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 a television show produced by DiC Entertainment. The premise was originally created by Nintendo Power's Randy Studdard. The original idea was about Mother Brain, Nintendo's main computer, going rogue and Captain Nintendo, a Nintendo employee, stopping it. A lot of things were changed. 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, who never appeared in the show (although her enemy did), was a regular character in the comic.

Overview

Kevin Keene and his dog Duke

Kevin Keene, the hero of the show, while playing Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! on his NES, 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 (Castlevania), 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 over the course of the show.

Super Mario Influences

Although Mario did not make an appearance, possibly because he had his own show, there are many times something from Mario is mentioned. For example, the characters routinely use a Warp Zone to get from place to place and in the first episode Kevin compares this to the Warp Zones in Super Mario Bros.

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.

Donkey Kong in Captain N: The Game Master

Donkey Kong is depicted as a giant ape who doesn't like visitors. He attacks anyone who enters Kongo Land, his home in the show. Donkey Kong is 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 this 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's Donkey Kong Jr. In "Queen of the Apes" Mother Brain accidentally switches her brain into Donkey Kong's body, while Donkey Kong ends up housed in Game Boy for the episode. In "The Lost City of Kongoland" Donkey Kong ends up helping the N Team get rid of the plant creatures overruning his home. From time to time Donkey Kong is also shown to be the hero of a series of movies gently poking fun at Indiana Jones.

Cast

• Kevin Keene (live action main title) — Dorian Barag
• Duke (live action main title) — Louie From Critters of the Cinema
• Kevin "Captain N" Keene — Matt Hill
• Duke — Tomm Wright
• Princess Lana — Venus Terzo
• Kid Icarus — Alessandro Juliani
• Simon Belmont — Andrew Kavadas
• Megaman — Doug Parker
• Game Boy (Season 2 and 3) — Frank Welker
• Mother Brain — Levi Stubbs
• King Hippo — Gary Chalk
• Eggplant Wizard — Michael Donovan
• Dr. Albert W. Wily — Ian James Corlett
• Additional Voices — Long John Baldry/Shane Meier

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, Mega Man

Season 2: 1990

1. Gameboy
2. Invasion of the Paper Pedalers
3. Queen of the Apes
4. Quest for the Potion of Power
5. I Wish I was a Wombatman
6. The Trouble With Tetris
7. The Big Game
8. Having a Ball
9. Trojan Dragon
10. Lost City of Kongoland
11. Once Upon a Time Machine
12. Feud of Faxanadu
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

Broadcast History

• USA
  NBC (1989-1992)
  Family Channel (1991-1993)
  Syndication (1992-1993)
  USA Network (1993-1995)
• Canada
  YTV (1992-1994)
• Note: It was played as part of "Captain N and the Game Masters" during syndication and USA Network airings.