Captain N: The Game Master

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Super Mario World's title screen, when it aired alongside Captain N: The Game Master.
Captain N: The Game Master's title screen, when it aired alongside Super Mario World.

Captain N: The Game Master is an animated television show produced by DIC Entertainment which spans three seasons and thirty-four episodes, involving an Earth teenager sucked into "Videoland", where he uses an NES controller and NES Zapper to lead a group of video game heroes against video game villains. There were 34 episodes in the series.

Captain N was also a segment of the Nintendo Comics System, but because of licensing restrictions, only characters from Nintendo-produced games appeared. Samus Aran and Uranos, who both never appeared in the show, were regular characters in the comic. Donkey Kong was a comparably much smaller character in the comics than the cartoon.

Overview

Kevin Keene from Captain N: The Game Master
Kevin Keene and his dog, Duke.

While playing Punch-Out!! on his NES, Kevin Keene is sucked into a vortex formed in the television, and his dog Duke jumps in after him. After falling through the Ultimate Warp Zone, Kevin lands in Videoland. To save Videoland from Mother Brain, the villain of Metroid, and to fulfill an ancient prophecy, Kevin must become Captain N.

Kevin appears before the N Team, made up of Princess Lana (ruler of Videoland), Simon Belmont, Mega Man, and Kid Icarus. Princess Lana is captured, and the team comes together to save her. The group continues to battle Mother Brain and her group of villains, made up of King Hippo (from Punch-Out) and Eggplant Wizard (from Kid Icarus) over the course of the show. The second season adds a sentient talking Game Boy sent by the displaced king of Videoland to the main cast. Other recurring villains and neutral parties included Mega Man's Dr. Wiley, The Count (from Castlevania) and Donkey Kong.

Captain N was episodic in nature, with most episodes centering around the N Team foiling a new scheme by Mother Brain or exploring a new world. Like the concurrently-airing The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, the first season featured covers of popular songs from the time which were replaced in syndication and home video releases.

Despite crossing over many of the NES's most popular franchises, Captain N would soon become infamous among its target audience for its loose portrayal of video games, with many of the games and characters represented bearing little resemblance to their source material in nature or appearance. According to members of the show's staff, such as first season writer Jeffrey Scott[1] and model sheet designer Fil Barlow[2], most of the staff behind Captain N were not familiar with video games before production began, and had little to no reference material from the owners of the source material beside copies of the video games and a NES to play them on.

Original concept

The premise was originally created by Nintendo Power's Randy Studdard. The original idea revolved around Nintendo's main computer going rogue after an accident with coffee reacted with sensitive microchips, which also had exploded near a Nintendo employee, giving him the power to create illusions, and called himself "Captain Nintendo". Although the Nintendo computer became sentient, it was actually an ally that helped Captain Nintendo, and warned him that his powers were only temporary. The villain of the story was Mother Brain, who had been brought to life through this accident and was bringing other villains such as Ganon to life. Captain Nintendo countered this by bringing the Nintendo hero Link into the real world. The story ended when a defeated Mother Brain retreated into a state of hibernation, but the computer warned that she would return at full power, and Captain Nintendo resolves to be ready when she returns and stop her from threatening the Earth.

Mario influences

Although Mario did not make an appearance, possibly because he had his own show, there are many mentions of characters and terms from the Mario series. For example, the characters routinely use a Warp Zone as a means of travel; in the first episode Kevin compares this to the Warp Zones in Super Mario Bros. Snapjaws and Nitpickers from Donkey Kong Jr. are featured as enemies, each in a separate episode.

Many sound effects from the early Mario games are used in the show, and some background music from The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! was used in Captain N as well. Of note that whenever an enemy in the show is defeated, it uses either the "enemy stomped" or "loss of life" sound effects from Super Mario Bros.

Donkey Kong in Captain N: The Game Master

Donkey Kong's appearance in Queen of the Apes
Donkey Kong walking with a Game Boy

Donkey Kong is depicted as a giant ape who does not like visitors, acting primarily as a direct parody to King Kong. He attacks anyone who enters Kongoland, his home in the show. Donkey Kong is first seen in the first episode when the N Team takes the wrong Warp Zone and ends up right in his shower. In "Videolympics", he competes on Mother Brain's team and easily defeats Captain N and Kid Icarus in a wrestling match by sitting on them. In the same episode, Captain N plays a "life-sized" simulated version of the original Donkey Kong game.

