Trivia / Mobile Legends: Bang Bang

• Amateur Cast: Moonton cut down the budget for voice acting, hence most voices come from newcomers or those who haven't had many roles. However, there are a few exceptions to the rule amongst the 100+ heroes:
  • Cristina Valenzuela as Lolita, the default announcer, and the old voice for Kagura.
  • Two Overwatch alumnus, Gaku Space (Genji) and Charlet Chung (D.Va) as Hayabusa and Kagura, respectively.
  • Mara Junot as Valentina
  • Xanthe Huynh as Edith
  • Japanese-version of Kagura is voiced by none other than anime voice acting big name since the 2000's-2010's, Kana Hanazawa.
  • Layla's Japanese voice actor was Rie Kugimiya, until her revamp in 2020 changed it.
  • Japanese Hanzo is done by Ryōhei Kimura
  • Nolan is voiced by an actual veteran voice actor usually known in the West: Nolan North.
• All-Star Cast:
  • There was definitely a budget for the Latino American dub of the game, their mostly A-lists people, more info here.
  • While Moonton had no intention to change the Amateur Cast for the MOBA game further, they actually spent a lot for the Japanese dub of their spin-off game Mobile Legends Adventure (considering the main game has granted them tons of profit). Here's a list, and from there, you can see even the likes of Tomokazu Sugita, Takehito Koyasu, Kana Ueda, Ayane Sakura, Yukari Tamura, Reina Ueda, Rie Tanaka, Nana Mizuki, Mamiko Noto and a lot more.
• Banned in China: Mobile Legends was banned from India in June 2020 following the start of military skirmishes between Chinese and Indian troops, with it and hundreds of other Chinese apps being deemed risks to national security.
• The Danza: Nolan is being voiced by Nolan North.
• Dueling Games: Naturally, the game has a rivalry with fellow mobile MOBA by Chinese developer, Arena of Valor. This interestingly mirrors the situation with the PC counterparts Dota 2 vs League of Legends, with Mobile Legends taking League's position, being the more simplified but heavily advertised game. Thankfully, vitriols thrown between the two fandoms, while still existing, did not escalate as greatly as Dota vs League rivalry. (It also helps that there were no backstage drama between the two mobile MOBAs unlike the PC counterparts)
• Not-So-Cheap Imitation: The game is pretty notorious (primarily in the west) for being derivative of League of Legends, but while it's also nowhere near as monolithic as its inspiration in a holistic sense, Mobile Legends has a decisive foothold among Southeast Asian audiences, especially in the Phillipines. Mobile gaming culture is far more prolific in the region than PC gaming, and Moonton essentially beat Riot to the punch in developing a platform-friendly League clone years before Riot did, giving it enough time to become the regional staple, even leading to a prolific esports scene. Even after Riot finally caught up and released Wild Rift, Mobile Legends undisputedly surpasses its competition in raw monthly numbers.
• One-Hit Wonder: This is the only game Shanghai Moonton is well known for. Their other games barring Mobile Legends spinoffs are Magic Rush Heroes and Sweet Crossing, which weren't as well known.
• Playing Against Type: In the Japanese language, Hanzo's deep evil voice is done by Ryōhei Kimura, who's otherwise more home on younger (around teen age), heroic boys.
• Referenced by...: This game is referenced by the Singaporean web video series Titan Academy multiple times, twice for tournament event promotions and once with a dedicated episode "13 Types of Mobile Gamers" (Technically mobile games in general, but MLBB is the sole game represented in that video). Some of the actors there also cosplay as some heroes, the episode featured both a girl and a fat guy cosplaying Odette.
• What Could Have Been:
  • In concept phase, Yu Zhong was originally going to be named 'Chong'. Moonton wisely retracted that before making him stuck with a name closely related to an ethnic slur.
  • Hang Tuah would have been the first of the Southeast Asian hero of the game, but was cancelled due to being portrayed as wielding a Kris. This has potential of reigniting the rivalry between Indonesia and Malaysia on which nation Hang Tuah is supposed to represent, and even the Indonesians already got some backlash going. To avoid further trouble from what Moonton considered to be the nation that love the game they exported to the country, Hang Tuah was cancelled and they instead gave Gatotkaca (and later Kadita) for Indonesia, and Badang for Malaysia.