To coincide with the release of Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time, let's take a look back at Crash's rival from the early PS1 days, Spyro. Accompanying that sentiment with the original voice of the titular character, Carlos Alazraqui. Whꦚile he only voiced Spyro for one g♕ame, many will surely know from many of his other acting and voice-over roles.
This includes Rocko from Rocko's Modern Life, Officer Garcia from Reno 911, and the list goes on. His work is numerous and t﷽here are some facts about his roles behind the scenes that some may know. So, in celebration of both Spyro and Alazraqui's career, let's take a deep dive.
10 Voicing Rocko🧜
Alazraqui started out as a standup comedian in the 1980s before he hit his first break with voice acting after almost a decade of work. “I stumbled into an audition for a project called Rocko’s Modern Life in 1991 and was very ♚fortunate to have the right voice at the right time for Rocko.” In the interview, he also mentioned that “Wacky Delly” was one of his favorite episodes to voice, which does have r🐲elevance.
See, while he did come back to voice Rocko in some games after the show’s cancellation, there was no buzz of a reboot until 2012 when he, and the rest of the cast, came back to do a live reading of “Wacky Delly” to high praise. Long story short, this is one of the events that eventually led to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the Netflix movie, Rocko's Modern Life: Static Cling.
9 💦 Spyro Was His First Video Game Role
If not for Rocko, gamers may be more familiar with Alazraqui as the original voice of Spyro in the first game. That’s the only time he got to play the titular character though. When asked why he wasn’t called back for the sequels, he said, “The developers just made the dec✨ision to go with Tom.” This is in reference t🐽o Tom Kenny who went on to voice Spyro for a majority of the games. Funnily enough, Kenny was also one of Alazraqui’s co-stars in Rocko’s Modern Life, Heffer.
8 ♚ Recording Cartoons VS Video Games
Is there a difference? To those unfamiliar to the practice, one might wonder if there is a difference between recording audio for a cartoon and video game. Alazraqui commented on doing audio for 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Kingdom Hearts III that he 𒀰had 𒊎to match timing with the Japanese audio.
Later on, he also mentioned that more often than not he usually recorded with fellow cast members on cartoons compared to solo deals with games. That said, when doing 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Spyro the Dragon, he did voice next to Clancy Brown who most might know as Mr. Krabs from SpongeBob SquarePants.
7 ꦑ After Spyro
Going back to Spyro, Alazraqui would return to the franchise in a sense. When the series got rebooted into Skylanders, he jumped in to play a new character, Hot Dog, starting in the second game, Skylanders: Giants. He did some additional voice work as well before getting able to voice another playable character, Fiesta, in Skylanders: SuperChargers. So while not as iconic as the dragon himself, it is interesting to see him🉐 come back in some form. The big question is, will this franchise e🌠ver come back?
6 🍸 Left 4 Dead Or Bust
When asked if he played games, his response was somewhat surprising: 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Left 4 Dead. This includes both games and he still plays them with family members and friends. That is all he plays. He even knows some of the voice actors from the game which might have helped pique his interest. It would be interesting to see what Valve thought of this. If they ever make Left 4 Dead 3, it might be a good idea to reach out to Alazraqui.♔ Let’s make it happen!
5 🦹 Subbing In For Billy Crystal
Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor is a stand-up comedy/animated hybrid that has been going strong since it opened in Disney’s Magic Kingdom in 2007. Guests can even participate in the show by texting jokes which may make it into the performance. Anyway, Alazraqui was approached to voice Mike Wazowski. Outside of their main roles, in this case, Billy Crystal, actors rarely come back to reprise their roles in non-film roles aka toys, games, and so forth. In order to prepare for the role, Alazraqui watched one of Crystal’s movies on repeat, Forget Paris.
4 Disney Inꦐfinity And Kingdom Hearts III
Because of his work with the Disney attraction, Alazraqui also got to voice Mike Wazowski 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:in Kingdom Hearts which was already mentioned. Prior to this he also did the character for the Disney Infinity games, which was much more involved than Kingdom Hearts III.
That is to say, players got the opportunity to actually play a game with the character instead of having him be a supporting team member. This is true for all three Disney Infinity games although, after the first, Mike Wazowski’s role was smaller. When asked if he ever 💖met Billy Crystal to discuss this role Alazraqui said yes and that he mentioned enjoying his work only. “I did not feel right to say that I do your sound-alike stuff!”
3 GoldenEye: Rogueꦡ Agent
This was not the only celebrity Alazraqui got to voice. He subbed in for Joseph Wiseman to play Dr. No in GoldenEye: Rogue Agent. Remember that game? It’s not as fondly remembered as 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the N64 classic but a sequel was indeed made for the PS2, Xbox, and GameCube generation. When asked how he got into that role Alazraqui mentioned watching a Scottish show from the 1980s. “I watch my box set of Rab C. Nesbitt from Scotland when I need to brush up on my Scottish/Glasw🔯egian dialect🧜.”
2 🐲 Two Other Cไelebrity Impersonations
There are two more celebrity impersonations Alazraqui performed, but the interview was not able to get into the nitty-gritty. That is to say, these two games did not receive clarification on how they were acquired. The first, also from Disney Infinity, Francesco Bernoulli. Alazraqui stepped in for John Turturro’s character from Cars 2. Weirder still, apparently he voiced Bill Clinton in the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:now-forgotten PS1 and Sega Saturn 1996 game, Soviet Strike from EA.
1 So Cloꦬse To Bane
Another thing that could not get clarification were his roles in Batman: Arkham City, Batman: Arkham Origins, and Batman: Arkham Knight. In all three he had virtually minor roles. The one that stands out the most is his work as a thug of Bane in Batman: Arkham Origins. That was released in 2013.
A year prior to this he played Bane in a straight to Blu-ray DC film, Justice League: Doom. He went on to voice Bane in Batman Unlimited: Mech vs. Mutants and Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The question then is did he try out for Bane in the game, or did his work as a thug lead him to the꧑ DC animated shorts? One may never know, but it is an interesting puzzle to look at.