In "Simon the Ape-Man", Simon gets amnesia and believes he is Donkey Kong Jr. In "Queen of the Apes", a brain-swapping device malfunctions and swaps the brains of Donkey Kong, Mother Brain, and Game Boy; this causes Donkey Kong to end up in Game Boy's body, while Game Boy is swapped into Mother Brain's body, and Mother Brain is given Donkey Kong's body. In "The Lost City of Kongoland", Donkey Kong ends up helping the N Team get rid of the plant creatures overrunning his home, with him fittingly battling the Megaplant, a Godzilla-like plant monster. Additionally, this episode incidentally featured him wearing a tie and living in a tree house four years before this was true for his game appearances. From time to time, Donkey Kong is also shown to be the hero of a series of movies that parodies and pokes fun at Indiana Jones.

Concept art shows that in the original pitch for the show, called "Buddy Boy" at that stage, a fully-clothed Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. would have been among the characters.

Production staff

Main article: List of Captain N: The Game Master staff

The series was produced by DiC Entertainment (the first season in association with Saban) with Andy Heyward as the executive producer. The music for the first season is credited to Haim Saban and Shuki Levy*, and to Michael Tavera for seasons two and three. The first season was produced and directed by Michael Maliani (one of DiC's top executive). For the show's second season, Maliani took the role of supervising producer with comic book veteran Chuck Patton as the director. For season three, John Grusd served as the producer and director. Captain N's first season was written entirely by Jeffrey Scott, while the following twos were edited by Dorothy Middleton and written by a variety of writers.

The first season was animated by an uncredited Dong Yang Animation[3], the second by Spectrum Animation, and the third by Plus One Productions.

*It should be noted that Saban and Levy did not compose a large number of the series they were credited to, the pair hiring ghost composers and only including their own name on the cue sheets to get all royalties for music[4]. Michael Tavera is credited for "Orchestration and arrangement" on the first season of Captain N.

Casting

Most of the voice actors and actresses for Captain N were based in Canada, directed by Greg Morton (season 1-2), Marsha Goodman (season 1), Stu Rosen (season 1), and Madeleine Bascom (season 3), and cast by Josanne Lovick and Doug Parker (who also voiced Mega Man). Captain N was the voice acting debut for several personalities who would go on to have a long and profilic voice acting career: the show's main cast include Garry Chalk as Donkey Kong, Dracula, and King Hippo, Michael Donovan as Eggplant Wizard, Andrew Kavadas as Simon Belmont, Venus Terzo as Princess Lana, Ian James Corlett as Dr. Wiley, Alucard, and Dr. Wright, Alessandro Juliani as Kid Icarus and Matt Hill as Kevin Keene. Acclaimed soul musician Levi Stubbs provided the voice of Mother Brain, in a performance similar to his portrayal of Audrey II in the 1986 film adaptation of Little Shop of Horrors.

Episodes

Season 1: 1989

  1. Kevin in Videoland
  2. How's Bayou
  3. Mr. and Mrs. Mother Brain
  4. Videolympics
  5. Mega Trouble for Megaland
  6. The Most Dangerous Game Master
  7. Three Men and a Dragon
  8. Nightmare on Mother Brain's Street
  9. Simon the Ape-Man
  10. Metroid Sweet Metroid
  11. Wishful Thinking
  12. In Search of the King
  13. Happy Birthday, Megaman

Season 2: 1990-1991

  1. Gameboy
  2. Queen of the Apes
  3. Quest For The Potion Of Power
  4. The Trouble With Tetris
  5. The Big Game
  6. The Lost City of Kongoland
  7. Once Upon a Time Machine
  8. The Feud Of Faxanadu
  9. Having a Ball
  10. The Trojan Dragon
  11. I Wish I Was A Wombatman
  12. The Invasion Of The Paper Pedalers
  13. Germ Wars
  14. When Mother Brain Rules

Season 3: 1991

  1. Misadventures In Robin Hood Woods
  2. Pursuit Of The Magic Hoop
  3. Return To Castlevania
  4. Totally Tetrisized
  5. A Tale Of Two Dogs
  6. Battle Of The Baseball Know-It-Alls
  7. The Fractured Fantasy Of Captain N
  8. Nightmare on Mother Brain's Street (rerun)
  9. Mr. and Mrs. Mother Brain (rerun)[citation needed]
  10. Three Men and a Dragon (rerun)
  11. Quest For the Potion of Power (rerun)
  12. Quest For the Potion of Power (rerun)
  13. The Invasion Of The Paper Pedalers (rerun)

Broadcast history

  • USA
    • NBC (1989-1992)
    • Family Channel (1991-1993)
    • Syndication (1992-1993)
    • USA Network (1993-1995)
    • WildBrain's YouTube Channel "WildBrain - Cartoon Super Heroes" (2014-)
      • Like with the DVD sets for the show, "When Mother Brain Rules" is absent from the selection of episodes.
  • Canada
    • YTV (1992-1994)
  • Venezuela
    • Televen

Note: Captain N: The Game Master was played as part of Captain N & The Video Game Masters during syndication airings.

