Captain N: The Game Master (1989–1991) User Reviews

A Good Premise Marred By Inconsistencies, Captain N Was Okay Still

[wchngliu · 6/10 · 22 September 2007]

Captain N: The Game Master was released in 1989, amid the success of Nintendo's NES 8- bit games console and its ever ranging video games collection such as Super Mario, Donkey Kong and Tetris. A kids show, which no doubt was the company's marketing and strategy tool to sell its games and further enhance its reputation as the leading video games corporation ahead of its then nemesis, Sega. Captain N was a short lived cartoon series centering a teenager named Kevin who, as he plays on his NES, gets sucked into his TV screen and he and his dog, Duke join up with Kid Icarus, Megaman, Simon Belmont and Princess Lana to go up against Metroid's Motherbrain, Eggplant Wizard, King Hippo and Dr Wily, Megaman's villain.

Princess Lana i'm guessing here hasn't appeared in any of Nintendo's video games seeing as I don't seem to recall her ever doing so, but I could be wrong. Pit is Kid Icarus, um, a Icarus who carries a bow and arrow with him. He starred in a game called none other than Kid Icarus. Megaman is usually tall and blue, but here he is green, his helmet has a visor and he looks like he could be mistaken for a 3 year old/midget, as he is very short and has a weird sounding voice. As for Simon Belmont, I am glad that I am not alone in saying how he has been totally misrepresented in the series. He looks like a poor man's Dolph Lundgren- he of He-Man from the Masters of the Universe film. When in the games themselves, he was more lean, brave, athletic, smart and agile. Another difference was that in the cartoon, he came across as being aloof, arrogant, chauvinistic and dumb,- of which was totally out of character.

That said, Captain N was still okay. Whilst the Super Mario cartoons were the most faithful rendition of the video games, the same cannot be said for Captain N and yet its still enjoyable to watch for the story lines and for being able to successfully sustain our interest. It may not be an outright classic but Captain N: The Game Master is a fun animated show that has some great nostalgic moments. If this had been remade today, then i'm sure it would've been a more accurate and faithful rendition of a cartoon celebrating the best of Nintendo's talents.

Overall, for a kid's cartoon, Captain N isn't that bad an effort

Not bad, but still a huge downer

[yabuturtle · 4/10 · 20 July 2007]

I never actually saw the show, I only heard about it until I saw it on the internet. I heard mixed reviews for it. Some good, some bad. When I actually saw it I was kinda disappointed. It was just too different. Although the plot was pretty good. This story was about Kevin Keene and his dog, Duke, getting sucked into video land because Princess Lana and the others need their help defending it from the evil forces of Mother Brain. The plot was good, but the characters and the way they were portrayed wasn't very good. And sometimes the shows were kinda corny, if you ask me.

The good guys consist of Kevin, Duke, Princess Lana, Simon Belmont, Mega Man, Kid Icarus, Gameboy and a number of other characters like Link, Princess Zelda, and many more. Kevin was decent. I liked his Zapper and his belt he always wore. Duke was OK, not spectacular, but he was useful sometimes. Princess Lana, ( Is it just me or does EVERYONE think she's hot because whenever I see Princess Lana, I always manage to see some dude saying " She's hot! " I'll admit, she is kinda hot). Princess Lana was a good character. Kevin liked her more than a friend, but then again, so did Simon and they often competed for her affection. Princess Lana obviously likes Kevin more, and for good reason, since he's not a vain, narcissist wimp like Simon Belmont. Which reminds me, Simon disappointed me a lot. He was tall, dark and like I said earlier, a vain, narcissist wimp. That's not how he was in the games, because in the games, he was cool and he was a brave fighting character. Kid Icarus was kinda annoying since he said " icus " at almost every sentence. His appearance and weapons weren't too bad though. Mega Man annoyed the crap out of me by saying " mega " almost every time. ( As if hearing Kid Icarus saying " icus " wasn't bad enough). Mega Man was short, had green armor and he sounded like he smoked 1 cigarette too many. And don't say he wore that green armor just because he was portrayed badly in the early game's cover art. Sure, the cover art for Mega Man 1 sucked balls, but he was NEVER short and he was NEVER green. He should look like he is today. And Gameboy was perhaps the worst of them all. A walking talking advertisement that made the most annoying sounds that ever existed. I mean, Gameboy wasn't even a video game character like the others, so the only reason they added him was because Nintedo was trying to see their product. Link and Princess Zelda however looked and acted good.

