History Main / AnnouncerChatter

Every sports game played in the world always has one man or woman who plays the role of the announcer, whose job is to tell the spectators the scores, which team is entering the field, who the winner is, etc. Some announcers may add their own wit and charm. Video games also have some form of announcers that give short phrases or announce things during the game. While it can [[{{ptitle1qrywktx}} enhance the gameplay]], if the announcer talks ''too'' much, it can become [[MostAnnoyingSound irritating]][[hottip:*:The more annoying an announcer's endless prattling becomes, the smaller the chance there is of an in-game option to turn it off or at least lower the volume. You can always count on it.]]. Generally, announcers in video games announce character names and who the winner is.

* ''[[CapcomVsWhatever Capcom vs. SNK 2]]'''s announcer talks almost constantly every chance he gets: during the high score screen, the groove select screen, the character select screen, the victory screen, and even adds in his own two cents during certain events of a match (like if a character gets in an attack right at the start of the round, or successfully pulls off a really powerful attack.)

Every sports game played in the world always has one man or woman who plays the role of the announcer, whose job is to tell the spectators the scores, which team is entering the field, who the winner is, etc. Some announcers may add their own wit and charm. Video games also have some form of announcers that give short phrases or announce things during the game. While it can [[{{ptitle1qrywktx}} enhance the gameplay]], if the announcer talks ''too'' much, it can become [[MostAnnoyingSound irritating]][[hottip:*:Generally, the more annoying an announcer's endless prattling becomes, the smaller the chance there is of an in-game option to turn it off or at least lower the volume. Count on it.]]. Generally, announcers in video games announce character names and who the winner is.

Every sports game played in the world always has one man or woman who plays the role of the announcer, whose job is to tell the spectators the scores, which team is entering the field, who the winner is, etc. Some announcers may add their own wit and charm. Video games also have some form of announcers that give short phrases or announce things during the game. While it can [[{{ptitle1qrywktx}} enhance the gameplay]], if the announcer talks ''too'' much, it can become [[MostAnnoyingSound irritating]]. Generally, announcers in video games announce character names and who the winner is.

** "This Battle Is About To Explode!"

*** Subverted with the announcer in Street Fighter 3. He is very minimalist in comparison, and is generally more calm and direct than most announcers. Although he does break this for one particular line...
**** AAAAAAAAAAALRIGH! DAS KOOL!
** ''[[MarvelVsCapcom Marvel Vs. Capcom 3]]'' not only has one announcer whose lines pay homage to ''Alpha 3'' and ''CvS2'', but the latest builds also have a second announcer (who sounds like Issun from {{Okami}}) who runs commentary throughout the match.

* ''{{Pokemon}} Stadium'' had an announcer voice that would say which Pokemon came out, current standings, etc. The announcer also had a very nasty habit of getting very excited and becoming overenthusiastic when the action got tense (such as "TAKEN DOWN WITH ONE HIT!"). The announcer has very few lines and can annoyingly repeat them a lot, but luckily, there is an option to shut him up.

* ''SuperSmashBros.'' has an announcer that not only announced character names and who the winner was, but also loudly announced the title of the game (except for Brawl), mode of play chosen, a countdown when five seconds are left in a match, congratulating the player for beating single player, and the classic "Continue?" and "Game Over!"

* ''{{Mechwarrior}} 4: Mercenaries'' had an announcer, a former Solaris champion that would talk while you fought through the Mech dueling circuit, often talking about things other than the fight, like a scandal where a famous pilot threw a match, or on the talent pool this year, and would follow you as moved from the Light Mech catagory to Solaris Champion.

Every sports game played in the world always has one man or woman who plays the role of the announcer, whose job is to tell the spectators the scores, which team is entering the field, who the winner is, etc. Some announcers may add their own wit and charm. Video games also have some form of announcers that give short phrases or announce things during the game. While it can enhance the gameplay, if the announcer talks ''too'' much, it can become [[MostAnnoyingSound irritating]]. Generally, announcers in video games announce character names and who the winner is.

* ''{{Pokemon}} Stadium'' had an announcer voice that would say which Pokemon came out, current standings, etc. The announcer also had a very nasty habit of getting very excited and becoming overenthusiastic when the action got tense (such as "TAKEN DOWN WITH ONE HIT!"). The announcer has very few lines and can annoyingly repeat them a lot, but luckily, there is an option to shut him up. One troper believed that the announcer jinxed his Pokemon, but later realized that all those critical hits and status effects the AI was so fond of inflicting were because TheComputerIsACheatingBastard.

** It's even worse in ''Pokémon Battle Revolution''. The announcer constructs sentences out of {{Mons}}' names, attacks and stock phrases, but the gaps between pieces and changes in inflection make it painfully obvious they had a terrible voice actor reading each piece separately without notifying him how they fit together.
*** The announcer in Battle Revolution, Rodger Parsons (a.k.a. Ken Gates), is also the narrator for the Pokemon anime.

