Though we did just hear him back as Johnny in Guilty Gear Strive
Some voice actors have a sound that’s so unique that you can immediately tell who it is upon first hearing them in something new though it seems like we won’t be hearing one of the most iconic of them all much anymore.
While M. Bison was recently revealed to be returning as Street Fighter 6’s next DLC character, his legendary voice actor will not be.
Norio Wakamoto won’t be behind the evil man they call Vega in Japan anymore
We’ve seen no official statement as to why that is, but there’s a likely simple reason for that.
Wakamoto is about to turn 79 years old this year, and while we can’t find anything stating that the icon is outright retiring, he hasn’t taken on barely any new roles the past few years.
The man’s been in the business for like 50 years now, so it certainly seems reasonable to at least take a step back and take it easy now.
For 16 years, Wakamoto brought the grit and menace needed to bring someone as vile as Bison to life since Street Fighter 4 though anyone who’s played other big Japanese games or watch anime have certainly heard him many other places as well.
He was of course the voice of Cell in Dragon Ball (even through Cell Max in Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero) along with Johnny in Guilty Gear, Yoshimitsu in Soul Calibur, Dracula in Castlevania, Xemnas in Kingdom Hearts, Igniz in King of Fighters, Charles in Code Geass, Vicious in Cowboy Bebop and dozens upon dozens of other roles.
Interestingly we did still hear Wakamoto return as Johnny in Guilty Gear Strive, but it’s unknown how far back those lines were recorded since early leaks suggested the pirate leader was coming all the way back in Season 1.
The man taking up the mantle of M. Bison in SF6 will actually be Taiten Kusunoki.
Funnily enough, this won’t be the first time he’s portrayed the Street Fighter dictator either since he was Bison on the Japanese cast of Wreck-It Ralph, so now he gets another shot 12 years later.
You should also recognize Kusunoki as Nagoriyuki in Guilty Gear Strive, Rude in Final Fantasy 7, Heihachi in Tekken: Bloodline, Ibiki in Naruto, Nail starting in Dragon Ball Z Kai, and many more characters over the past 30 years.
It’s easy to tell Wakamoto isn’t the one behind the lines anymore, but different certainly doesn’t mean Kusunoki is doing a bad job by any stretch.
This could have provided the developers an easy out, however, to change up Bison’s body an appearance with the voice but that’s technically remaining the same.
Meanwhile, those who prefer / play with the English dub should be happy to find the great Gerald C. Rivers back as Bison in SF6, whose ridiculously deep voice has also become iconic for the dictator.
The English cast did previously replace the likes of Ken, Chun-Li and Guile’s actors in SF6, but it’s nice to see Rivers still eating it up as Bison.
We’ll be hearing much more of Kusunoki and Rivers very soon with M. Bison releasing in Street Fighter 6 on June 26.