Interview with Melee's Announcer -- Dean Harrington!

@Spazzy_D and I got the chance to sit down with the legendary Dean Harrington. Known for his over-the-top performance in Melee, this is the first interview he’s ever done on the subject.

In the interview, we discuss Mr. Harrington’s early career, what inspired him to do the voice, and information about the recording process. The interview clocks in at over 45 minutes, but it’s well worth the listen!

There are three ways you may listen to it. The first is by watching the video below.

The second is by going to the Source Gaming website and listening to the .MP3.


Lastly, you can check out our iTunes page to listen to it on the go.


Special thanks to @ThunderCat, who helped balance the audio!


If you enjoyed the interview and would like to show your appreciation to Dean Harrington, you should check out his website. He was very surprised to see so many fans love his performance, in addition to the high-level play he’s seen.


Also, check out Source Gaming’s birthday stream information. Xander Mobus (the announcer for Smash for 3DS/Wii U), Ash Paulsen (GameXplain) and some other people may pop in during the stream.


PushDustIn was deeply humbled to speak with Mr. Harrington. You can follow him on Twitter.

 

One of my most favorite Smash announcer. Brawl and Smash4 were nearly identical. But Melee's annoucer is just so classic.

My favorite part is how he says "Super Sudden Death!" In the game where how he pronounce "Sudden" that hard, it made you feel this mode's "seriousness" already. It's just so unforgettable.

 

Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn, no way!

 

WOW, INCREDIBLE!

 

It's funny how the voice was this amusing thing in the game, but the person behind it had a really interesting life. Who knew?

Maybe the long interview isn't appealing to everyone, but someone like me who is an older player, it's interesting listening to him tell his stories, like the one about the director who just stole scenes from movies and used them.

Also, "It's like a martial artists' wet dream". That got me, haha.

 

This is so cool. Easily my favorite announcer.

 

the crickets are killing me right now.....both in nostalgia from animal crossing and in annoyance from hearing them in real life.

 

the crickets are killing me right now.....both in nostalgia from animal crossing and in annoyance from hearing them in real life.

They are actually cicadas! They seem to like Dean as much as we did. @ThunderCat did his best to cut them down as much as possible.

It's funny how the voice was this amusing thing in the game, but the person behind it had a really interesting life. Who knew?

Maybe the long interview isn't appealing to everyone, but someone like me who is an older player, it's interesting listening to him tell his stories, like the one about the director who just stole scenes from movies and used them.

Also, "It's like a martial artists' wet dream". That got me, haha.

People are complaining it's too long? This is the first time Mr. Harrington has ever talked about Melee! It's not long enough~ glad you enjoyed it though!

 

Amazing! I love discovering/learning about the people behind the voices from my favorite games (big hobby of mine) and this entire interview is like a love letter to me and in way, is basically a miracle. Being able to see him in the flesh is also incredible too. Fantastic work on getting in contact with him and making this interview a reality!

It's also pretty cool how he was willing to do more voice clips for Legacy XP (which I never heard of till now. Gonna have to check it out!) I have the Melee voice clips on my Project M build and I can't wait to put the new clips on it. It's quite something to think how, 15 years later, the god of announcing would come back to be the announcer of what's basically the "real" sequel to Melee (or at least a mod of it).

It feels so surreal and yet, it's all true. What a time to be alive! I'll have to make a donation to both sides as this really is truly amazing!

As for my favorite voice clips, I really love the "Super Smash Brothers MELEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" clip in the opening, the classic "Super Sudden Death!", Bonus mode's "Decision!" and my personal favorite of this bunch, "Invisible Melee!" Love how he says "Melee" in that mode. Love it!

And for characters, my favorites, in order, are &.

Overall, my #1 favorite clip would be (what a surprise) but really, all the voice clips are incredible and I love all of them. He's just that good. He's my favorite Smash announcer in every way possible and my favorite announcer period. A true legend that I got to see in the flesh with my own eyes and listen to with my own ears. Simply amazing!

 

I like the melee announcer but I thought that some of his lines were rather unclear, but I'm assumig that it had something to do with the game's audio.

 

This is a top tier interview with a top tier guest! Very interesting in that it's wild and curious.

 

This is great! You guys were very professional for a couple of excited fanboys.

 

This is great! You guys were very professional for a couple of excited fanboys.

Haha thanks. We wanted to provide as much information as possible for the community as this was the first time Dean has ever really talked about his work! So it was a little stressful!