Names in other languages

Language Name Meaning Notes
Hebrew קפטן אן[?]
Kepten En 		Captain N
Italian Un videogioco per Kevin[?] A video game for Kevin
Spanish Capitán N: El Amo del Juego[?] Captain N: The Game Master

References

  1. ^ Mark Moore (January 26, 2002). Interview with Jeffrey Scott. The Unofficial Captain N Home Page's. Retrieved October 26, 2019
  2. ^ https://www.deviantart.com/filbarlow/art/Before-Captain-Nintendo-there-was-Buddy-Boy-312281346
  3. ^ History section on Dong Yang's website (Retrieved September 3, 2016)
  4. ^ Google Groups post featuring a 1998 report from The Hollywood Reporter about music royalties in television

External links

[Edit]
Television series, films, and videos
Animated TV series Saturday Supercade (1983) • Les Trésors de Super Mario (1989) • Captain N: The Game Master (1989) • The Legend of Zelda (1989) • The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 (1990) • Super Mario World (1991) • Captain N & The Video Game Masters (1993) • Mario All Stars (1994) • Donkey Kong Country (1996)
Televised live action / mixed format The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! (1989) • Mario Ice Capades (1989) • King Koopa's Kool Kartoons (1989) • Club Mario (1990) • The Super Mario Challenge (1990) • Super Mario Stadium (1993) • 64 Mario Stadium (1996) • Donkey Kong Planet (1996) • Mario School (2000)
Films Super Mario Bros.: Peach-hime Kyūshutsu Dai Sakusen! (1986) • The Wizard (1989) • Super Mario Bros. (1993) • Pixels (2015) • The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) • Untitled The Super Mario Bros. Movie follow-up (2026)
OVAs / Straight-to-video Mario no Daibōken (1986) • Amada Anime Series: Super Mario Bros. (1989) • Super Mario no Kōtsū Anzen (1989) • Super Mario no Shōbōtai (1989) • Super Mario World: Mario to Yoshi no Bōken Land (1991) • Mario Kirby Meisaku Video (1993)
Web videos "Finding Luigi - Legend of Parkour" (2013) • "Five Games With Spooky Levels to Play in the Dark" (2014) • The Cat Mario Show (2014) • Mario Kart 8 From the Pit (2014) • "Nintendo - Winter Wonderland Levels" (2014) • "DIY With Nintendo: Boo Cookie Pops" • "Nintendo eShop - Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars Level Creation" (2015) • "Mario Myths with Mr Miyamoto" (2015) • Yoshi's Woolly World: Adventure Guide (2015) • "Celebrate Mar. 10 - Mario Day!" (2016) • "Luigi Runs the Nintendo 2DS Factory for a Day" (2016) • Mario Reads Your Letters (2017) • "Nintendo Switch Parental Controls - Nintendo Switch Presentation 2017 Trailer" (2017) • Frizzy's Silly amiibo Theater (2018) • "5 Games With Spooky Levels to Play on Halloween!" (2018) • Guess That Game (2020) (Episode 1 · Episode 2 · Episode 3 · Episode 4 · Episode 6 · Episode 8) • 5-Second Focus (2020) (Ep. 1 · Ep. 2 · Ep. 4 · Ep. 7 · Ep. 8 · Ep. 9 · Ep. 10) • 60-Byō Challenge! Luigi o Sukue!! (2020) • Know Your Nintendo (2020) (Episode 1 · Episode 2 · Episode 3 · Episode 4 · Episode 6 · Episode 9 · Episode 10) • Baddies & Battles (2022) (Ep 1 · Ep 2 · Ep 3 · Ep 4 · Compilation) • Fun Lists! Lists! Lists! (2022) (Top 10 Reasons to Play My Game! · 5 Funny Games! · 5 Characters = 5 Fun Choices · Princess Peach Power · Laugh Till You Pop · 10 Power-Ups! · Get Them Goombas! · Epic Mario Kart Takedowns Compilation · Mario Kart Items to Put Your Bro on Blast · 5 Minigames in Mario Party Superstars That Are Really Cool) • "Mario and Friends" (2022) • Meet the Characters! (2022) (Episode 1 · Episode 3 · Episode 5 · Episode 6 · Episode 7 · Episode 8 · Episode 9 · Episode 10 · Compilation 1 · Compilation 2) • Stuff on Nintendo Switch (2022) • "This Is My Nintendo Jam!" (2023) • Get to Know Mushroom Kingdom Characters (2023) • Super Mario Maker 2 Challenges! (2023) (Ep 1 · Ep 2 · Ep 3) • Which Nintendo character are you (2023)
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