Captain N: The Game Master

remember a time when Saturday morning was meant for cartoons?  We would wake up eager to turn on the TV and Veg out in front of the animated awesomeness of the day!  Once a year they would run a half hour to an hour long preview of the upcoming new cartoons as well as the returning favorites.  I remember sitting at my Friend Mike’s house and seeing the preview for Captain N: The Game Master.  My Jaw Dropped.  I could not believe that they were going to have a Nintendo themed cartoon!

As I watched the Preview, I could not believe my eyes!  What gaming nerd wouldn’t want to be magically sucked into their favorite video game and actually become the hero!  Kevin Keen and Princess Lana were cool and all, but Simon Belmont, Kid Icarus (Pit), and Mega Man made me want to pee my pants!  This show could not be anything other than awesome!  I have to say I was not disappointed in the animation, action or content.  My only complaint was Pit’s annoying addition if “icas” at the end of nearly every word.  The villains were just as awesome as the heroes.  Mother Brain was the main villain, and her sidekicks were the stupidly bad King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard and sometimes featured Doctor Wily.  Other minor villains worth mentioning were Ganondorf and Donkey Kong.

The series only lasted three seasons, which is sad because I would have really liked to have seen some more guest appearances by Princess Zelda, Link, Bayou Billy and Mega Girl.  Kevin Keen was a true hero of Videoland a natural master of his power pad and zapper gun.  Not all of the episodes played homage to video games, in fact a lot actually played off of fairy tales.  This was purposeful to ensure that the royalties payed to the developers were minimal.  The high cost of royalties was also a reason that Simon Belmont and Meg Man were not featured in Every Episode.  Of course the decision by NBC to cut back on their Saturday programming was the final straw.  It seems that times were getting really tight because the third season could no longer afford to supply Pit with sandals or Simon with his Goggles.

With the re-emergence of some classic cartoons I would love to see Captain N remade with modern characters and designs, but I doubt it will happen.  Sure there were other Nintendo based cartoons, but nothing really lived up to the awesomeness of Captain N.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXGr3aBln38[/youtube]

Do you have a favorite episode of Captain N?  Maybe another Nintendo based cartoon that you loved?

Essel Pratt has spent his life exploring his imagination and dreams. As a Husband and a Father, he doesn't have as much time to write as he would like. However, his mind is always plotting out his next story. Someday he hopes to quit the 9-5 grind and focus on writing full time. Currently, Essel has three published short stories and is working on a handful of novels. Essel focuses his writings on mostly Horror/Sci-Fi, however is known to add a dash of other genres into his writings as well. In his spare time, he can be found playing one of the 40+ video game consoles in his collection, especially his Wii U (NNID: EsselPratt). Click the links below to follow Essel's exploits in the writing world, and be sure to follow his blog at http://esselpratt.blogspot.com/ as well as his articles on Nerdzy.com.