特稿：Abby Trott 谈演唱 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate 主题曲与在 Castlevania: Belmont's Curse 饰演 Belmont

If you're keeping an eye out for our Castlevania: Belmont's Curse review, we're working on it. In the meantime, Ollie recently had the chance to speak to the voice of Rose herself...

Since entering the voice acting scene in 2015, Abby Trott has been making huge waves in the animation and video game industries.

Although perhaps best known for her role as Nezuko Kamado in the English dub for Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, she's also brought to life characters across TV, film, and games over the last decade, including Dandadan's Momo Ayase, Marvel Rivals' Magik, Persona 5 Royal's Tae Takemi, and many more.

Oh, and she also sang the main theme song for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. You know the one!

Now, she's is back to take on the lead role of Rose Belmont in Castlevania: Belmont's Curse, which is out right now for Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, and we recently sat down for a chat with Abby to find out more. We dive into how the Smash Bros. job came about, her new role as Rose, and which Nintendo characters she would love to voice in the future.

So let's get stuck in.

Nintendo Life (Ollie Reynolds): You've been voice acting for more than a decade at this point and have worked on major animes like Demon Slayer and Dandadan. Was there ever a moment for you where you thought, "Okay, I've made it. I'm doing what I set out to do and I'm successful at it."?

Abby Trott: That's such a tough question because there's never a moment where I feel like I've made it, as they say. I don't know if that moment will ever come because, as an actor, you are always auditioning. I still audition for most jobs that I do.

And so in my brain, I think any day it could just be like, "...aaand we're done!" I could just never book again. You never know. And then people's careers - there's ups and downs, there's slow periods. So it's never, "Yep, I did it, I'm successful."

But definitely, there have been a few points where I realised that I have hit some points of success. Whereas when I first started voiceover, I had no idea it was gonna happen. I assumed I would fail, actually, because everyone kept telling me that it's incredibly competitive. 'It's hard, you'll have no money, you'll be a starving artist, and then you will give up.' So, that's kind of what I expected to do.

When I did decide that I wanted to pursue voiceover specifically, I was at a point where it was all or nothing. I thought, 'I have to at least try this, and then if it doesn't work out, then I can move on, but I will never be able to live with myself knowing that this might have been a thing that I could have done.'

One of my first jobs was for Nintendo, singing the theme 'Lifelight' for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. For me, it's still so incredibly surreal that that ever happened because I'm a huge Nintendo fan. I just got the expansion pack for Pokémon Pokopia, I've been playing Nintendo games my entire life. And so not just as a voice actor, but as a singer, to be able to do that for Nintendo was such an incredible achievement that I never fully felt like I deserved. I had such imposter syndrome when I booked those earlier jobs.

Then another one of those was Demon Slayer. You know, my character, Nezuko, doesn't speak an awful lot. And so again, the imposter syndrome for me was real, especially in the beginning when I started being invited to conventions and people wanted to talk about the thing. And I'm like, "Yeah, I'm not in it that much," but people love that show so much, and so do I. And I realise now what a massive impact it's had on the world. It's a global phenomenon.

So to be part of something that huge, never in my wildest dreams did I think that a cartoon that did voiceover in would be so impactful.

Nintendo Life: Do you still feel some sense of imposter syndrome even now? Or has that dissipated?

Abby: It has dissipated a little bit more because when I think about it, I'm like, 'I work very hard,' you know? I know I'm not just cruising. I'm not just going to show up and do whatever. I very much care and I really do work hard.

Once I booked the job, I found out what it was, and I literally cried. I lost my mind, I couldn't believe it. And then I was so nervous, because I wanted it to be good, you know?

But I don't think that it's a mistake anymore. Whereas initially with the imposter syndrome, I was, "Oh no, they've been fooled! They're gonna find me out and I'm not what they think I am and I'm not good enough." I think that has dissipated.

Of course, there's always room for improvement. So I still take classes; at the beginning of this year, I took a Meisner acting scene study class just to keep the skill set up because the work is ongoing and that's the nature of it.

Nintendo Life: Let's go back to the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate theme song that you did. How did that come about?

Abby: So I got a request for singing demos, and I threw together a singing demo from when I lived in Japan and sent it off, thinking like nothing would ever come of it.

Then I got a call back, and they wanted to hear the song from Neon Genesis Evangelion, 'A Cruel Angel's Thesis', but sung maybe three steps higher than the original key, because that, I guess, matches the key of 'Lifelight'. I didn't know what this was for the entire time. I think they may have said a Nintendo project, but they might not have even said that at that point.

Once I booked the job, I found out what it was, and I literally cried. I lost my mind, I couldn't believe it. And then I was so nervous, because I wanted it to be good, you know? You want to live up to the expectations. It's one of the most special jobs that I've ever done.

Nintendo Life: If they do another one, would you want to come back for it?

Abby: I would love to, but I think they hire different singers for most of their games. It seems like there's a different singer each time. But if they ever did want me back, I'd be there.

Nintendo Life: Let's talk about Castlevania: Belmont's Curse. What can you tell us at this stage about your character, Rose Belmont, and her role in the game?

Abby: Rose is the main character, she's the daughter of Trevor, who people might know from Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, which I just recently started playing. Man, that game's hard. These older games are so rough, but it's a great game. I love the enemies, I love the design.

And one thing I really love about Belmont's Curse is that it has that same Castlevania atmosphere. I just love that. I love the designs of all the bosses, I think they've released some images of some of the bosses you fight in the game. It's very artistic, and I like spooky vibes.

