Dataminers claim to have found evidence in the recent Game Freak hack that voiced dialogue was cut from Pokemon Legends: Arceus ahead of its 2022 launch.
When I say voice acting, I don't mean a script read line-by-line. These are grunts, laughs, and little phrases that, going by the format 'Dialogue#(NUMBER)', would have likely triggered when talking to different NPCs, much like in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. You can hear them for yourself here.
There are hangovers of this scrapped idea in the release build of Arceus, as you can hear the player's voice briefly while throwing a Pokeball or when taking damage. But for whatever reason, the rest of the recored dialogue appears to have been scrapped completely.
Some phrases include "hello", "thank you", and "arigato".
As broken down in an incredibly handy list by Bulbapedia, spoken dialogue in Pokemon games isn't completely unprecedented.
Pokemon Black and White used synethesised beatboxing for the Village Bridge theme, and when speaking to Russo, enka vocals are added to the background track. In Black and White 2, you can hear the phrases "Give me what I need" and "Are you ready?" while inside the Nimbassa Gym,...
