Written by. Ryuki Ishii based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2022-01-29 14:02 JST)

Highly anticipated action RPG Pokémon Legends: Arceus launched for the Nintendo Switch on January 28, and players have noticed a major change from previous titles, besides the gameplay; the game uses Pikachu’s original digitized cry sound instead of the newer one voiced by Ikue Ohtani. The pika pika anime voice is gone.

Although Ikue Ohtani’s Pikachu voice was used in some older titles like Pokémon Stadium, it became the standard from 2013’s Pokémon X and Y onward. Her iconic Pikachu voice from the anime series crossed over to the videogame series and has remained ever since. (Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl do have an option to toggle on the original Pokémon cries from the Nintendo DS era, though.)

Many players are feeling nostalgic about it, with some of them welcoming the change, while others not so much. Opinions vary depending on personal taste, and that goes the same for players in Japan and regions outside Japan. The combination of the modern Pikachu graphics and the retro cry sound might feel a bit jarring for those who are used to the new anime cry, but at least younger fans who haven’t played the earlier games get to hear the original sound for the first time. When I (the original author of this article) asked my elementary school daughter about it, she said she only knew the “pika pika” cry sound. I could feel a strong generational gap.

Pikachu first appears in the game during the tutorial and makes a memorable entrance and a strong impression. The fact that Pikachu’s cry sound can be heard in such an early part of the game where a majority of players would see, was probably one of the reasons why it drew so much attention right after the game’s launch.

The earlier titles in the series had technical limitations in regard to creating cry sounds, especially in the Game Boy era. As the hardware specifications have improved, more natural-sounding cries were introduced. Pikachu received some special treatments along the way, though. Pokémon Yellow, an enhanced version of Pokémon Red and Blue, recreated the anime Pikachu voice using digitized sounds, which was an astonishing feat of its own considering the hardware limitations. Junichi Masuda, who worked on the title as a programmer at the time, previously wrote a blog post explaining how challenging the process was. A deep dive analysis conducted by Retro Game Mechanics Explained on this matter is quite interesting as well.

Pokémon Legends: Arceus is a Nintendo Switch game, and I doubt technical limitations were the reason behind the sound change. Some players speculate that the cry sound had changed because Arceus serves as a prequel to Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, and timeline-wise, the game takes place way before other titles in the series. Pokémon, including Pikachu, are still relatively unknown to mankind at this point, so it makes sense to emphasize the fact that people and Pokémon have not bonded as close as they have in other titles. Using primitive cry sound could be a way to express that emotional distance.

Eevee’s cry sound reverted back to the digitized one as well, by the way. Many other Pokémon can be heard making their original cry sounds in Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Of all the Pokémon, Pikachu has attracted the most amount of attention, likely because of its popularity and how we got so used to hearing Ikue Ohtani’s Pikachu voice. The original cry does have a unique quality to it that fits with the electric-type Pokémon, though. Whether you like the original sound or not, I don’t think Pikachu’s cuteness will be compromised because of it.

Pokémon Legends: Arceus is now available on Nintendo Switch.