The neutral characters consisted of many others like Donkey Kong and Dracula. (Though Dracula sometimes joined the bad guys side). Donkey Kong looked damn stupid with that shower cap on, or whatever that was. He was alright, since he attacked both the good guys and bad guys. Dracula AKA The Count looked really stupid. He had a yellow outfit and he looked like Micheal Jackson with a mullet. That's not the Dracula I know! I just didn't like him much.

The bad guys consisted of Mother Brain, Eggplant Wizard, King Hippo and Dr. Wily. Mother Brain looked really weird. I thought she would be a big brain with 1 eye and that's it. She was alright, but not great. Eggplant Wizard looked kinda decent. He was a little sheepish, but alright. King Hippo was a little more different than I thought. He had the right body type, and the boxing gloves, but for some reason he had blue skin and he had small fangs. Is King Hippo undead or something?! Look at him! It's just stupid. They could've at the very least give him his human looking skin back. Dr. Wily looked weird. He was pretty small and had a big head, but generally, he looked OK. He should have looked like the Dr. Wily in the Mega Man series. And he sounded German for some reason. Ganon looked pretty damn awesome, if I do say so myself.

Anyways, that's what I thought of the show. It's not a complete piece of crap, but if could've been so much better if the people actually made the characters look better. I think they should correct their mistakes and make a new Captain N: The Game Master. Hopefully it'll be much better than this one.

Not too bad.

[Skyrcket · 23 June 1999]

For a show created to sell video games, this wasn't too bad. Kevin got live every video game fans dream and meet the character he played and travel to there worlds. While the episodes were meant to be silly most of the time, they did have some really good moments. Like when Mother Brain transported Kevin's school to Videoland or when Princess Launa found her father. Plus, Simon Belmont was great comic relief.

Nostalgic and Wonderful

[Haids1987 · 8/10 · 15 May 2006]

What a show! I remember watching this when I was so young, and for the longest time whenever I talked about it everyone thought I was crazy because no one remembered it. But just because a lot of people don't remember it that doesn't mean it wasn't terrific! This show had everything that little kids would want in a TV show—video game heroes, an imaginary land where your games come to life, a princess to appeal to little girls, and characters that could make you laugh. The main character, Kevin, completely has the whole 80's character feel to him: a smart aleck who loves everything electronic, takes on the world single-handedly, and being more into his video games than real life. It totally takes me back to being little, to the good 'ol days when 8-bit Nintendo was the best $100 you could spend, and cartoons were the way they should be—animation that ISN'T done on a computer, innocent (for the most part), and free of big-eyed, big-lipped sassy girls who only care about their clothes and makeup. I give this show an eight rating for its content, characters, and being so kid-friendly. The negative two points only exist because I haven't seen this show in seventeen years, and can't make an adult decision. It'd probably be more if I watched it now. : )

Nintendo Blasphemy!

[brando647 · 4/10 · 6 May 2007]

I almost gave this show a higher rating purely for nostalgia reasons. Although, it's probably the nostalgia that keeps me from giving it the lower rating it probably deserves. I grew up in the 80's and was the perfect age for 'Captain N' when it originally aired. I loved it back then, but then again, I was young and naive. I was happy enough just seeing characters from my favorite video games brought together in one show. Nowadays, my views have shifted drastically. The series was recently released on DVD, so I immediately ran out and picked up a copy. I figured it was a good way to relive one of my favorite shows from my childhood and share with my children in the future. What was I thinking?

The premise is this: every Nintendo game is actually a separate world and the worlds are connected by warp zones. Ruling over this "Videoland" is Princess Lana, who is aided by Simon Belmont (of 'Castlevania'), Kid Icarus (Pit, from 'Kid Icarus'), and Megaman. Videoland is constantly under attack by the 'Forces of Chaos', led by Mother Brain from 'Metroid'. During one such attack, Lana is forced to call on the power of the 'Ultimate Warp Zone', which is prophecised to bring a powerful warrior to fight the forces of evil. The powerful warrior: a kid named Kevin Keene, from the real world, who happens to be really, really good at video games and his dog, Duke.

