Roger Craig Smith



Roger Craig Smith is the current voice of Sonic the Hedgehog, having succeeded Jason Anthony Griffith in the role. His first appearance as Sonic was in Sonic Free Riders. His other noticeable roles include Chris Redfield in Resident Evil series starting with Resident Evil 5, Ezio in the Assassin's Creed series starting with Assassin's Creed II, Siegfried Schtauffen in Soul Calibur series starting with Soul Calibur Legends, Deidara in Naruto Shippuden, and Shinji Hirako, Ryusei Kenzaki and Noba in Bleach. He will voice Modern Sonic in Generations, but will not voice Classic Sonic as he will be mute.

Filmography

 * Bleach - Shinji Hirako, Noba, Ryūsei "Kenryū" Kenzaki, Ho
 * Code Geass - Gilbert G.P. Guilford
 * Duel Masters - Maurice the Merciless
 * Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence - Additional Voices (Animaze dub)
 * Kekkaishi - Byaku
 * Kurokami: the Animation - Seiji
 * Monster - Martin (Eva's Bodyguard)
 * Naruto - Dan, Idate Morino, Raiga Kurosuki, Inabi Uchiha
 * Naruto the Movie 2: Legend of the Stone of Gelel - Temujin
 * Naruto Shippuden - Deidara
 * Patlabor: The Movie - Kichi Goto (Bandai dub)
 * Patlabor 2: The Movie - Kichi Goto (Bandai dub)
 * Stitch! - Husk, Hull
 * Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes - Captain Marvel
 * Batman: The Brave and the Bold - Marvin White
 * Celebrity Deathmatch - Tobey Maguire, Adrian Grenier
 * Fanboy and Chum Chum - Man Arctica's Sidekick
 * Fish Hooks - Pass
 * Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams - Prince Phillip
 * LEGO Hero Factory - Fangz
 * Regular Show - Doug, Jimmy, Night Owl, various
 * Rescue Bots
 * Resident Evil: Degeneration - Curtis Miller
 * Robotomy - Tacklebot
 * Say Yes to the Dress - Narrator
 * Sonny with a Chance - So Random Announcer
 * Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure - Bolt, Stone
 * Young Justice - Prince Orm, L-5
 * Wolverine and the X-Men - Forge, Kamal, Hellion
 * Wordgirl

Alton Towers Controversy
Sonic Stadium member T-Bird visited the Alton Towers resort in the UK which featured the "Sonic Room," a Sonic-themed room. When the entry door to the room opens, patrons are greeted by audio recording of Sonic. People heavily criticized the Sonic voice saying it sounded too "surfer, cheesy, and very weak." People wondered who the person behind the Sonic voice was until the Sonic Stadium contacted Smith and asked him if he was the voice. He simply responded "yes." A commercial he did for Alton Towers sounded better than the room's actual voice.

As of August 16, 2010, however, it was revealed that the audio clips of Roger Craig Smith performing Sonic at Alton Towers were edited and slowed down, and some of the original unedited voice clips were released on the internet for download.

But as a cutscene of Sonic Colors was revealed on the internet, the final voice for Sonic varied alot from the The Alton Towers announcements. The voice got into a big change, sounding deeper than the original voice that was done by Jason Anthony Griffith. The reason why the voice varied a lot from the one in the Alton Towers was earlier explained by Roger, he had said that SEGA had asked him to make Sonic sound "older" before the announcements that were given in the Alton Towers.

Reception
In the Sonic Colors Nintendo Power review, it was written that the good thing about the story was Sonic because he was voiced by Roger. They had praised Roger by saying that he gives Sonic a very "cool" personality, something they had claimed that Sonic looks cool "for the first time in a long while" and a "less cringeworthy persona". IGN and ScrewAttack.com also praised Smith's voice work saying that this is the first Sonic game in years where they can listen to the voice acting and not cringe. However, Gametrailers.com criticized Smith saying that he and the other voices in the Free Riders review were "laughable" and in the Colors review said, "We would not object to Sonic being a mute hero", Destructiod.com reviewer Jim Sterling critized Smith as well saying “Sonic seems to have had a personality makeover, now becoming an affable idiot with a terrible sense of humor".

His performance received mixed reviews from fans, some fans praised his voice for having a good potrayal of Sonic's personality and attitude, but others have criticized it for being "too deep" and too anime-generic. Another addition to the disappointment was that he was offered the role by SEGA and did not audition which many fans felt unfair to other voice actors mostly to Ryan Drummond and Jason Griffith who unlike Roger earned there role as Sonic in a audition. Despite the positive reviews, some fans consider Smith to be the most unfit voice for Sonic mostly due to the fact that his older voice that SEGA wants from him doesn't reflect Sonic's 15 year old age (as listed on his profile since Sonic Adventure).