Like her father, Rose can wield a whip, but she also gets a bunch of other weapons too, which is fun. And a special weapon that Rose has is a tarot deck from her mother. I don't know what they've divulged online yet, but it's a magical tarot deck, so it's a key part of the game.

Nintendo Life: When you went for this role, was it a similar situation with Nintendo in that you didn't know what it was for? Or were you aware?

Abby: I knew, I think I clocked what this was, yeah. But it's funny because unlike Nintendo — I've played so many Nintendo games — I had never finished a Castlevania game. So when I booked the role, I was like, "I need to fix this". So that's why I started Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse. I needed to get through it.

But I am gonna play Belmont's Curse when it comes out because I love side-scrollers. I don't know why there's just a weird loophole in my video game history where I've never been into a Castlevania game.

Nintendo Life: Despite not playing it before now, does the Castlevania name and its 40-year history add any pressure to the role?

Abby: I try not to think about it, if I can, and really focus on the character because I think it's always good to take into context the genre, the platform, what kind of a game it is, the tone... If you can get any of that information as an actor, it's definitely good to use that in your audition.

She wants to kill Dracula, she has a curse on her arm from him, and she obviously has an extensive family history with that guy.

But I think there's a danger of getting swept up in that kind of expectations and losing the character, which I have done before, I feel like. So this time I really just tried to focus on the specs that they gave for Rose. And one of the key things about her was her determination. She feels like a bit of a clenched fist to me. She wants to kill Dracula, she has a curse on her arm from him, and she obviously has an extensive family history with that guy. So I tried to just focus on the important things about her and not get so in my head.

Nintendo Life: Graham McTavish, who played Dracula in the TV adaptation, is coming back for this one. Did he give you any advice or tips on the story to help prepare you?

Abby: I didn't get to record with other voice actors. Usually, when you're doing a video game, unless it's performance capture you're usually flying solo and you're the one recording it at a time. But that would have been awesome. I don't know what I would have asked.

It's cool though because the cast is kind of a mix of older members and some people from the animation and then new people like me. So it's a great cast. JB Blanc, who I'm a huge fan of, is playing my father. We get to do a little bit of behind-the-scenes stuff for promotion that people might have seen.

Nintendo Life: With anime, I know for voice actors, it's often a case of watching the scene with the Japanese voiceover and then dubbing over it, but with games there's a lot less material to work with. Do you think that's more difficult in some respects?

Abby: Ultimately, it's really challenging for a director because they have to be on top of everything. They have to know that game, everything about the characters, they have to answer any question I might have.

So I might ask, "Where is Rose right now?" and they have to know. And sometimes they don't know and we just make our best guess, but in this case we also have some of the game devs in the room to answer some questions, which is always helpful.

Nintendo Life: When the announcement that you're voicing Rose Belmont was finally made, what were your feelings in that moment? Do you feel nervous, or a sense of relief that it's finally out there?

Abby: I have mixed feelings. I don't like to be perceived – I'm one of those people. But that's not to say I'm not proud of the work and excited about the thing. I do get very nervous to the point where if I see that [Konami] just announced the cast and I didn't know that was coming, my palms will be sweaty and I'll be like, "Oh no, I'm shaking!"

I would love to be in any Zelda game. Samus would be a cool role, even though she's a woman of few words, like Link. I love Metroid, it's one of my favourites.

And then I try not to read the comments, but I always read the comments. Yeah, it's one of those situations. But I am very stoked, proud, excited to be in this game, so there's definitely a big positive that outweighs that nervousness. I genuinely can't wait to play it.

Nintendo Life: You've taken on some incredible roles in your career so far. What would you say is your dream at this point in your life?

Abby: I would love to do performance capture. I've not had that opportunity yet, and as an actor one of the reasons I took a scene study class at the beginning of the year was that I really miss doing scene work with other actors, because in the voiceover booth you're by yourself. So that would be really great, I would love to do that.

Another thing that I'm considering is directing and writing. I don't know what that would be, but those are some of my side interests that have kind of [been put on the] back burner, and I'm thinking about maybe seeing if they're worth pursuing.

Nintendo Life: That sounds great. You mentioned earlier that you're a fan of Nintendo. Are there any games or specific roles that you would like to be a part of?

Abby: I would love to be in any Zelda game. Samus would be a cool role, even though she's a woman of few words, like Link. I love Metroid, it's one of my favourites. Probably Super Metroid is my favourite Metroid game. So Samus would be rad. But honestly, anything. Anything Nintendo.

Nintendo Life: Okay, last but not least, who would win in a fight? Rose Belmont or Nezuko?

Abby: Oh no! That's such a hard question. Maybe Nezuko, because I feel like she has some serious demonic power that we don't even know if she's tapped at all. Her powers keep expanding and increasing, but that's really tough.

Yeah, Nezuko wins today, but ask me again tomorrow, it might be Rose.

Nintendo Life: What about Rose and Momo?

Abby: Oh, Rose probably would win because she's more experienced in battle. Momo has her ghost hands, which she's still learning to use, and they don't always hold up to a sword, but. Maybe Momo could just grab Rose and hold her there with her ghost hands.

Essentially, those powers are going to run out, though. She'll be depleted and then Rose will kick butt.

Huge thanks to Abby Trott for taking the time to speak with us. Will you be playing Castlevania: Belmont's Curse on the Switch? Let us know with a comment in the usual place.