Although he might not have stated it a lot in official media, there’s one catchphrase that everybody will affiliate with Sonic the Hedgehog: “Gotta go quick.” Go quick he does, after all, throughout a mess of video games, TV reveals, and movies. So one has to surprise — how usually does the voice of Sonic get requested to say his character’s unofficial catchphrase?
“If I had a nickel for each time, yeah, it will be a really completely different existence, I might think about,” Roger Craig Smith tells Polygon over a video name. He’s been the voice of Sonic since 2010, debuting within the Xbox 360 Kinetic sport Sonic Free Riders two weeks earlier than Sonic Colours was launched.
“It is actually what I consider [when] making an attempt to do the voice. It is like, ‘You gotta go quick,’” Smith says. “There it’s. That is the character.”
Sonic has been rolling round on the pace of sound for fairly some time. The Blue Blur turns 35 years previous in 2026 as the unique Sonic the Hedgehog was launched in June 1991. However his first look was really within the arcade sport Rad Cellular, which was launched worldwide in February 1991. Smith got here to Sonic lengthy after the hedgehog had already established himself as a bona fide mascot for Sega, but he’s the longest-tenured Sonic English voice actor. Although Sonic has such a protracted legacy behind him, Smith is aware of firsthand how a lot room there nonetheless is to get artistic with the legendary hero.
The Sonic franchise is one outlined by experimentation. From the character to the video games themselves, Sega at all times appears to be zigging the place followers count on it to zag. That’s a philosophy shared by Smith, a voice actor who is not any stranger to non-public reinvention.
Earlier than he pivoted to voice-acting full time, Smith tried his hand at being a humorist. As a substitute of infusing his units with social commentary or tales pulled from his life experiences, Smith would do bits as characters with humorous voices. When sufficient individuals began asking him if he did voice work for cartoons, he lastly took the trace and set down his path towards voice appearing.
“It actually mixed every part that I liked, the improv of comedy, the character arc and understanding of story arc,” Smith says. “I have never appeared again after that.”
Picture: Sega
Smith has taken on a number of big-time online game roles since, like Chris Redfield in Resident Evil and Murderer’s Creed’s Ezio Auditore da Firenze, however few have the legacy and longevity that Sonic does. Working with a personality like that may be daunting for a voice actor. With one thing like a long-running superhero, there are often solely so many liberties you may take.
“All of them dwell in a field that we really feel like, ‘Okay, we are able to mess around inside that field, however when you begin stepping too far exterior of it […] it is a violation of the character,’” Smith says. “It is a delicate dance.”
With Sonic, nevertheless, there’s extra room to paint exterior the strains. He’s usually a jokester, however one thing like Sonic Frontiers discovered him being performed extra critically than previous iterations. Smith has enjoyable with that flexibility each time he tackles the function, together with when he bought to interrupt the fourth wall by joking about his identify in Sonic Increase.
“Sonic’s possibly a little bit bit extra playful in that regard as a result of he is simply such a snarky, playful character,” Smith says. “You are not going to listen to Batman saying ‘Baldy McNosehair’ anytime quickly.”
That snarkiness permits Smith to faucet into his improv comedy background, one thing that’s benefitted him throughout roles. He notes how a lot of a voice actor’s work will be throwing completely different concepts on the wall to see what lands, leading to a collaborative course of between him, the director, and the writers.
“Our job is to take the work and convey it to life vocally, deliver it to inhabit the character, give it character by means of the vocal course of. And that often requires a little bit little bit of a loosey-goosey method,” Smith says. “In any other case, each single character would sound precisely the best way if it isn’t being written too completely, it will have the type of cadence and tone of a author and typically that does not work for every particular person character.”
Picture: Technicolor Animation Productions/Sega
Not each change or experiment with a personality goes over properly, nevertheless. Living proof: Sonic Frontiers. “I discovered myself going, ‘Oh, OK, this’ll be attention-grabbing to see how this lands,’” Smith says.
For 2022’s Sonic Frontiers, the hedgehog has a noticeably deeper voice than his regular high-pitch, sarcastic tone in a bid to suit the sport’s extra severe story and ambiance than previous Sonic adventures, a selection that Smith had beforehand known as “weird” at a GalaxyCon panel. The course of Sonic’s voice in Frontiers took some gamers unexpectedly and didn’t land with everybody.
“That was such a vocal departure from every part we had been doing, however it was so essential for that exact undertaking, and but it did not go thus far,” Smith says.
He nonetheless hasn’t performed Frontiers but, however that’s par for the latest course for Smith. (“I have been woefully behind on nearly each single sport that I have been part of as of late,” he says.) Nonetheless, although, he tries to play video games that he’s voiced in to find simply how his efficiency was used, and the way that may inform him for the subsequent gig.
“I at all times discuss it like, ‘You start this vocal child.’ After which I hand that vocal child to individuals who will be accountable for typically making that vocal child look actual fairly or look actually ugly,” he says. “I wish to see how my vocal child grew up as soon as the sport is launched. It is such as you get the varsity photos within the mail of your vocal child and you are like, ‘Oh, yeah. I do not learn about that outfit.’”
Picture: Sonic Staff/Sega
Although 2026 is a giant yr for Sonic, writer Sega hasn’t detailed how, precisely, it’ll rejoice the hedgehog but. It has teased anniversary-related “content material, partnerships, collectibles, and fan experiences,” and we all know Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds will obtain extra crossover racers as DLC. Except for that, we’ll have to attend and see what Sonic, Sega, and Smith have in retailer for the Blue Blur.
Smith certain sounds enthusiastic about it, although — even when he nonetheless hasn’t performed Sonic Frontiers. Whether or not or not we’ll hear his deep-voiced Sonic once more this yr is a thriller, however his message to longtime gamers is evident: “There’s by no means been a greater time to be a Sonic fan.”