For a kids' show, it doesn't sound too bad, right? Well, maybe if they had put a little more thought into it. One of my major complaints (and a popular complaint from anyone who's watched the show) was the depiction of the characters. People who have played the video game have certain expectations when the characters are brought to another medium. Belmont, in the video games, gives off the impression of a skilled warrior, noble and strong. In the show, Belmont is portrayed as a narcissistic wuss, frequently running from battle with a high-pitched whine. My only real beef with Megaman and Kid Icarus are their speech mannerisms. By the end of the first episode, I was ready to beat the crap out of them if Megaman preceded one more word with 'Mega' or if Kid Icarus added '-icus' or 'maximus' to another statement. A lot of people complain about Megaman's appearance, complaining that it isn't his famous blue armor. It looks to me like they modeled the character after the packaging for the first Megaman game released for the NES back in 1987, so I see no real reason to complain. I won't even bother wasting space in discussing the so-called "villains"...not even worth it.

Something that got on my nerves, but was to be expected, was how annoyingly corny the episodes were. I know a lot of kids' shows are corny so I can't hold it against 'Captain N', but there were points where I was left baffled at how completely stupid something was. Example: what was the purpose of making the elven king of Faxanadu (Episode 2.8 - The Feud of Faxanadu) a blue Elvis Presley clone? And for that matter, why was the dwarven queen a Barbara Streisand wannabe? And I still don't understand the whole Puss 'n Boots episode (Episode 2.7 - Once Upon a Time Machine). Something about that whole episode seemed completely off.

Of course, after watching the show, it is obvious to see that it was basically used as a 30-minute long commercial for the newest in Nintendo's line-up. With episodes centered completely on 'The Adventures of Bayou Billy' and 'Paperboy', you could practically hear the cash registers in the background. And don't get me started on the character of Gameboy, the walking, talking advertisement for Nintendo's newest hand-held game system that became a series regular in season 2.

After spouting off about the series's weaknesses so much, one would think I found nothing good about the show, but that's not true. It did occasionally have a moral to the story and besides, my complaints come from the standpoint of a matured adult, which isn't exactly the target audience for the program. When I watched the show years ago, I loved it. The idea of a kid being sucked into his favorite video games and getting to meet all of the characters he loved. I was addicted, and I overlooked the many inconsistencies. So, while it's definitely not award-winning material and it never really stays true to the subject matter, I still can't wait to introduce the show to my kids when they're old enough.

An Honest Review

[generationofswine · 10/10 · 2 April 2017]

When I was growing up there were two types of kids on the block. The kids that whipped the controller around--like everyone's sisters--when they played and the cool kids.

We were playing with power and Nintendo ruled.

Nintendo and cartoons were a necessary thing when you grew up in Chicago, the streets weren't all that safe and the weather actively tried to kill you.

Freeze you to death in the winter and kill you with heat stroke and humidity in the summer. That's the Chicago way, that's how you beat Capone.

And really you are indoor kids until you get old enough to avoid bad men.

So Nintendo and cartoons ruled and this had both. It had characters from our favorite games facing off against one another in the fantasy world where people got pulled into their Nintendo and into a land of adventure.

And it was realistic because, even though you could go outside, there was still a chance you'd get shot. So we could relate to it...even in the safe white Middle-Class parts of Chicago

One of the worst cartoons in history...

[turbowashington7 · 1/10 · 26 September 2014]

This show is atrocious! If you are even remotely a Nintendo fan, this show is a complete disgrace to the many franchises represented. If you aren't a Nintendo fan, this show is a disgrace to humanity. Everything in this show is utter trash. The plots, characters, settings, animation, humor, references, etc. It's a failed attempt at being a Nintendo show. It's way worse than the Super Mario Bros. Super Show, and that's saying something! The portrayals of the game characters are humiliating. Mega Man is a brat who adds mega to all of his sentences, Simon Belmont is a clumsy idiot, there's a Game Boy that flies the main characters around, and that's just scratching the surface. And by the way, the main character is an extremely bland teenager who got sucked into "Video Land" where all the Nintendo characters apparently live. Evidently this show's idea of humor is randomly spouting out catch phrases and constantly using overused and unoriginal gags. This show is bland, unoriginal, idiotic, ungraceful, humiliating, annoying, unmercifully awful, and a complete waste of time. Captain N: The Game Master has no redeemable aspects and I sincerely hope you do not taint your life with this abomination of a cartoon.

Not to shabby

[Op_Prime · 14 January 2000]

The show was created to sell Nintendo games. Even though it was made for that purpose, it was surprising to see entertainment in it. In other shows made to sell games, the quality and entertainment level is extremely low. So that makes this show refreshing. It's interesting to see various Nintendo characters team up but the disappointment was no team up with Nintendo's best character, Mario. Anyway, I have to say this to NBC. This show came from a time when NBC's Saturday morning line up really didn't suck. NBC should scrap there horrible live teen show line up and bring this show back.

