Spyro's Japanese voice actress was Akiko Yajima (who was also Dorothy Wayneright in The Big O). I think the idea was that since Spyro was a young kid in Spyro 1, the voice direction was probably due to how in alot of anime young boy characters would be voiced by adult women. Not saying this to argue or anything, just thought it was interesting.
Yeah, as someone who speaks Japanese, Spyro's voice doesn't sound like a girl's at all to me. Or... well it does sound like a girl insofar as you can tell it's a female voice actor, but she's clearly affecting the speech patterns and intonation of a young boy, and it's the kind of voice where most speakers of the language would immediately read the character as male in a Japanese media context, where it's common practice for women to voice young boys. That being said, I still agree with the video that it's not the right choice for the character. Not because it sounds like a girl, but just because it sounds way younger than the English voice, and dramatically alters the impression the character gives. Not convinced changing a character who sounds like a bratty young teen in one language to a kid in the other is a faithful localisation choice really, and think they would have been better off getting a male actor to affect a younger tone in this case.
Fun Fact: if you complete the game at 120% in this version (not that you'd want to), you can unlock a "Director's Cut" mode after holding down L1+R1 on the file select screen. The only change is that it has the faster movement speed found in its international versions. Now if only they had done something about that camera...
Based on whatever research I came across, the altered camera and slower movement were the result of this. (- When the game was showcased to the Japanese public in 1998, there were numerous reports of headaches and "3D sickness" because the game was too fast. -) I have to say this reason sticks out to me as bewildering, considering the Japanese public got much faster 3D games like 'F-Zero X' and 'Sonic Adventure'. It probably has something to do with the movement of Spyro and the camera, they must have seen something I can't.
The best this version did was keep the soundtrack the same as it was and it was the version that did technically inspire the creation of Ripto in a way as the people in Insomniac saw the way Spyro's name looked in Japanese looked like it said Ripto in the Latin alphabet, just a bit of trivia I heard about from this really flawed Japanese localization.
If I recall the slower gameplay and the different camera angle was because of motion sickness, and that just kinda.... Yeah. In trying to keep Japanese kids from getting motion sickness they made a crap version of the game. Which is sad.
A really cool addition to the japanese versions are collectible dragonflies if you have a pocketstation. You raise them like a tamagotchi and then you can use special dragonflies in the games. I’m not sure what they offer besides extra hits, but it’s a nice side feature. It probably wouldn’t be worth it in Spyro 1’s case, though. I actually have been enjoying the japanese version of Spyro 2, though. The slower movement doesn’t bother me since the game is much slower paced anyways. To fix spyro’s annoying grunts, I just blast shoegaze music while playing. It’s the perfect way to play an imperfect sequel.
It’s slower for exactly the same reason but in reverse: Japanese gamers complained they got dizzy playing the American version because it was too fast.
How can this garbage camera angle appeal to Japanese audiences? The movement speed is slowed down significant as well, the hell were they thinking? Really happy we don't see such over the top overhauls for different regions in videogames anymore. Today its basically just english localization when they port a game from Japan to Europe or the US, and vica versa, although early games had Japanese voice acting as well but it seems they dropped that pretty much, and just slap Japanese subs in there when its a western game.
In j-media most Japanese young characters are cross-voiced. Spyro is implied to be a baby/juvenile dragon so hence why they probably gave him a feminine voice. Like in South Park, all the kids are voiced by women. Eric’s Japanese voice is a woman doing an overly crude boyish voice.
I beat both Spyro 1 and Spyro 2's Japanese versions. At least Spyro 2 got the correct camera but its still a slog to play. Spyro 1 is doable if you are good at controlling the R1 and R2 buttons.
While I haven't played the Japanese version of Spyro, by looking at it, I'll admit that Japanese Spyro 1 game does have problems involves camera whilst Spyro changing as he speeds up and speaking of which, I personally don't like the way Spyro slowing down as he changes. Anyway on the positive note and speaking of Spyro 2, my first Spyo game, that I played when I was a kid, was Spyro the Dragon 2: Gateway to Glimmer (in Europe/UK) also famously known as Spyro the Dragon 2: Ripto's Rage. That game that I bought for the PS1 (before getting the remake Trilogy for PS4 in 2018) was the real reason why I became a Spyro fan in the first place and even to this very day. 🙂
It was changed because of complaints from the Japanese audience of 3D sickness from the game's fast movement and camera. Which is hilarious considering some of the mind frick games the Japanese have made.
@@NuclearWintr Speaking of which, a mind-frick game like LSD: Dream Simulator, I remembered seeing the gameplay footage of it and it was the one weirdest PS1 game that I ever seen.
Nah... I got Spyro 1 NTSC-U for PS1 last year on actual disk, and really enjoy that version of game. That Japanese dub... Not a fan of it. I'd rather listen to the OG voice in NTSC-U and PAL releases. Not to mention that the better camera in those two releases make for the better gameplay experience.
![Is Spyro: A Hero's Tail Bad? [Review]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/WKXA1IxQqLM/mqdefault.jpg)
Spyro's Japanese voice actress was Akiko Yajima (who was also Dorothy Wayneright in The Big O). I think the idea was that since Spyro was a young kid in Spyro 1, the voice direction was probably due to how in alot of anime young boy characters would be voiced by adult women.
Not saying this to argue or anything, just thought it was interesting.
Yeah, as someone who speaks Japanese, Spyro's voice doesn't sound like a girl's at all to me. Or... well it does sound like a girl insofar as you can tell it's a female voice actor, but she's clearly affecting the speech patterns and intonation of a young boy, and it's the kind of voice where most speakers of the language would immediately read the character as male in a Japanese media context, where it's common practice for women to voice young boys.
