet about the Launch Trailer for Metroid Prime Remastered.Marshall, Vanessa (vanmarshall). "Psyched to check this out! Been a long time since we recorded it! #Samus xo Metroid Prime Remastered - Reveal Trailer | Nintendo Direct 2023 https://youtu.be/R2kc-wp20vE via @YouTube" 11 Feb 2023, 3:30 p.m. Tweet. https://twitter.com/vanmarshall/status/1624523412151619586 Wen recognized one of the other actresses who auditioned as Gabrielle Carteris.
Wen also said that Dark Samus's voice clips are derived from unused recordings of Samus's grunts and screams of pain, although he did not say whether these clips were recorded by "JH", "VM", or another actress. Although the first Metroid Prime game's unused opening narration is commonly assumed to have been recorded by Jennifer Hale, this has never been confirmed; "JH" is only explicitly confirmed to have provided Samus's grunts (Wen did not know who recorded it).
While Samus utters grunts when hurt in bipedal form in the Prime games, if she is hit in Morph Ball form, a different, percussive sound is made.
An effort noise is present in Metroid Prime Pinball, but only on the Impact Crater table, and it appears to be compressed.
===Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt===
In Survivor mode of Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt, Samus gasps in pain upon her defeat. Rather than being reused from the recordings of "JH" or "VM" from the previous Metroid Prime games, this gasp is "HUMAN, GASP - GASP: FEMALE 02", a generic stock sound effect from The Original General Series 6000 - Sound Effect Library. The original voice actress who recorded this gasp is unknown.
==Super Smash Bros. Brawl==
Samus's next voice actress was Alésia Glidewell in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, who also voiced Knuckle Joe and Krystal in the same game. Glidewell recorded vocals for Zero Suit Samus, while Samus's suited form expresses pain in mechanical sounds as she did in the previous installments Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Melee. In addition to grunts heard when Samus was hit, Samus is given a voice-over with speaking lines for the first time. Zero Suit Samus (treated as a separate character from her Power Suited self), speaks for all three of her taunts, and in one victory pose. Her lines are: "Is that all?", "Try me.", "You’re mine." and "Be still."
Glidewell auditioned for Zero Suit Samus via tape from home, and was cast a week later. She enjoyed recording Samus's grunts, which she did at Bad Animals.LET'S TALK. "Alesia Glidwell (Interview)". YouTube. June 29, 2018 (recorded April 2016). Retrieved November 4, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7Dsu6OFH-w Glidewell was familiar with Samus and Metroid beforehand, and was not given much direction for voicing the character.https://youtu.be/i-5P0BwdlWg?t=7m8s When auditioning for Zero Suit Samus, Glidewell was given a description of the character and two line drawings of "Metroid"/"the suit" (Samus in her Varia Suit), and "a girl" (Zero Suit Samus). After being cast as Samus, she was asked to audition for Knuckle Joe as well.Krystal Archive interview; Zero Suit Samus discussed beginning at 35:07 Glidewell expressed interest in revisiting the role of Samus in a canon Metroid game in 2015.https://youtu.be/NwvvF_saxqk?t=44m47s
Glidewell's vocals were reused in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Samus can be heard letting out a small sigh in A Piercing Screech; this appears to have been taken from Metroid: Other M.
==Metroid: Other M==
Metroid: Other M features Samus speaking in her first fully voice acted role in a Metroid game. She is voiced by Jessica Martin in English and Ai Kobayashi in Japanese. Yoshio Sakamoto's creative preference was that Martin deliver a detached performance for much of her work to match the Japanese voice track, with passion and pain in certain scenes, namely the scenes where both Ian and Adam Malkovich die.Interview: Nate Bihldorff. Shinesparkers. February 23, 2011. Retrieved November 27, 2021. The direction of Samus's voice in this game, particularly her monologues, was criticized for its monotone delivery. Martin stood by her performance and the game in a later interview, and said she enjoyed her "lava death scream".Shinesparkers. "Episode 08 – Jessica Martin (Voice of Samus, Other M)". August 7, 2020. Retrieved November 5, 2022. https://shinesparkers.net/podcast/episode-08-jessica-martin/ She also recorded a narration for "Past is Prologue", the live-action commercial for Other M, which went through at least one iteration during production.
A series of commercials that aired in France featured French narrations from Samus's perspective, voiced by Laura Zichy. Other M itself was not dubbed into French.Shinesparkers. In Search of Samus. December 8, 2023. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
In contrast to the Prime series, Samus's vocalized effort noises are heard when she is hit in both bipedal and Morph Ball form.
==Mad==
Samus appeared in a Mad sketch in 2011, and was voiced in this appearance by Michaela Watkins. She had a single line in the episode: "I think Peach and Zelda kinda want me to be eliminated. It might be because I kinda sorta destroyed their bedroom with my gun arm..." Watkins portrayed Samus with a "valley girl" accent.
==Metroid Dread==
Samus has a single spoken line in Metroid Dread, when talking to Quiet Robe. She reassures the Thoha Chozo, in the Chozo language, that she will destroy the E.M.M.I. and defeat Raven Beak. While she is siphoning Raven Beak's energy at the end of the game, she screams in rage. Her spoken voice in Dread was provided by Nikki García, and her scream by Holly Renaut.
Sakamoto explained that Samus's limited speaking role, compared to Other M and Fusion, had to do with the game's titular theme of dread. He felt that for this mission, Samus's feelings and thoughts were better left up to the player's imagination through non-verbal cues, like the expressions her eyes make.Ramée, Jordan (October 8, 2021). "Making Metroid Dread: Concluding The Saga, Samus' Voice, And Cinematic Storytelling" GameSpot. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
García recorded her lines under the direction of Stephen Hughes, who also voiced Quiet Robe.García, Nikki (nikkigarcia_es). "Bueno, si también existe en castellano yo no soy consciente, pero la versión original fue grabada en inglés en Madrid y dirigida por Stephen Hughes." ("Well, if it also exists in Spanish, I'm not aware of it, but the original version was recorded in English in Madrid and directed by Stephen Hughes.") 11 October 2021 6:11 p.m. Tweet. https://twitter.com/nikkigarcia_es/status/1447686438724816897 She enjoyed recording Samus's voice since she got to speak in a fictional language and her voice was used across all versions of Dread internationally.:File:Nikki Garcia story about Metroid Dread.png
==Notes==
==References==
Category:Samus Aran