A Nice Cartoon From My Childhood

[jeremycrimsonfox · 8/10 · 17 March 2022]

Captain N: The Game Master is yet another cartoon from my childhood, and while yes, it is not perfect, it was part of a trend where video games adapted into cartoons would change a lot of stuff (Saturday Supercade being one example, as the Donkey Kong shorts changed Pauline from Mario's girlfriend to his niece and made Donkey Kong Jr. Into a Scooby Doo clone, and Pole Position was not really Pole Position due to it being a spy cartoon, but the name was licensed by Namco).

So, the story for this cartoon is in the world of Videoland, where all Nintendo games are connected, Mother Brain, the main antagonist of the original Metroid, and her army is about to storm the Palace of Power, where Princess Lana. A character made exclusively for this show, is with her guardians, Mega Man, Kid Icarus, and Simon Belmont. The three icons are very different, with Mega Man being the green bomber instead of blue and sounding like he has the same voice actor as Popeye, and Simon Belmont getting the worst of the changes, as he's gone from fearless vampire hunter to a romantic and coward who serve as nothing more than comic relief and a rival for Princess Lana's heart). However, Lana's father, who before the first episode, was banished into another dimension by Mother Brain, reveals the Ultimate Warp Zone, which connects to the real world, where it summons teenager Kevin Keene and his dog, Duke to Videoland to become Captain N.

Being a huge video game crossover before Super Smash Bros. Ultimate made it cool, Captain N is basically one big crossover. Other than Mega Man, Kid Icarus, and Castlevania, other video games are involved in this. Serving as Mother Brain's "scratch and grounder", as I like to call this type of idiot duo, is Eggplant Wizard, also from Kid Icarus, and King Hippo, who is from Punch-Out. Also, other characters from other Nintendo video games show up as guest stars (like Bayou Billy, Tetris, Paperboy, even The Legend Of Zelda is featured, which while being a crossover of the cartoon adaptation, it did fix Link to the point where he's not an obnoxious jerk).

However, it does have some flaws, as the video game characters used are not accurate in looks (with some people telling me it was due to rights issues), and behavior (especially with Simon). Also, the third and final season can be the biggest downside of the series, as due to NBC, the network airing the series, deciding to cut the budget for the show due to deciding to end its Saturday Morning cartoon block in favor of a new block aimed at teens, there were only seven new adventures, trimmed down from a half-hour to eleven minutes, pairing it with an older episode that is trimmed down to fit the same run time (hence removing some important plot elements that would confuse those who never saw the episode in the past year), all to package it with Super Mario World (the final Super Mario cartoon). Also, some episodes make errors when it comes to games (when did the original Donkey Kong arcade game have a volcano level?). However, despite the errors in characters and facts, the series still has its charms, featuring various video games (most of them being third party), and having some good stories and voice actors.

The Best Cartoon Ever

[Captain_N · 1 November 1999]

Captain N: The Gamemaster was the epitome of what a cartoon should be. It had cool characters that you could care about: Kevin Keene, Princess Lana, Mega Man, Kid Icarus, and yes, even Simon Belmont. The show also had characters from other great video games make cameos. I remember loving and "still" loving this show so much, I boycotted NBC for several years since they didn't acknowledge my suggestion for possible plots and why the show should continue to air and the terrible job done in the final season. But anyways, I recommend all of you to check out an old video store, swing by a Captain N homepage, or better yet, petition to get this back on the air. I hope everyone has the opportunity to view the greatest cartoon series ever made.

Princess Lana was hot!

[DragonMasterHiro · 3 July 2003]

Captain N was the story of a boy, Kevin Keene, who was playing his Nintendo one evening (Punch Out, I think) when he got sucked inside of his television! There he was welcomed to the Palace of Power by Princess Lana. She wants him to help protect VideoLand along with other game heroes MegaMan, Simon Belmont and Kid Icarus. Kevin's belt had the Nintendo controller on it, and he could use it to pause, run fast or jump real high. His weapon was the Nintendo gun used for Duck Hunt.

I hated the way they made Simon Belmont. He was all stuck up and worthless when in the games he's the bravest of them all considering he fights the undead. He was very annoying in the show. Kid Icarus was ok. Mega Man is another of my favorite game characters but I was disappointed when I saw him in the show. I think he was green instead of blue and had a weird voice. It also seemed like they didn't have enough for the other characters to do. They'd just follow Kevin around, or hang out at the palace and do nothing.