That being said, I still agree with the video that it's not the right choice for the character. Not because it sounds like a girl, but just because it sounds way younger than the English voice, and dramatically alters the impression the character gives. Not convinced changing a character who sounds like a bratty young teen in one language to a kid in the other is a faithful localisation choice really, and think they would have been better off getting a male actor to affect a younger tone in this case.
Fun Fact: if you complete the game at 120% in this version (not that you'd want to), you can unlock a "Director's Cut" mode after holding down L1+R1 on the file select screen. The only change is that it has the faster movement speed found in its international versions. Now if only they had done something about that camera...
Based on whatever research I came across, the altered camera and slower movement were the result of this.
(- When the game was showcased to the Japanese public in 1998, there were numerous reports of headaches and "3D sickness" because the game was too fast. -)
I have to say this reason sticks out to me as bewildering, considering the Japanese public got much faster 3D games like 'F-Zero X' and 'Sonic Adventure'. It probably has something to do with the movement of Spyro and the camera, they must have seen something I can't.
Spyro 1’s Japanese conversion really shows how much a badly optimized camera can ruin a great game. Whether it’s a localization, port, remake, etc.
True
The best this version did was keep the soundtrack the same as it was and it was the version that did technically inspire the creation of Ripto in a way as the people in Insomniac saw the way Spyro's name looked in Japanese looked like it said Ripto in the Latin alphabet, just a bit of trivia I heard about from this really flawed Japanese localization.
If I recall the slower gameplay and the different camera angle was because of motion sickness, and that just kinda.... Yeah. In trying to keep Japanese kids from getting motion sickness they made a crap version of the game. Which is sad.
I finished the Japanese version of spyro the dragon recently and yeah the camera is kinda bad. But it fits for some areas/levels tho.
A really cool addition to the japanese versions are collectible dragonflies if you have a pocketstation. You raise them like a tamagotchi and then you can use special dragonflies in the games. I’m not sure what they offer besides extra hits, but it’s a nice side feature. It probably wouldn’t be worth it in Spyro 1’s case, though.
I actually have been enjoying the japanese version of Spyro 2, though. The slower movement doesn’t bother me since the game is much slower paced anyways. To fix spyro’s annoying grunts, I just blast shoegaze music while playing. It’s the perfect way to play an imperfect sequel.
Wtf fellow racc, last time I saw ur video and subscribed, you had like.. 700 subs :0
Now nearly 13k. Deserved ❤️
Alright I'll avoid it.
its nice see a review from you again
The only great things about the Japanese version of the Spyro games is the voice acting and the dragonfly eggs or whatever they're called
I honestly liked the original voice of Spyro 1 very much
i know that awful feeling of slow gameplay
It’s slower for exactly the same reason but in reverse: Japanese gamers complained they got dizzy playing the American version because it was too fast.
The Japanese Devs probably did this to make Western games look bad, as nothing can ever top Japanese games.
How can this garbage camera angle appeal to Japanese audiences? The movement speed is slowed down significant as well, the hell were they thinking? Really happy we don't see such over the top overhauls for different regions in videogames anymore. Today its basically just english localization when they port a game from Japan to Europe or the US, and vica versa, although early games had Japanese voice acting as well but it seems they dropped that pretty much, and just slap Japanese subs in there when its a western game.
In j-media most Japanese young characters are cross-voiced. Spyro is implied to be a baby/juvenile dragon so hence why they probably gave him a feminine voice. Like in South Park, all the kids are voiced by women. Eric’s Japanese voice is a woman doing an overly crude boyish voice.
I beat both Spyro 1 and Spyro 2's Japanese versions. At least Spyro 2 got the correct camera but its still a slog to play. Spyro 1 is doable if you are good at controlling the R1 and R2 buttons.
While I haven't played the Japanese version of Spyro, by looking at it, I'll admit that Japanese Spyro 1 game does have problems involves camera whilst Spyro changing as he speeds up and speaking of which, I personally don't like the way Spyro slowing down as he changes.
Anyway on the positive note and speaking of Spyro 2, my first Spyo game, that I played when I was a kid, was Spyro the Dragon 2: Gateway to Glimmer (in Europe/UK) also famously known as Spyro the Dragon 2: Ripto's Rage. That game that I bought for the PS1 (before getting the remake Trilogy for PS4 in 2018) was the real reason why I became a Spyro fan in the first place and even to this very day. 🙂
It was changed because of complaints from the Japanese audience of 3D sickness from the game's fast movement and camera. Which is hilarious considering some of the mind frick games the Japanese have made.
@@NuclearWintr Speaking of which, a mind-frick game like LSD: Dream Simulator, I remembered seeing the gameplay footage of it and it was the one weirdest PS1 game that I ever seen.
the signs apparently arent advice for playing the game they tell u where to go which i think is super dumb because the point is exploration
Why do you pronounce the G on "Gnasty"? And if you do, why not on "Gnorc"? Shouldn't it be GuhNasty GuhNorc
Nah... I got Spyro 1 NTSC-U for PS1 last year on actual disk, and really enjoy that version of game. That Japanese dub... Not a fan of it. I'd rather listen to the OG voice in NTSC-U and PAL releases. Not to mention that the better camera in those two releases make for the better gameplay experience.
А что за модификация этой игры? И где этот мод скачать себе?
Официальная японская версия (регион NTSC-J)
Maybe I'm just used to how boys in anime are usually voiced by women but I don't think Japanese spyro sounds like a little girl at all