Is it because most big console games of the time were made by Japanese studios who only had access to like z-tier Canadian anime dub actors or the first three gaijins that walked past their offices?
Fallout 2 had fucking :warf-wtf: in it, not to mention numerous other examples of sci fi and horror convention regulars you'd see pop up in PC games of the era
Video game voice acting just wasn't a "real" job back then. A lot of game devs did the voice acting themselves, for example. It wasn't generally seen as something important. I think the advancements of sound quality and generally of video games as a storytelling medium were necessary for people to start to consider video game voice acting a serious thing.
I would love to do the voice acting for games I work on. It would be complete dogshit but in a funny way I hope
Acting first, voice second. It's a lot easier to sound natural when it's your, y'know, natural voice.
Just study Deus Ex and you can certainly get the funny part down.