** Interestingly, the announcer's voice is also that of Master Hand's Evil Laughter when he appears. This troper didn't actually realize this until Brawl, and looking back on it, it has some interesting implications about the [[WMG/SuperSmashBros "backstory"]].
*** The non-WMG backstory is that the ''Smash Bros.'' games are a kid playing with his toys, and Master and Crazy Hand are his own hands, so it would make sense that the voice is the same.
**** That's a [[EvilLaugh pretty scary voice]] for a kid to have!
**** Interestingly enough, the announcer in ''Brawl'' is a fellow called Pat Cashman, who lives in Seattle (the location of NOA's HQ). He's also the announcer for another popular piece of media: ''BillNyeTheScienceGuy'' (Woah, Bill! Calm down!).
**** Damn it, Now I can't play Brawl without thinking about Bill Nye...

* Every sports video game since the technology to put voice in a game existed.
** And lets not forget over the top sports game's announcers. Generic Midway announcer comes to mind (NFL Blitz/NBA Jam (OH MY! HE'S ON FIRE!) /NBA Showtime series) who said the same catch phrases throughout. Bland as he may be, he is iconic and this troper has fond memories of the matches he has called. Bobbito from NBA Street 2 also comes to mind as an incredibly annoying announcer ("6 degrees of separation, and that's how much they up by."-Bobbito)
*** From DOWN town!
** No, [[JohnMaddenFootball John Madden]] really ''is'' that annoying on TV.
** The Mexican version of FIFA 2005 and onwards has Enrique Berm? as the main announcer. And yes, in TV, he always mangles the last vowel into an "e" ("muchachos", for example, becomes "muchaches"). [[YourMileageMayVary Whether you think this is funny or annoying is up to you]].

** ''Dance Dance Revolution [[XtremeKoolLetterz X]]'' got a new announcer. A lot of players don't like him, mainly because [[ILikedItBetterWhenItSucked he's not as]] [=~So Bad It's Good~=] [[ILikedItBetterWhenItSucked as the]] [[LargeHam DDR MAX announcer]].
** Other Bemani games (besides ''Dance [=ManiaX=]'') generally keep the announcer in the menus. One of this troper's favorite announcers is the ''PopNMusic 16'' announcer: if you are exactly one life unit away from clearing the song, instead of the usual "Uh-oh!" or "Too bad!", the announcer cries out, "Oh my God..."

* While fighting game announcers aren't uncommon, this troper can't think of one who loved to talk more than the announcer for ''Capcom vs. SNK 2'', who talks almost constantly every chance he gets: during the high score screen, the groove select screen, the character select screen, the victory screen, and even adds in his own two cents during certain events of a match (like if a character gets in an attack right at the start of the round, or successfully pulls off a really powerful attack.)

* The arcade dungeon-crawler ''{{Gauntlet}}'' featured ongoing commentary tailored to the player's actions. The disembodied voice praised and criticized the player's actions, offered hints and advice, and sometimes challenged the player ("Let's see you get out of here!"). Some of its catch phrases, like "[[WizardNeedsFoodBadly Elf needs food badly]]," have become part of the pop culture lexicon.

**** "Cart is friend, come, visit friend!"

**** Or, if you're defending, "Please stop, little cart!"

**** "Come on! Bomb cart is not going to push ''self!''"

* Live Action Film Example: The DJ in TheWarriors.

* ''TeamFortress2'' has a slightly psychotic female announcer, especially on the map ''Goldrush''. For some reason, she gives out different messages for the two teams, sounding negatively for the defenders and positively for the attackers when a checkpoint is captured, for instance.
** Oh, come now. RED and BLU have identical employees. It isn't much of a stretch to assume they just happen to have identical managers.
*** Except now...[[http://www.teamfortress.com/war/administrator/ now]]
** Also on ''Goldrush'', the Heavy loudly comments on the bomb status. "We must push little cart!"
*** "Cart is friend, come, visit friend!"
*** "Come on! Bomb cart is not going to push ''self!''"
*** Or, if you're defending, "Please stop, little cart!"
** If the round ends in a tie, the announcer dismisses ''both'' sides with a frustrated "You ''failed!!''"
** With all this, it's no surprise that the same voice actress played [[{{Portal}} GLaDOS]].
*** As well as [[HalfLife the Combine Overwatch]].

* Quite a few [[FirstPersonShooter first person shooters]] have announcer voices, announcing game status. Some [[FirstPersonShooter FPSes]] will also announce various "awards" to a single player as they achieve them.

** ''UnrealTournament'' and some server-side ''CounterStrike'' mods will announce kill streaks, in multiples of five: "Killing spree!" "Rampage!" "Dominating!" "Unstoppable!" "Godlike!!" and, depending on the game, "Wicked Sick!" and "MASSACRE!!"
*** For kills in rapid succession, there's the progression of "Double Kill", "Multi Kill", "Ultra Kill", "Mega Kill" (post-UT'99) and finally "M-M-M-Monster Kill".

*** "Denied!" whenever a Redeemer gets shot down.

** The ''{{Halo}}'' announcer has a fan base. Then again, it IS pleasing to hear "Double Kill, Triple Kill, Overkill, Extermination, Killtacular, Killpocalypse..."
** And added alternate announcers. One of the female ones [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean enjoys]] the carnage a little too much.