*POSSIBLE SPOILER* The series was pretty good. Kevin would travel to a lot of different worlds from games like: Castlevania, Zelda, Kid Icarus, Mega Man, Paperboy, Metroid, and Punch Out. Donkey Kong was huge and had his own world called Kongo Land. My favorite episode was when Princess Zelda wanted Kevin to come to Hyrule (it took place during Zelda 2 and I think it was a two part episode). Link looked awesome and in one scene he fights Horse Head. King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard turn rocks into tomatoes in the desert and get squished by them. Another great scene is when they get attacked by Moas in the graveyard, and Gameboy smacks them with his Vid-Baseball Bat. I remember the Paperboy episode where everyone starts turning into zombies when they read this newspaper, and another episode where Kevin gets a VideoLand virus so everyone shrinks to go inside his body to fight it. There was also a Mega Man episode where gets a heart and meets Mega Girl (we could have done without her).

A nostalgic show, good solid series. I wish they had done some different things with it but ah well.

Honestly, I don't remember much of it...

[indysmiles · 3 October 2019]

Captain N is a show that existed to sell Nintendo. All the episodes and characters (execpt for Kevin and Lana) are based off Nintendo games, which makes this show more of a showcase for Nintendo products. Because of this, the writers didn't really put any thought into the episodes. The plots were generic, the villains were stock villains and because of this the show was very bland. Disposable. Forgettable. In this series, a teenage boy called Kevin, is playing his NES, and gets sucked through his TV and transported to Videoland, where he meets Princess Lana, Simon Belmont (from Castlevania), Pit (from Kid Icarus), and Mega Man (from Mega Man) Kevin and Lana were alright characters. Simon Belmont had a vain, whiny, narcisstic personality and is jealous of the affection that Lana shows towards Kevin. Even though I've never played Castlevania, I don't think Simon is like that in the games. Pit and Mega Man had annoying speech mannerisms. Pit kept adding 'icus" to everything he said, and Mega Man added 'mega' to everything he said. Plus, they had annoying voices as well. In series 2 they introduced the character Gameboy. Yes, Gameboy was actually a Gameboy console that talked. Gameboy was added just to promote the Gameboy that was just released at the time. I do have a positive. In a few episodes Link and Princess Zelda (from The Legend of Zelda) did appear in a few episodes, and those episodes were mildly entertaining. At least in this, Link no longer says 'Excuuse me, Princess!' The show in general, is just an advert for Nintendo. Which makes it very boring. The writers are concentrating more on 'how can we show off the Nintendo products' than actually thinking of decent plots that would entertain you. It smacks of a cash grab that tries to get you to buy the latest Nintendo product. But out of all the Nintendo cartoons though, it's not that bad. It's slightly better than the Zelda cartoon.

This was a really stupid show...

[burningtyphoon · 22 May 2003]

Why did they have to ruin those video game characters like that. Geez!!! None of them looked they way were suppose to look. I'm a HUGE Megaman fan and it was insulting to see what they did to him. Since when was Megaman actually a Bobby Hill look-a-like wearing green spandex?! Who in the world is Megagirl?!!!? She hasn't appeared in ANY of the Original Megaman series games or any other series for that matter (and don't you dare say that Megagirl is Roll!!!!!) Plus Dr. Light looks like a stupid little troll and the same goes for Dr. Wily. Simon was a completely vain and stuck-up (he's suppose to be cool, casual, and quiet...) The only convincing character design was Mother Brain. The storyline is very corny. A teenage boy named Kevin Keene goes to a place called Videoland... blah, blah, blah... meets up with video game characters... yada, yada, yada... Kevin goes there to save Videoland. he end... coooooorny. I know this was made back in 1989, but there's still no excuse for slaughtering video game characters like that. I hope there isn't a Japanese dub for this show, because that would be embarrassing for Japan to see Rockman (A.K.A Megaman's name in Japan) look like that stupid little "green" runt. He's suppose to be blue, not green!!! "Mega" this and "Mega" that... give me a damn break.

OVERALL Negative 1,000 out of 10. I'm sorry. I was just joking... Negative 999 out of 10!!!!

Captain N-word

[nameuser-79833 · 3 December 2019]

Sir where is your licensing and registration for those n-words