Pokémon Fans Want Stephen A. Smith To Voice The New Pokédex

Kenneth Shepard
·2 min read
Image: The Stephen A. Smith Show / The Pokémon Company / Kotaku
Image: The Stephen A. Smith Show / The Pokémon Company / Kotaku
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The Pokédex has had plenty of different voices across the Pokémon franchise. This digital codex tells you all about the different critters you meet in the Pokémon world, and in the anime, it’s voiced. Original protagonist Ash Ketchum cycled through several variations of the Pokédex throughout his years-long run, and each had a different actor listing off trivia about the monsters he met. Well, fans are now rallying around a new voice actor they’d like to see step into the role: sports personality Stephen A. Smith.

While crowdsourcing questions for an episode of his sports and entertainment program The Stephen A. Smith Show, Smith was asked a hypothetical: Could Pokémon’s Mewtwo beat Los Angeles Lakers superstar and Multiversus character LeBron James in a game of basketball?

Though he had trouble pronouncing Mewtwo’s name, he did end up giving the psychic legendary Pokémon the win. Though he notes Mewtwo is not as tall as James (that man is 6-foot-9 inches tall?!), his psychic abilities could allow him to anticipate James’ moves.

“Yeah, maybe he could pull it off,” Smith said. “I mean, from the looks of him, he might scare LeBron. [...] That long tail, you never know, [he] might trip him. Yeah, I could see that. [...] I’m not saying it definitely would happen but it’s possible.”

But that wasn’t the end of the bit, as Smith’s chill delivery and rundown of Mewtwo’s stats had fans ready to cast him as the next Pokédex. X (formerly Twitter) user @TAHK0 made a mock-up of the concept that’s reached over 4.6 million views as of this writing. It layers Smith’s description over a scene of Ash’s rival Gary using his Pokédex on Mewtwo. Smith was seemingly entertained by the notion and tweeted at the official Pokémon account that he was into the idea.

While it’s unlikely Smith ends up voicing the Pokédex in a future episode of Pokémon Horizons, the whole bit may have worked out for Wolfey, a prolific competitive Pokémon player and champion, who may get to come on The Stephen A. Smith Show as an expert on the subject. So that’s fun.

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