* In ''UnrealTournament'' the announcer will announce particularly awesome moments to you, such as killing people in multiples of 5 without dying. These lead to chains of awards such as Killing Spree for 5 kills, Rampage for 10, Dominating for 15, Unstoppable for 20, GODLIKE for 25, and in later games WICKED SICK for 30. Likewise, killing people within 5 seconds of each other gets Double Kill, Multi Kill, Mega Kill, Ultra Kill, M-M-MONSTER KILL, LUDICROUS KILL, culminating in the announcer literally shouting "[[{{HSQ}} HOLY SHIT!]]" for killing 8 people with less than five seconds between each.
** Announcers in ''QuakeIIIArena'' also yell Holy Shit as well. They'll do it in CTF games if you're the flag carrier and die just a foot away from your flag/capture point.
** The newer ''UnrealTournament'' games instead say "DENIED!" in this situation.
** ''QuakeLive'' adds a "Denied!" message for when you miss picking up the QuadDamage powerup within a step or two of an opponent picking it up. Which typically results in you dying a (sparkly-) gibbed death.
* {{Tribes 2}} had one of these. Team Inferno... SCORES!
** Also, "Five, four, three, match begins, now".
* {{Halo}} has an announcer for multiplayer as well. General announcements such as gametype (Slayer, Capture the flag, King of the Hill, to name but three) exist, and thankfully they only repeat for individual players who might join in mid-game, but other announcements, such as which team has the flag, will play for everyone. Repeatedly. Equally annoying are the kill statements. Thankfully enough the announcer voice is rather good, so the fiftieth time you hear "Killtacular" is just as good as the first time you hear "Running Riot."
** FLAGDROPPEDFLAGTAKENFLAGDROPPEDFLAGTAKENFLAGDROPPED gets rapidly annoying in CTF/Bomb games.

* Quite a few [[FirstPersonShooter first person shooters]] have announcer voices, announcing game status. Some [[FirstPersonShooter FPSes]] will also announce various "awards" to a single player as they achieve them. For example, {{Timesplitters}} Future Perfect announces how a kill was carried out (Lobotomy!!). ''UnrealTournament'' and some server-side ''CounterStrike'' mods will announce to a player "killing spree!" after that player has killed ten people without dying (you could go further than that if you got more, to "rampage" at fifteen and "godlike" at twenty); "double kill", "multi kill" (three), "ultra kill" (four), and finally "m-m-m-monster kill" after killing five people in rapid succession; and "head shot!" after the player scores a headshot. ''QuakeIIIArena'' would announce "humiliation!" when a player scored a kill with the melee weapon to both the killer and the dead player. More recent versions of ''UnrealTournament'' have increased the awards the announcer will give. There is also the ''{{Halo}}'' announcer, who has a fan base. Then again, it IS pleasing to hear "Double Kill, Triple Kill, Overkill, Extermination, Killtacular, Killpocalypse..."

** '''[[TitleScream Super!]]''' ''[[TitleScream Smaaaaaaaaaaaaaash Brothers!!]]''

** This troper once elected to turn the announcer off, only to be bothered even more by the silence...
** This troper was part of a small scale tournament where we elected to have members of the organizing club announce instead. It worked so well we used each subsequent time, I'd definitely suggest it.
** YMMV but this troper very much likes the Pokemon Stadium announcer

** It's even worse in ''Pok?n Battle Revolution''. The announcer constructs sentences out of {{Mons}}' names, attacks and stock phrases, but the gaps between pieces and changes in inflection make it painfully obvious they had a terrible voice actor reading each piece separately without notifying him how they fit together.

** ''[[MarvelVsCapcom Marvel Vs. Capcom 3]]'' not only has one announcer whose lines pay homage to ''Alpha 3'' and ''CvS2'', but the latest builds also have a second announcer (who sounds like Issun from Okami]] who runs commentary throughout the match.

** ''Street Fighter IV'' seems to be following in this trend, with an announcer that delivers commentary with every third hit or so.

** ''StreetFighter Alpha 3'' has an announcer who sounds extraordinarily happy most of the time, and likes to talk ''a lot''. Most fighter fans know his phrases off by heart.

* ''TeamFortress2'' has a slightly psychotic female announcer, especially on the new map ''Goldrush''. For some reason, she gives out different messages for the two teams, sounding negatively for the defenders and positively for the attackers when a checkpoint is captured, for instance.

*** Even more so is Captain Quark showing up in ''Tools Of Destruction'' as the announcer: "Guess our competitor isn't by impressed by all this ''next-gen'' weaponary!"

* In RealLife, this sometimes happens near the end of a blowout. For example, near the end of a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jFfdagwzrA Wisconsin-Michigan St. game]] on ESPN had [[CaptainObvious]] himself, Brent Musburger and Steve Lavin killing the final two minutes rambling about everything from YouTube (including a brief mention of sideline reporter and resident MsFanservice Erin Andrews) to SylvesterStallone using human growth hormone for one of the {{Rocky}} films (causing an audible groan from Musberger, who had a [[TheCameo cameo]] in the second movie).